For the first time in a long time, my defretted Washburn XB-600 got an outing. String Project rehearsals have resumed and I was toying with which instrument to take. The double bass is perfect but awkward to get into the rehearsal room and unpack from its case. My Sei bass is always a delight to play but leads me in quite different paths to where I would travel on the upright. As I explained to the rest of the Project, the Washburn combined portability with all the microtonal likelihoods they get to enjoy with my upright playing (and the middle four strings are tuned EADG so the patterns I use are more directly transferable).

I was delighted to discover that it worked out really well, especially given that I haven’t played it for years. We started off with an extended jam, which was fantastic, and then ran through a few other numbers. I think I’ve found a good solution to take me forward through the coming months.