dumb question

[tbassist4]

This is more of a stringed instrument in general question, but why are you suppose to lay your bass or cello on its side versus its back? haah this sounds like im very new, which I am (to double bass), haha 5 years of bass guitar and playing, musical studies, and vocal studies cant answer half the questions about upright that i need to know haha, sorry about the dumb question, but can anyone enlighten me?

[bassteban]

I think, for one thing, resting a bass on its back would put most if not all it's weight on one point of the back, which is not terribly strong, relative to the direction you'd be pushing it in that position. Lying it on its side would spread the weight around 4 separate points, which I believe would be better at supporting the weight in that direction. I'm probably not explaining it very well; I need sleep...

[ispider6]

The main reason has to do with the structural integrity of the instrument. Laying an instrument on its ribs is safer because they can bear more weight than say the back. Additionally, on many instruments, if you were to lay them on their back, the scroll may come in contact with the ground creating unnecessary stress on the neck. When you already have a good amount of force from the strings pulling the neck forward, you don't want to be adding to it. Beyond this, laying the instrument on its back on a hard surface such as a concert stage would scratch up the varnish pretty quickly. Those are a few reasons but I'm sure there are more.

[dfp]

imagine a whole bass section putting all their basses on their backs on the floor during a break... there'd be no room to stand anywhere!