Gear/Vehicle mishaps

CEOofEVIL · #1 10-31-2007, 12:54 PM

Howdy all,

I'm sure many of us have suffered the injury of Gear (amps, heads, cabs, anything...) either caused by a vehicle, or vice versa (Gear hurting the car). Let's see some stories, and no, they don't have to be because of stupidity (though mine were!). I'll start.

Back when I was in high school, I had the obligatory POS first car. It was a 1985 Isuzu trooper II, and it had seen some hard times, and I loved the thing to death. Anyway I didn't have a bass cab of my own at the time, so I borrowed this huge 2x15 cab from a friend of mine. For those of you who don't know what a trooper is, It's an older SUV so it has plenty of cargo room. I got the cab inside, and packed up everything else I had, and took off to the gig.

Well... I didn't tie the thing down. I just had it wedged in really tight with all the other gear and I , in all my teenage male wisdom, figured it would be fine. A couple of miles away from the venue, I took a turn a little bit too fast and the cab tips onto it's side and the metal corner protector blows out my driver side rear sliding window.

I just kinda looked at it in shock, pulled over and made SURE EVERYTHING was tied down and kept on driving to the show.

The cab was perfectly fine, BTW.

Okay, so we all make mistakes right? Usually they only happen ONCE... Nope, not with me! Years later, My friend and i build a exact replica of that 2x15 cab, and once again I'm taking it to a gig. I thought I had it secured down properly with tie downs and making my way to the venue, when the SAME EXACT THING HAPPENS! Only this time It tilted the right and blew out the passengers side window! Not to mention the fact that I had my cables sitting on top of the cab, and when the window blew out my cables went sailing right out the window, landing right in the middle of a busy intersection.

I pulled over and had to dodge traffic, to grab the cables from the intersection. I saw a few cars actually run over them, once or twice. Aside from a few minor scrapes, they were perfectly fine and still work great today (and that is why I love spectraflex, LOL).

Needless to say, I then learned my lesson and made sure everything that went into a car was tied down, so that even Hercules himself couldn't move em'. Since I was a poor HS kid, I just went to the hardware store and bought a couple of sheets of Plastic (not plexi, the other super tough ballastic type of plastic. can't think of the name) and made some new windows. They worked fine, hehe. I've since sent the poor car to the junk yard because It just gave out on me, but these days I make sure anything that goes in my new ride is not only tied down but covered so that no damage occurs. Not driving like a maniac helps too

I also witnessed a friend who didn't pack his cymbals into the back of his truck right, loose a crash going about 30 miles an hour. Cymbal flew right out the side of the bed and went rolling on it's side at full speed through a row of hedges. He freaked out and when we retrieved it it was covered in sap from actually slicing a few branches from the bushes! We couldn't stop laughing, even though it could have seriously HURT someone had circumstances been different.

So yeah. ALWAYS make sure gear is properly stowed for transit, because PLENTY of bad things can happen! Safety first. Anyone else?

bluestarbass · #2 10-31-2007, 01:52 PM

I have a 1 year old nissan xterra. She is my baby. I just moved into a new house and i was unloading my cab. I got to the stairs and coulnt see, so I thought I was hitting the lights, nope the garage, and my cargo door was still up.

In slow motion I saw the garage door lower and grind all the paint off the back of my car, schreeeech.

I think screamed profanities in a family neighborhood in the middle of the night.

2 Days later I had to get my whold back door repainted

Just J · #3 10-31-2007, 02:31 PM

ouch. I have a few scars from hauling DJ gear. Dinged the edge of the door with the coffin, and scarred up one of the arm rests. No bass gear injuries yet though.

hartke20g · #4 10-31-2007, 03:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CEOofEVIL

obligatory POS first car. It was a 1985 Isuzu trooper II

hey don't be dissin your Zu!

i have a 1996 Rodeo i'm working on at the moment. surprisingly, though, i've never had anything bad happen to my gear regardless of how i've driven. i once took a speed bump at around 30mph (they neglected to paint it at all, and this was at night too) with all my gear in the back and i even felt everything be lifted at least 2 inches and i though my most expensive pieces of gear (and probably my suspension) would be wrecked, but everything was fine. however i am a bit paranoid about the way my dad takes his turns when my gear's in the bed.

cutthroatmolloy · #5 10-31-2007, 09:15 PM

the worst thing thats happened to me is my case i keep my leads and strap and bits and pieces in falling out of the back of my friends van, it landed so that it tore one of the latches right off.
just took the case in to work and repaired it though.

joel the bass player · #6 10-31-2007, 10:07 PM

This wasn't really caused by my gear, but one time I was leaving a gig (downtown, busy night) and got rear ended. My Chevy S-10 had an 8x10, 6 space rack, and two basses in hard cases in the bed. Luckily nothing got damaged (including me) but I was super pissed off. The funny thing was that I was sitting in stopped traffic. The light behind me changed and the guy took off real quick and just plowed into the back of my truck.

Incognitus · #7 11-01-2007, 01:38 AM

The worst that happened to me was before I owned my own car. I was driving back home from Worship practice and the road was clear but the wind was blowing in gusts cross the highway. I was driving a Chevy Astro Van, Oh man I miss that thing, could do anything and go anywhere. Anyway, I was driving in the left most lane and a very strong gust caught the side of the van and shoved me into the shoulder. Now normally this would not be a problem in the summer or early winter. This was in the middle of winter, there is at least six inches of snow on the shoulder. So when a 2.5 ton vehicle traveling at 65 miles an hour hits that much snow it pretty much gets dragged in. So before I can correct it makes a VERY sharp left turn and flips/rolls, flies about 20 feet then lands on the wheels and settles at about a 30 degree list. Well, the only bass equipment I had in the vehicle was my stingray in it's OHSC. Which promptly went flying through the sliding door window and was lying about 10 feet from the Van. So I get out, look at the van and imagine just exactly how my parents will kill me. Then being the Bass player that I am, immediately go and check the bass. The Case was practically undamaged, the only thing that got hurt was the lock. The rest of it is fine, no marks, nothing. The bass inside was undisturbed. I was amazed to say the least. Now the part that really is scary, is that I had decided to leave the Carvin 210 and R600 head at church since I was borrowing it. If that had been in the vehicle when I rolled it...

Yeah, so that's MY story...

BillMason · #8 11-01-2007, 04:05 AM

My 410, my built like a tank Peavey head, and a Peavey guitar combo spent a week together in the back of my Ford Escape, as I was planning on trading them in on a new GK212 Neo that I was waiting to arrive. The day finally came, and I was bringing them all into the music store, and the sales guy said something behind me. I turned and looked and he was looking and frowning at the guitar combo - three of the knobs and pot shafts were sheared and the tolex was ripped!!! It *was* in perfect shape when it left the house a week earlier, but my Peavey head was unfortunately leaning against those three pots, and, well, the rest is history. I drove home *without* the new 212 and with all the old stuff.

Depth_Charge · #9 11-01-2007, 08:03 AM

Driving my brand new Eden Nemesis cab combo home I just put it in the back of my 4WD, thinking the carpet would chock the wheels with the weight and all. Silly me. First corner and it fell face down, where it stayed no problems

In one band I was in, the singers partner (both girls) was big on helping me cart my gear out, I have no idea why, but I never declined the offer

First time she did I pointed to my bass case and said "sure, grab that bass, it goes on the floor of the back". She followed me out and I'd loaded everything else up in 2 trips and went back in to chat figuring she'd be cool.

About 10 minutes later the singer asks where her partner is and I remember, laugh, go outside and see the poor girl still straining to get the bass in the car. It kept catching on the middle section and I forgot to tell her it does that, and she was hell bent on getting it in there with no help so didn't come ask...just kept pushing

chaosMK · #10 11-01-2007, 10:50 AM

Once I got arrested on my way to a show.

wingnut · #11 11-01-2007, 11:19 AM

Had my guitard load my gear into the back of my F-150. I had to work and went right to the gig after in my car. While going down the road at the last turn before the club, I noticed a big green and black box on the side of the road... You guessed it, it was my Trace Elliott 210 cab. I picked it up and went to the club. My guitard was there wigging out. He had forgotten to put the tailgate up!
He drove all the way to the club that way, about five miles! His strat fell out in the parking lot... lucky bastage.

mattofash · #12 11-05-2007, 04:13 AM

My guitarist had some of our drummers cymbols in his car one time when he was picking me up. obviously we had to empty his car to get my equipment in as well and the cymbols just got left on the road.
we reversed out straight over them, then drove forward over them again before we knew.
luckily nothing happened to them and they still played fine, and the drummer still doesnt know...

permagrin · #13 11-05-2007, 04:18 PM

All the guys in the band we stoked when I picked up an old '79VW bus, cheap, because it was a big open box that had a lot of room for gear. Until, that is, it caught on fire on the way to a gig with ALL the band gear in it (drums and PA and all). I wasn't there, my sax player was driving, as I had something going on that afternoon and was going to show up in time to play but not set up.

The van pretty much burned to the ground (so very sad, great vehicle) but my sax player managed to get all the gear out first. He scortched the front of his shirt getting the guitars and basses off the deck above the flaming engine at the back of the van. A guitar amp had its grill burned off, and everything smelled like burnt rubber for a few weeks, but it all worked fine and we did the gig.

newfuture · #14 11-06-2007, 02:01 PM

Friend of a friend / Urban Legend tale of woe:

Small band on tour, all gear in van with band. Axle breaks on van, which slides into a ditch. Instrument case comes flying to the front, decapitating the driver.

True story or false, make sure everything is secured, and if you're doing the van tour thing, might not be a terrible idea to get a security cage installed.

Lastly, if you're sleeping in a van, always feet towards the front. Never a good feeling smashing your head into the seat in front of you if the driver slams on the brakes. Or better yet, keep the seat belt on.

cutthroatmolloy · #15 11-07-2007, 12:11 AM

our guitarist nearly lost a good portion of our gear, and possibly his and our singers lives on the weekend.
swerving off the highway to avoid someone braking quickly. the cars behind him too busy looking at him go off the road all crashing. so lucky there was nothing on the side of the road to hit.
i think also the weight of all that gear in the back helped the van to not roll over.

its scary what can happen.

Cristofre · #16 11-08-2007, 01:25 PM

One time coming back from a gig I was sitting in the very back seat of the drummer's old converted school bus with all of the equipment basically piled around me.
The other guys were in front. At some point I hear some indistinct yell from the front and look and see just down the road in front of us some guy pulling a boat on a trailer had stopped dead in the middle of the highway,being that our bus had not so good breaks, our drummer slings it into the ditch going 60 or so-

I can still see this in slow motion in my head- There was this big bump and everything in the back of the bus flew up in the air- drums, guitars, speaker cabinets, and me.

Then I hit the floor. Then everything else landed on top of me.

At some point I realized I was under everything and somewhat in shock, but also realized that our drummer had managed to "pull out of the dive" and got back on the road. I could hear the guys up front laughing and saying stuff like "man!!!! that was close!!

And then I heard someone say "hey.... where's Cris?"

Then I dont remember anything after that until they had pulled everything of off me.

Amazingly nothing was broken, but I was bruised up all over my body and it was a month before I started feeling normal again.

Besides me, the bus took most of the damage, my old Acoustic 360 bass cab had smashed one of the windows in the side of the bus.

mattofash · #17 11-09-2007, 02:58 AM

not a bass but still funny
one of my mates has recently had a kid an i was round his place an was talking to his gf for a bit, she takes the lil kid upstairs to change the baby. The lil kid just takes this huge runny sh*t all over his prized guitar.
I love that kid

The Golden Boy · #18 11-09-2007, 10:26 AM

I think some piece of gear had rubbed against the rear defroster in my station wagon. One line going across the back doesn't work.

infamousxtopher · #19 11-09-2007, 01:53 PM

yup i got one for you.

so everyday i have to take my hartke combo to and from university, just throw it in my back seat and go. one time last year i guess i took a turn too fast, and luckily there was no one behind me, because at that moment my amp took a tumble, straight through my rear drivers side window. glass everywhere. amp hits the pavement. 250 bucks worth of damage to the car, and suprisingly i play that amp even today, it has some bumps but no major damage. amazing durability!

Bass Pleasures · #20 11-10-2007, 05:35 AM

This is straying off-topic just a little but it's still gear/vehicle related.

Our regular van man was driving a few weeks ago (it's his work's van, he gets to take it home, we pay him to move our gear) when he approached a bridge.

Without warning, a body fell from the bridge, hitting the road in front of him.
He slammed on the anchors and managed to avoid hitting the person but they were dead from the fall.

How about that?
Broad daylight, just going about your business and some poor wretch commits suicide in front of you. Needless to say, he was a bit shaken up.