Tragedy strikes...thrice

[Mikemike]

I'm so bummed right now. Where to start?
Alright, so in the last month, I've lost three basses.
The first one was an old Austin Intruder, my first bass. I've had it for five years now, and it was a total piece. I ripped the frets out, spraypainted the pickguard, and put stickers all over the back. But two months ago, our band played a show and somehow left our lead singer's $600 Ovation acoustic there, which was gone the next day, so we assume it was stolen. Last week, I was looking for that bass, because I never play it, I just take it along as a backup. But it's gone. The only explanation I can come up with was that we left that one there as well. I'm not too torn up about it, but it still sucks.

The second bass was my upright, which I purchased last November. It was just a cheap chinese ebay bass, but I was having a lot of fun playing it, and I was just about to start taking lessons. BUT, our singer tried to lean it up against the wall during a practice. Bad idea. It fell, just barely seperating the neck seam. It was still playable, and it actually made the action better. But we moved out of our practice space last week, and my dumb ass forgets to loosen the strings before putting it in the car. So, we get it back to base, and lo and behold, the neck is now completely broken off one side, and the back/side seam near the neck is separated, too. So that's going to be quite a bit of money for repairs, which I won't be able to afford for a year or so. No more upright for me.

But the worst one absolutely crushed me. It was completely my fault, and it was such a stupid accident. I've had a Carlo Robelli acoustic bass for about three years now. Cheap, but loud enough to play with a few guitars. I was so attached to this instrument, I played it at least an hour a day. I went up north for a weekend and got all wasted at our drummer's house. I brought the bass, and we had some great jams. Since this was out in the country, and I used to do it all the time, I decided to go ahead and drive home. (I know, I know) So I take my bass outside, in the case, set it behind the car to put it in the trunk, and get in the driver's seat to pop the trunk. I didn't pop the trunk. I somehow forgot what I was doing and backed up. After hearing a loud crunch, I was baffled. What could I possibly have run over? I get out of the car, and see what I've done. Horrible. I ran over the headstock, cracking that in half. The neck split from the top to the 7th fret. My god. I cried, literally cried for about three minutes. Could've been the booze, but I was completely devastated.

Luckily, my birthday was coming up, and my parents are nice to me, because it's my first birthday away from home. So they bought me a Dean Playmate acoustic to replace it. (It's actually a lot louder)

Morals of the story? Don't drink and drive, don't let your singer handle a double bass, and don't leave things at gigs.
Anybody else lose instruments due to stupidity?

[tZer]

STAY AWAY FROM MY BASSES! LOL

Anyone here old enough to remember "Bad Luck Schleprock" from the Flinstones?



Dude, trace your ancestry... I bet you have some 'Schleprock' in your tree...

--tz

[whitedk57]

Stay away from alcohol. Why were you trying to drive too?

Was there alcohol involved at that gig where they got stolen? If so, it just proves that alcohol and expensive equipment leads to disaster...

[Mikemike]

Ha! No, I was only drinking when I broke my acoustic. I know that it's a completely terrible idea to drive drunk, and I definitely learned my lesson. When I was in high school, I did it all the time. But I came back from living in Minneapolis for four months and went to Park Rapids, four hours north. It's definitely the "sticks" of Minnesota. So, there's no cars out at 2 in the morning, and I figured I'd be alright, because I was experienced. But wow, was I wrong.

Yeah, some bad experiences here, but I'm still happy. My band's on the rise, I finally got a decent job, and I moved into a legitimate house with three of my bandmates. So I'm happy.


At least it wasn't a baby.

[seanm]

Originally Posted by tZer

STAY AWAY FROM MY BASSES! LOL

Anyone here old enough to remember "Bad Luck Schleprock" from the Flinstones?

-tz

Nope, you're the only one old enough to remember

[Rico_2212]

No he's not (D'oh!)