Recently a friend, Stephanie Christian, asked me about buying a new bass. She topped playing live a while back and wanted to jump back into the live music fray (previously she had played with the now defunct industrial rock band Allegory) The problem was that she no longer had a bass and had concerns about which bass to choose. Some of these concerns were gender-based. Even more than guitars basses tend to cater to men. They are big, they are heavy and can be tough on the fingers.

Christian told me that playing larger basses hurt her fingers and she was concerned about the impact this might have on her hands over years (repetitive stress injuries etc.). It isn't all about size. She still wanted the right tone to suit her style of playing.

"I like a more woody sound, almost a guitarish tone. I play more melodic," says Christian. "I am also looking for the right size because my hands are small."

In the past Christian has played a Warwick fret-less bass as well as an Ibanez. She isn't interested in the fretless sound and she has a budget (and Warwick basses are generally priced outside her range).

Christian wants a lighter bass with a smaller neck that has an almost acoustic sound. An obvious choice would be a Daisy bass. Daisy designs and manufactures basses and guitars specifically for women. But Christian had one little concern after looking over their products.

"There one issue--the 'girliness' of the Daisy basses," says Christian. "Just because they are for a girl they don't have to be pink and sparkly or shaped like a heart."

Which is exactly why the Daisy Retro-H bass is one that should be on Christian's list; the Retro-H models are not pink or sparkly.

Other woman-friendly basses that fit into this category include the Fender Mustang (which is just a tad over the $500 or so Christian wants to spend), some of the Danelectro models, and even acoustic basses such as the Fender BG29 (a question here being; do you want your only bass to be an acoustic one?). Soon Gearwire will be out giving these a test run and report the results. Stay tuned.