After moving to the US in 1988 I noticed that I got more calls for bass than guitar. After a while I decided that I needed something more professional than my brother’s old Marathon bass. After seeing Chick Corea Electric Band live in Birmingham, AL, circa 1989, John Patitucci left a deep impression on me. That rack of Yamaha six string basses on his side of the stage looked so powerful. Soon thereafter I went to one of our local music stores in Tuscaloosa, AL. They didn’t have any six string basses. But there was an affordable Washburn 5 string bass I ended up with. This played and sounded so much better than my old bass and until it got stolen in an Indianapolis underground parking garage in 2001 (while I was loading the car!), it got played on many hundreds of gigs. I have to admit it had taken me many months to get used to the low B-string.
It was quickly replaced by this Carvin LB 76 bass. I admit that I am much less picky or peculiar in my choice of basses as I am with my guitars. But I really like this instrument. It’s well made. I like the aspect that Carvin offers these ‘semi-custom’ instruments. Also, they were absolutely forthcoming when I broke off the top of the tension rod while trying to adjust the neck. I told them on the phone what happened and that it was probably my fault. They said it was probably a material problem and sent me a new bass. How cool is that!