My health is better and stable for now, but there's no getting around the fact that I have ongoing serious medical issues. Someone up there does like me, though I doubt the bridge has anything to do with it.
Back to the bass: the fretwork and nut work is excellent. Another improvement is in the body sanding. With most mahogany Gibsons I've seen in the last 20 years, if you look at them with light reflecting off the glossy finish, you can see slight waves or ripples in the top. They haven't been sanded completely flat. Sometimes it's really glaringly obvious.I even noticed this recently on a Firebird Studio with a low gloss. But this bass looks great front and back, no waviness at all. Did Gibson make changes to eliminate this, or did I just luck out? Maybe taking longer on the finishing and fretwork accounts for some of the price increases.