Dark Day for Ray

[anonymous0726]

I had a big boo-boo the other night. The buckle failed on the shoulder strap of my Kolstein bag. Luckily I don't use the shoulder strap to put the bass on my back or shoulder, but rather as another handle by hooking my arm through the strap as I handle the bass. There is only one critical maneuver where I actually used the strap soley to lift the bass, this being where I would turn around to walk backwards up a short staircase and have to open a door. Like the stoop to my apartment building. When the buckle went my bass bounced off a few concrete stairs and the wrought-iron handrail simultaneously. My trust in the strap was probably augmented by the fact that I was finally home after a 14-hour playing day. Most of the damage is cosmetic, but I did get a nifty crack in the peg box. Photos.

What really ticks me off is that all of this damage was caused by the failure of a $.50 part. I've since researched and found a fix, probably applicable to most bags. Carabiners, available from any place that carries climbing equipment, can be substituted from the clasps. They retail for about $5. You can get them here: Eastern Mountain Sports

Get insurance on your bass.

[Monte]

Ouch! I had something similar happen on my Mooradian bag last winter. Unlike you, I throw the shoulder strap over my shoulder. Where mine failed was the stitching around the loop. Fortunately, I felt it give way and grapped the strap preventing too hard of a fall.

Monte

[Jeff Bollbach]

I know that that's a new bass and any ding at all can be traumatic, but the damage isn't really that bad. The scroll crack can be easily glued up and really isn't a structural issue-just don't touch it! Every time a player brings in a cracked bass they insist on pointing out the crack by touching it with their grimey paws[I smack their knuckles with a bow when they do that] Keep that crack clean and it'll glue up right nice. The compressions to the edges can be mostly restored by injecting boiling water into them.
I was impressed with the quality of your pics, Ray. I have been thinking of getting a digital camera but I really don't have a clue about them. Can you offer any advice?
jeff

[anonymous0726]

I have to admit that I did touch the crack once. I try not to be too neurotic about the bass -- it's a tool and I bought it to use. When you carry around something as big and delicate as a bass it is just bound to incur some damage. Particularly in NYC where the stages are tiny and you spend most of your travel in cabs and pushing your bass down the sidewalk, in trains, etc, etc. When damage does happen, though, I allow myself some time (a day or two) to be the anal-rentantive bass player that we all are deep at heart.

The camera that I have is a Sony DSC-S70 with the Zeiss optics. Great camera. The only thing that bugs me about it is the inability to get to manual mode (focus, exposure, etc) easily. If you have the money and are into more extreme photography, then look at the high-end Nikon stuff. Nikon also makes a camera in the same league as my Sony for about the same price. CoolPix model or something like that Photo quality is similar and the choice then is based on features/price/etc. The body of the Nikon is split in half and rotates from side to side, with the LCD viewfinder on one side and the lens on the other so that you don't have to have your eye on the plane of the lens, which is nice, but I went for the Sony on overall features v. quality -- as much as I am a Nikon fan. Mine was about $1,000 with extra memory.

[Chris Fitzgerald]

Originally posted by Ray Parker
I had a big boo-boo the other night. The buckle failed on the shoulder strap of my Kolstein bag. Luckily I don't use the shoulder strap to put the bass on my back or shoulder, but rather as another handle by hooking my arm through the strap as I handle the bass. There is only one critical maneuver where I actually used the strap soley to lift the bass, this being where I would turn around to walk backwards up a short staircase and have to open a door. Like the stoop to my apartment building. When the buckle went my bass bounced off a few concrete stairs and the wrought-iron handrail simultaneously. My trust in the strap was probably augmented by the fact that I was finally home after a 14-hour playing day. Most of the damage is cosmetic, but I did get a nifty crack in the peg box. Photos.

Man, that really, REALLY blows. Sorry to hear about that.



Get insurance on your bass.

I'm actually looking into that, as well as insuring my grand piano & recording gear. Any suggestions?

[anonymous0726]

I get the stuff through the ISB. Bob G. didn't like it because of the $500 deductible. Luckily this repair is going to be more on the pocket-change level...

[C.Veltman]

Hi Ray !
Sorry to hear these sad news !
I can relate very much to what you are feeling.
One good thing is it can be repared !

Why not show us a few pictures of Isabella
better sides ? She looks stunning although damedge.

For pictures I use a Ricoh RDC 7.
Fits easily into a pocket, takes macros down
to 1cm ! and is very easy to handle.
http://medlem.tripodnet.nu/hanveltma...e/Rimg0044.jpg
Best
CV

[anonymous0726]

My 'avatar' is Isabella. I'm going to take some pix of the whole repair thing at Shank's tomorrow. I'll put them up at my site if I get anything good. Dark basses, as mine is, are really hard to photo in available light so I haven't gotten any photos that I've really been able to save so far.

[Bob Gollihur]

Originally posted by Chris Fitzgerald


I'm actually looking into that, as well as insuring my grand piano & recording gear. Any suggestions?

Yeah, I had mine through the ISB's program through Merz-Huber, and they were good folks to deal with. But it wasn't just the deductible going to $500, but also the minimum premium going to $200 at the time. And I have electric basses and equipment insured as well, some of which would simply have had no coverage with a $500 deductible if something were swiped or damaged on the job.

My premium is a little over $200 now to cover $27,800 worth of stuff, that's with MusicPro. And it also includes, at no charge, coverage for computer equipment up to $5000.

[Jay]

Wow man, as DURRL said, that blows.

I know how you feel. Five days after I got my first double bass (Engelhardt EC-1), my dad broke the neck completely off of it. I cried man. Good luck with the repairs.

My condolences.

[rablack]

Metalarch how about an update on the bass? Didja get it repaired? How's the dark side going for you?

[anonymous0726]

The Un-Real Book; the Surrealistic and Autobiographical Tales of a Bass Player: Another Entry

The week starting out with the failure of the strap on my bass bag and the resultant dropping of my bass on some concrete stairs is a known fact in these parts, and too painful for comers-new, so I won't bore you with the details. The end of this week is another matter.

I make an appointment with Mike Shank to look at and repair the damage on my bass and left Brooklyn for South/Central PA bright and early -- about 11:00am -- for the workshop of my favorite bass repair guy. About 1:30pm, toward the end of the second of three legs of the journey, the motor on my car -- a beast that I call the Mazda 'Curse' -- quits without apology. Having enough white trash in my blood, I determine that a) It probably was the fuel pump and b) with my luck, it wasn't going to be that simple.

Armed with a modern communications marvel, as hated at concerts as it is life saving in these situations, I hail a tow truck and then spend some sparingly apportioned cell minutes talking up a cute girl that I met in Manhattan earlier in the week. Mid-conversation an armed revenuer of the great state of Pennsylvania, out collecting voluntary income tax from the good citizens and travelers of I-78, stops, looks at the bass in the passenger seat and without pause or break in facial expression asks for my license. Eventually, and after the Trooper was unable to find a state or county in this great country that wanted my hide, the tow truck finally arrives and drags the ‘Curse’ and me to a nearby mechanic. After and hour and a half waiting at the garage, a rather greasy gent finally is able to look at my car and pretty quickly determines that it is indeed the timing belt that has given way on the thing. Great. I have a $120 in my pocket and an important bass repair still in my near future. So I did what we all must do from time to time, I gave a call to the folks that brought me into this world for assistance. Two and a half hours later and with my fingerprints indelibly emblazoned on my parents’ credit card, I was again on my way to Elizabethtown, Pa.

In Elizabethtown, all went smoothly and after a lot of yapping and putting fingerprints on every bass is Shank’s shop, it was 12:30 in the morning and I was back in The Curse and heading back toward New York City. As I was passing through Hershey, PA, as you must to get back to New York from Elizabethtown, I found myself stuck behind a semi truck loaded with crates of live chickens headed for their doom. About halfway down that twisty little street that takes your through Hershey Park, and just coming out of the sharpest curve, one of the chickens managed to break free from her crate and landed on the street. As we were traveling (the truck and I) at an abso-freakin-lute crawl, I managed to maneuver around the bird and come to a stop. I got out and consulted the bird, who other than being a bit freaked was in good shape, grabbed her and jumped into my car and began high-speed pursuit of the semi -- with a chicken in my lap and an Italian bass in the passenger seat of The Curse. At the next major intersection I managed to catch the truck and get him to pull over. (This was south-central PA, after all) The driver, an older guy who was probably also the farmer, looked a bit surprised when I handed the bird up to him, but he took the bird and my advice to double-check his load and I headed on my way.

Isabella is fine, BTW. Thank you to all who let me whine for a bit!

[Monte]

You obviously aren't one of us resourceful southern folks. You had a late lunch right there with you and you gave her back?

[anonymous0726]

If I were real resourceful, I would have tailed the truck and collected all of the chickens that managed to squeek through the hole in the crate.

[farmerdude]

Ray, are you sure your not related to Charlie Parker?

[anonymous0726]

That I should have seen coming.

[Chris Fitzgerald]

Originally posted by BIRDMANOFCENTRALPARKER
That I should have seen coming.

Considering that you were practically BEGGING for someone to say it, yes, you should.

[Jay]

Originally posted by rablack
Metalarch how about an update on the bass? Didja get it repaired? How's the dark side going for you?

Eh, Dad got me another bass. I tried to talk him into getting it repaired, which he agreed upon, but he got me the new one as well and is planning to sell the repaired one. I should get some pics of the break on here sometime, it was pretty nasty. Turned out it took a chunk out of the top along with the neck...very ugly break. Still don't know how much the repair is going to be...Dad got me the other bass and took possession of the one that befell the painful tragedy. All is well I guess, but there's a broken bass sitting around that could be repaired and making someone happy.

On a side note, I just received my bow yesterday. Ordered it through Gard at Bass Central. Just a simple Glasser composite French student bow...nothing fancy but it works. I'm off to rosin to get some helpful hints in that department.

[farmerdude]

I had a close call last Friday. 2-large-drunk-embraced-female-lovers tumbled onto the scroll of my bass. One even had a cigar in her mouth. I can still see it in slow motion. I dont think it did any damage. havnt really looked at it Wish I had a video camera at the time.

[Tim Ludlam]

And I thought that cow-tipping was the only form of entertainment in Kansas. Man, was I wrong!!!