Carved Bass Transport in Chicago

Amedina10215 · #1 02-03-2013, 02:09 PM

Ok so I just bought a fully carved Amati Replica from Christopher and I'm technically still in the "Trail" period because I haven't paid for it yet. I have a bass buggy and a well padded case. Should I worry about walking this beautiful bass down Chicago streets to the Columbia Sherwood building for my community orchestra rehearsals? If this is going to a major problem I will return this new bass that I love and just get a Ply or Hybrid. I really just don't want to do this bass and injustice. Its freezing in Chicago quiet often and I just had my first weather scare when the seam opened on my bass. I don't know if i can deal with this much stress every week.

fdeck · #2 02-03-2013, 02:12 PM

How many minutes do you think it would typically spend outdoors?

Amedina10215 · #3 02-03-2013, 02:17 PM

Around 20 minutes or so.

Champagne · #4 02-03-2013, 02:23 PM

A well padded and insulated bag helps out a lot. That being said though (I have a real nice bag for my prize), I was out last night playing and took my beater with me which is also fully carved bass but 1/3 the value of my prize. Flipping cold and dry out and not looking forward to another trip to the luthier.

It is not only the cold you have to worry about, it is the humidity too. Both extremes will cause something to open up, weaken, crack... and it gets expensive.

Amedina10215 · #5 02-03-2013, 02:27 PM

Sheesh. These are things I wish I was told before I bought the bass. It cost me my used car money. So is my best bet to return it and pick up a less expensive hybrid?

PaulCannon · #6 02-03-2013, 02:43 PM

Get the bass you want to play, not the one you'd rather take a stroll with. An open seam is scary the first time it happens, but it isn't a big deal at all. There isn't anything twenty minutes in the cold can do to your bass which can't be remedied with a nice, hot pot of glue.

Eric Hochberg · #7 02-03-2013, 03:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by PaulCannon

Get the bass you want to play, not the one you'd rather take a stroll with. An open seam is scary the first time it happens, but it isn't a big deal at all. There isn't anything twenty minutes in the cold can do to your bass which can't be remedied with a nice, hot pot of glue.

+1 I've been wheeling around Chicago for 40 years now with my carved basses and have had very few cracks/open seams. Just make sure you humidify to 38% in the winter at home.

Herbie 80's · #8 02-03-2013, 03:10 PM

Jeez, you'd think that all the doubles basses and other stringed instruments would have been destroyed by now if they exploded from 20 minutes of being out in the cold!

Hell, my CARVED bass traveled 5,000 KM this Christmas on a barely heated train in NORTHERN CANADA. If my bass can survive that, yours can survive a measly 20 minutes outside in Chicago. It had an open seam in the end, but who cares? This happens to every instrument, and I'd rather an open seam than a crack.

And if it cracks? So what? Wood instruments have been cracking since their beginning, and double basses from the 17th century still exist (all with loads of cracks). If a 300 year old violone can survive that long, I'm sure yours (and everyone's) bass can survive 20 minutes outside in the winter.

Keyser Soze · #9 02-03-2013, 03:16 PM

The first year I had my NEW carved Chistopher (2003) I must've had 10 "random" opened seams. It arrived from Chicago w/ open seams on each side of the endpin. New pieces of wood acclimating to each other, to being a bass together. Since then only one or two, those from impact(s).