Many many years ago in a continent far far away…. I used to play bass on a regular basis, as a volunteer and hobbyist.
The fun thing at that time was the ability to replace my bass whenever I felt like it because where I lived, there were huge music stores with loads of new and second-hand instruments of different kinds and brands. I’d go in and find basses from unique, non-mainstream brands; try one and if I liked it, I could easily trade-in my old bass for it. Needless to say, I went through quite a few basses throughout those years just because I can, not because I’m good LOL.
I also saw a lot of higher end basses that I couldn’t afford. Among them, basses with bodies that has a “carved wood” look, with no solid color paint covering them. Confused? It’s okay. I’ll show you what I mean later on. Bear with me šš»
One of my fav basses which I ended up owning the longest and using the most, was an MTD Kingston 5 string bass. “What is that?” you asked. Please scroll (pic credit to owner).
LOOK AT THAT BEAUTY! (Yes, you can use Steve Irwin’s voice in your head for that one LOL). That glossy blue body with a shiny pearly white pick guard, smooth “soft” maple neck and fingerboard, and a single-coil humbucker pickup that resembled the one in my dream bass….
If your eyes have glossed over, or you’re shaking your head thinking ‘why am I reading this?’ and you didn’t understand a word of that… I’M SORRY! š But stay with me, I’ll get to my point in a more “humanly normal” way, I promise lol.
Anyway, I bought this in 2002 or 2003 and played it almost every week until I stopped and flew back home in 2005. I took it with me but it remained unused. I wish I had taken better care of it while in storage but I didn’t. Years later, I found out its neck had broken beyond repair.
It was a big blow. I regretted it a lot especially since it’s out of production and the brand is hard to find where I live now. In the end, I gave the broken bass up since I’ve stopped with the whole music stuff anyway.
Fast forward to 2022. I’ve done a lot of growing, falling, learning, failing… went through dark days, better days and a lot of therapy… and I thought, why not restart this music hobby as one of the positive ways to spend my time?
So I went on a bass search, found one then started taking lessons (my fingers are as stiff as ironing boards, y’all š„² ). My teacher recommended I see this person who services and repairs basses because my new bass needed tweaking for better play. I did as I was told, and while talking to the guy, I ended up mentioning this MTD Kingston bass — labeling it “the one who got away” — thinking that he probably didn’t even know about it since this brand isn’t common here.
Lo and behold, he knew! Not only that, he pointed at a dusty gig bag right next to him and said “There’s an MTD Kingston right here. It’s been sitting here since the pandemic, the owner upgraded it and wanted to sell but no buyers so far.”
I dramatically gasped, asked to see it and fell in love at first sight.
WHAT A BEAUTY! (You can do both Steve and Robert Irwin for this one LOL).
It’s different, yes. It’s not glossy blue and shiny pearl white although it has the same 5 strings and some of the original components. It’s not perfect either. It’s used, vintage (manufactured probably not too far apart from my old one) and there are signs of wear-and-tear here and there.
I won’t ramble on about the specs but here’s why this bass made me wanna write about it.
- It’s the same brand but of a higher-end series than my old one.
- IT HAS THAT “CARVED WOOD” BODY LOOK I MENTIONED EARLIER!! Sorry for the uppercase but YEAH!
- Those pickups (the 2 black rectangles in the middle of the body that look like 2 soap bars) were upgraded to the ones I used to stare at but couldn’t afford š„ŗ Their price is alone is at least half of the total bass price.
- It has other upgraded components and has been set/tweaked for better sound and playability.
- With all these pros and cons, I ended up paying the same amount I paid for my blue one back in 2002. Plus, the kind service guy cleaned and set up everything for me at practically nothing.
I had something good but I lost it because of my own negligence. I made a big mistake which I thought was irreparable.
This event reminded me again that with God, nothing is irreparable. What’s lost would be replaced, and the replacement is even better than I imagined! Not perfect for nothing is, but better in so many ways š
Yes, had I taken better care of my old one, I wouldn’t have had to shell out more money to get this one. There are consequences to our mistakes and bad decisions but they can’t and won’t stop God from working out His best plan for us.
So whatever “irreparable” mistake you made, whatever you lost — it could be much bigger than just neglecting a musical instrument, I know — have faith š. Trust Him. Your mistakes don’t have the final word. He’s still the same good, super capable God who can use all things for our good (Romans 8:28), who can do things beyond our imagination (1 Cor 2:9) because nothing is impossible for Him (Matt 19:26).
Just make sure you stay close to Him.
When you’re ready to go at it again, He’ll make sure you get another chance.
To close, let me quote God Himself when He talked to Jeremiah (Jer 32:27) before practically dropping the mic on the dude and the people of Israel: “I am the LORD, the God of all mankind. Is anything too hard for me?”
Boom! There ya go.
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P.S I recommend reading the entire chapter of Jeremiah 32 because even though Israel has angered God so much that He banished them, in the end He promised to gather them all again, make sure all goes well with them and their children, never stop doing good for them because He rejoices in doing them good and will assuredly plant them in that land with all His heart and soul. I literally went “aww” after reading that. He truly loves His people that much š„¹