equipment story

[c-ba55]

I played my electric upright in a jazz trio at this French restaurant/bar last night. I have an Intellitouch PT-1 tuner, which I left on the headstock throughout the night (3 sets). This tuner works on vibrations, not acoustics. You clamp it to a vibrating thing, and it tells you the pitch. Handy, since there's nothing to plug in. At the end of the night when I go to pack up, the tuner falls apart! There is the tuner itself, and the clamp. They are connected by a screw with a nut. The problem is that VIBRATIONS CAN UNSCREW A SCREW. So they designed this thing to work with vibrations, yet didn't take into account that it would be used in a vibrating environment. Well, I miraculously find the screw AND the nut (which is really really small). I put everything in my shirt pocket (it was a nice gig, my shirt had a pocket) and drove home, because for the first time ever, I didn't bring a screwdriver. Of course, this is the only time I needed a screwdriver. I had just last week taken the multitool out of my bag to do some setup work on my electric bass when I changed strings. I looked at the tools sitting there and thought what are the chances. Ha! Chance of needing a tool you think about bringing and don't = 100%. Anyway, I get home, and I have a gate in my fence that I have to bend down to open, to park the car in my gravel driveway. Yes, the tuner fell out of my pocket. And again miraculously, I found the screw. The tiny tiny nut managed to stay in my pocket. Everything's fine now. But

1) do not buy intellitouch tuners
2) always bring your tools

[rllefebv]

The IntelliTouch tuners are great! Maybe they weren't meant to be left on for an entire gig?? Also, a drop of clear nail polish on the nut will work wonders in preventing this in the future

-robert

[Sonorous]

How would your bass vibrate enough to unscrew a nut?

You weren't playing a paint mixer or a jack hammer.

[c-ba55]

Originally Posted by Sonorous

How would your bass vibrate enough to unscrew a nut?

You weren't playing a paint mixer or a jack hammer.

Well, an upright bass is coupled to the floor. There was a drum kit, also coupled to the floor.

[Brat]

My mom wanted to see how loud my amp could go so i turned it waaay up and played an open E. That vibrations caused this wall-lamp (which was hanging by a small nail) to fall off the wall and hit my dad's guitar. Ouch. But luckily, it just scraped the paint. And now I know not to turn up tthe amp like that again.

[Bard2dbone]

I think you got a fluke tuner. I have had no probs with my Intellitouch.

[marineman227]

yes the upright bass is coupled to the flour along with a drum kit but look at the floor... odds are it's wood which is held together by mere nails... if your nut and screw will come undone from that vibration in one gig wouldn't the floor be completely vibrated apart in less than a month after it was installed. I think it's a flawed tuner. I used to play upright bass and unless you're playing some very wierd jazz i don't imagine any possible way to vibrate a normal nut off like that.