| I can't answer this from the perspective of the traveling double bassist, but as a touring musician who has seen a thing or two from guitarists who use really good hollowbodies and occasional upright bassists. And as a Floridian, where humidity is a way of life.
Most of the people I know with DB's only take them out if they're traveling exclusively on the road and not the air. Otherwise they rent them locally. But there are some who bought giant $2500 fiberglass cases to fly them and hope the airline doesn't mishandle them too badly. I wouldn't fly one without it.
If you're flying it or you're going from extreme humidity to extreme dryness, you may want to wet a sponge and stick it in a plastic box with holes punched in the top and put it inside the case. Otherwise, just keep it clean and well-protected and out of temperature extremes as much as possible. That's all you can do. Basses are meant to be played and they're built well enough to withstand all but the real top-end extremes of climate, unless they suck. And since there's not a thing you can do about the weather, then just do your best to not shock it. In other words, don't remove it from the case/bag immediately if the temperature at the stage is significantly different from the temperature it was stored. Give it time to gradually adjust in the bag, like a fish you buy at the pet store.
You're not going to prevent it from changing a little with the climates, but if you have an adjustable bridge, no biggie. And you're going to ding it up unless you're the most careful person on earth to whom no bad things ever happen. And you have to accept that it might get damaged, and when it does, you find the nearest luthier in that area and get it fixed ASAP so you can keep playing. You do what you can and don't overly obsess over it. And you don't take a $50,000 showpiece bass out for road trips unless it has its own limo.
Last edited by JimmyM : 05-26-2005 at 02:06 AM.
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