Hi Pete,
Im actually learning to play bass.....fretted instruments are not easy for old hands!
I remember this post and your ESP LTD bass is a beauty indeed.....now I know what bass it is and the reputation of the Luthier, You know how I am with gear

I have been at it for about 4 months and for me who has for all my life played music by ear am forced now to dive or fall into music theory as teaching the fingers is all about scales, arpeggios, chord tones / modes. Its pretty amazing and my studies seem to progress with theory more that the practical part of actually playing the bass.
Im enrolled in an online school called Scotts Bass Lessons, a fella from Leeds I think, I really like how he teaches. There is a lot out in the WWW. At some point I will get some hands on teaching with a human.
How this will translate into my ambient music.....in my head I have a good idea. Just got to get hands to a point where they are able to interpret those ideas.
My Bass story:
The girl who cuts my hair gave me a bass.....she gigs around town and this bass was her first one. A Korean Samick copy of a Fender Precision bass, very cheaply made but perfect for a beginner. However I really wanted to learn on a fretless bass. So I watched a few youtube videos on how to convert a fretted bass to a fretless and pulled the frets out, inlayed black veneer maple as fret markers (Im already regretting doing this, should have gone with natural veneer) sanded it down using the correct gauge sanding block, added some 20 thin coats of super glue and sanded it down to a very hard mirror finish. I had to raise the fretboard up with wood shims as the string saddles could not be lowered enough to compensate for the missing frets. It is a work in progress and it sounds decent. Sounds like a fretless with some quirks or maybe the quirks belong to the player. I will get it professional setup so I can remove myself from the equation and down the road perhaps upgrade the pickups, electronics, bridge and hardware....the knobs are hard plastic.
Really enjoying the journey and look forward to eventually adding this palette of sound to my music.
Pete, did you use your bass on any recordings yet?
