When I saw John McVie playing an acoustic bass guitar in the Fleetwood Mac video “Little Lies” in 1987, I knew that I needed a similar bass. I loved playing acoustic guitars anyway, and an acoustic bass would allow me to practice unamplified, and to record and perform with an acoustic group like the audubon society (my side project with Rob Straughn). Unfortunately in 1987, I could only afford the Matador and Harmony basses I could find in pawn shops. No acoustic bass for me.

Fast forward to 1994. I was married and had a reliable (if not large) income, and was beginning to look for more serious instruments. I found this Oscar Schmidt OB100 at Rieman Music in Urbandale. The tone, the shape of the neck, and the balance of the neck to the body, and the overall size and shape of the instrument seemed the perfect fit for me. I made a down payment that day, and had the bass paid off by the end of the month.

Today, the Oscar Schmidt is one of four basses in my collection. It has some pretty stiff competition from my Hofner “Beatle Bass”, my Fender HM Bass V, and my Yamaha fretless. But there’s no substitute for its tone and playability, and it has a nice visual balance when I’m playing an acoustic gig with my church band, the dUUdes. And because I don’t have to plug into an amplifier if I don’t want to, it has a welcoming “pick up and play” quality that a solid-body electric bass can’t offer.