I told myself that if I stick with this for 6 months and still feel motivated to continue, I could buy a second bass. A nice one. Something I’d really enjoy. I eventually found the one I wanted … right after the finish was discontinued and stock was all but gone.
It took some effort, but I got one: a Sterling Stingray Ray34 with poplar burl in a dark scarlet burst.
I have another thread about the trouble I had getting my hands on this thing. If you don’t want to click through, suffice to say this is the third one of these I’ve bought in less than two weeks because the other two showed up with damage that definitely did not happen during shipping.
But my persistence paid off, because I saved $300 in exchange for accepting this small flaw on an otherwise mint condition bass:
It even came with the Sterling gig bag.
I spent a few hours with it today, and it’s everything I wanted it to be. Third try’s the charm, I guess.