A New Toy

.... but an old passion.

Anyone who knew me back in the day would tell you that music was my thing. I played my first professional concert when I was 16, and didn't stop with the music in some professional or semi-professional capacity until 30 years later.

And then I stopped.

Recently though, I have thought that I really should use the skills (and equipment) I accumulated in that time. So naturally, the first thing I did was buy a new guitar, just to motivate me. Money can't buy happiness, but it can buy a guitar, and that's the same thing.

It's an acoustic bass guitar, made in either Indonesia or China. I am amazed at the quality of cheap guitars compared with 50 years ago. The materials are excellent, all the frets are in the right places, and it's put together well. It did need the standard fettling (truss rod adjusted, the bridge and nut recut, and the frets dressed) but even expensive instruments can need that. I didn't feel confident doing that work myself, so we visited the luthier in Loches. (More on that later).

I don't have any calluses on my fingers, and my muscle memory is a bit dodgy, but I'm surprised at how quickly it's coming back to me.

I'll let you know how it's going.