My first Smith ... a long journey.

[Michele Caramazza]

I just got my first Smith bass, a CR5MW. It has been a long journey and I'd like to talk about it a bit.
My first experience with a Smith bass dates back on October 2003 as I was in NYC during my honeymoon. At that time I was pretty into J basses and was already set on buying a Sadowsky which I did. While there I went to Sam Ash at 48th street and spent some time playing some of the beauties on the wall. I tried a Fodera VW standard (the bolt on ... nice bass) and a 5 strings bolt on Smith. I was really surprised by the ease of playablity of the Smith. At that time I hadn't any experience with 5 strings but that Smith impressed me mainly for its neck. It fitted like a glove and I remember playin' it and thinking "wow .... is that me?". But I was set on buying a Sadowsky and the guy that was at Sam Ash didn't help me to look more into the Smith. Money went down to Jay Street.
Years have passed and basses as well. Owned some nice ones: another Sadowsky, couple of nice Fenders, a custom made Bordwell till a currently owned Carl Thompson. As I grabbed the Thompson at Carl's shop I placed an order for another one so I'm on the list again. Since the first one is a 4 strings I was trying to make my mind about having this second CT built as a 5 or even a 6 strings. So I bought a dirty cheap used Yamaha Trb 6 and also went in every music shop in my town playin every 5er or 6er I could put my hands on. Until in one shop I had my second Smith meet up.
This time it was a 5 strings Burner from the '90 and I still have tears in my eyes thinking at the condition of that bass. It was full of tiny scratches from showroom playing, set up was totally a mess, the four screws that bolt the neck were completely covered of rust, strings were totally dead and rusted as well. Would you believe they asked for it 2400 euros (that's kinda 3500 bucks, guys)?
But even in those conditions that bass told something to me. Strings spacing was tight but the neck profile made me flying 8 years back to that Smith at Sam Ash. Also I fell in love with the vintage body shape.
But now ... to my CR5MW!

It happened last month that a friend wishing to thanks me for organizing his tryp to the States (I'm a Travel Agent by day job) told me "if you manage to buy a bass and have it shipped to my last stop in the States I'll bring it to you". I think " Hell, why not ... I could save shipping and italian taxes and duties... maybe it's time to look deeper into this Smith thing!"
I had a look at Bass Central website and focused myself on two Smiths, the one that I bought and a Black Tiger 5. They gave me a nice price for the Black Tiger but they went beyond my expectations on the bolt-on CR5MW. I really couldn't pass on this!
Well, bass is here now and I want just to tell you (mainly for the guys that don't own a Smith and are toying with the idea of buying one) a couple of things:
You could tell about Mr. Smith love for superbly crafted old Italian and European double basses from the past centuries just by looking at his electric basses. Because like those old beauties his basses show perfection on every detail and a natural sober elegance. A class all of its own. Something pretty rare these days...
The neck is for me, once again, a glove. Never, never, never saw a fret job like this. Impeccable, like everything on this instrument. The bass balances perfectly sitting or standing (despite all the talk about different body shapes).
Regarding sound, I'll write something else as I'll become more familiar with the instrument. For now I just mention the two things that immediately hit me: an incredible deep growl coupled with a presence and a complexity in the hi- mids never experienced before. Notes in the upper register make me think of bullets against a big brass bell.
I'll try to take some nice pictures of the beauty and post 'em. Stay tuned...