Ever lost work just because you play EUB?

[sleeplessknight]

So, first a little back-story: My car was totaled in an accident, and I replaced it with a car that I just couldn't fit my 3/4 upright in, no matter how hard I tried. Seats wouldn't drop back far enough to load it in the rear, and the ceiling was too low to do 'the neck-stand trick', so I sold the upright and used the funds to pick up an Eminence EUB with the removable neck. I wasn't too keen on the sound of the stock instrument, so I put different strings on it and found that Obligatos REALLY improved the tone and 'vibe' of the instrument to the point where I had a hard time discerning the difference in a 'live band' situation (I record all my gigs, so I A/B'd past recordings with Eminence gigs; side note: Eminence + Obligatos + Fishman preamp + GK MB-150 == AWESOME!)

Anyway, so I answered a couple of Craigslist posts looking for jazz bassists. I've got my whole 'please hire me' spiel in an email template that explains my whole thing, how I run my own jazz band, sub regularly for all kinds of music including jazz, have played on other records, etc etc ad nauseam. Its a fairly comprehensive little email that (I hope) is a cut above the usual "'sup dude, I play upright, here's my Myspace link, hire me!" emails that I hear about. At the very end of this, I added a paragraph to the tune of "Oh and btw, while I am an upright player, lately circumstances have pushed me towards playing with this Eminence instrument, its an EUB but it sounds JUST like a doghouse in the mix, here's pictures at this link, here's videos of various famous cats playing it live (Arturo Sandoval's bassist plays one!), etc etc". This one guy emailed me back a WICKED nasty email about how dare I misrepresent myself, I'm not a jazz bassist without an upright, I'm never gonna get any work in this town, just on and on and on in a flame of epic proportions. Natch, anyone THAT high-strung I just don't want to work with, but it still got me thinking: I would've gotten that gig if I had a 'proper' upright. Has anyone else had a similar experience of not getting hired based solely on their choice of instrument?

--Lee

[Marcus Johnson]

One guy. I wouldn't sweat it. I've played the popsicle bass, and even my little strap-on BassCello, when my real bass was in the shop.... never had too many probs from anyone.

Once I went to do some road gigs with the BassCello with a pop singer, and the artist had a new "manager" that she had hired since the last time I worked with her. He immediately started ranking on me, even though I'd previously toured all over the world with this singer and this bass. So while he's whining at me, I'm writing down phone numbers of a few bassists in town. When I finally got a word in with this leech, I said, "I completely agree.... DB would be better. Call any of these guys, and they can either rent you a bass for me to use, or they can play the gig unrehearsed, you cover my salary and expenses, and I'll be on the next plane out". The BassCello was suddenly fine with him, and he kissed my butt for the rest of the tour. Little worm.