In the Fall of 2007 my wife Monika Herzig and I were invited to a concert in Frascati, Italy – that’s up in the mountains, about 15km south-east of Rome. Since 2001 we had played a few concerts in Germany on our yearly vacation trips. Every time I would pack my black Carvin LB 76 bass in its rugged (and in the meantime pretty torn up) case and hope it would come out of the bagage claim in one piece. Since we also had to bring along two little kids it was always extra annoying to wait for the bass to come out at the bulky items counter.
After we did the Frascati trip again in 2008 and the bass case looked worse than ever, I decided to buy a second Carvin LB 76 and deposit that in Germany with my wife’s mother. And then it went differently than expected when I was on the phone ordering my ‘custom options’. When the sales person asked me if I wanted this bass as a fretless I thought ‘Why not?’. After a few weeks the bass arrived at my door. And it was gorgeous! Needless to say I didn’t deposit it in Germany.
It’s funny how I have to concentrate on intonation. No watching TV during the set at one of the sports bars we play at – my eyes have to be glued to the neck.