I have to admit my chops on bass are not there. Its a growing appreciation of liking good music. I was very competetive in the chops department on drums, but we all grow.As to what a bass says about you, if a band focuses on your bass of choice rather than your chops they're not worth playing with anyway....
OK, yes I do know the feeling. An old friend asked to play my Guild 12 string at a recent jam (now priced at $3200 MAP). If I hadn't known him all my life it wouldn't happen. But I still didn't like getting in that situation, and yes the place doen't really have the classiest clientel on hand.BTW... don't worry about 4005s unless you have lots of cash and aren't worried about lugging around a bass worth over $5,000 to seedy gigs...
Don't cringe, but I recently heard a trio playing some great CSN & Neil Young. Then I noticed the bass player played nearly all open strings, with very little fretting. That got me to thinking that I too can play bass. But of course not anything like what a seasoned player can perform.
So really, I like the idea of the Ric bass, and am soon going to get it. I have a few different new or used ones in mind.
My over all concern about the player image, came concerning a bass player new in a band that is a Fender fanatic. After I stated to her how solid she was, she mentioned to me that she replaced "the guy on the Rickenbacker". That really doesn't prove anything, other than of course her chops were keeping up, and she likes Fender.
Thanks for your comments so far,
Craig