Ever Damaged Your Bass Beyond Repair?

Tituscrow · #1 05-03-2011, 01:43 PM

Handle snapped on flight case - slow motion drop to the ground - bounce down stairs - me looking ashen faced and paralyzed.

That was a very recent sequence of events and fortunately no damage was sustained apart from the need for a quick retune, after some gentle stroking and checking it was generally intact.

Anyone ever had an incident that resulted in damage beyond repair?

Antny · #2 05-03-2011, 02:11 PM

Not to me, but my friend's wife threw his custom made 5-string Spector out their 2nd story window. Both "wings" snapped off, neck got chewed up, and a ton of other damage sustained. He didn't think it was repairable, but he brought the remains to Stuart who remarkably was able to masterfully bring it back to life. All but the neck scars are gone, and he believes it never sounded better! Needless to say, his marriage didn't last.

GM60466 · #3 05-03-2011, 02:12 PM

December 31, 1979, I fell off the bar and the neck of my Ric 4001 snapped off. Busted for good.

Tituscrow · #4 05-03-2011, 02:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by GM60466

December 31, 1979, I fell off the bar and the neck of my Ric 4001 snapped off. Busted for good.

Looking at the date, too much new years eve boozing?

Ouch!

Kenner · #5 05-03-2011, 02:26 PM

No...but I have a Samick Stages 5 that I found in the garbage...

I can easily move the neck to and fro. I WILL be broken beyond repair (Peter Townsend style) on stage on June 3... : )

Rebop · #6 05-03-2011, 02:31 PM

Close calls but never trashed a bass.

Closest I came was hanging out with a friend and doing mods to our basses. We would always tinker with our basses and had a wild idea to shave the necks down on our (nearly identical) fretless jazz basses (similar year and same MIJ unlined fretless model). After an hour or two sitting cross legged on the living room floor, I took enough wood off the back of my neck to expose the truss rod cavity for about 4". He never let me live that one down; his bass was perfect and he even was able to get his much slimmer than mine. I guess they're not all the same even from the same factory. Had the neck patched with a 4" ebony skunk stripe and it's still goin'.

tk421 · #7 05-03-2011, 02:39 PM

i have busted one beyond the point of it being worth fixing it.

I had an old kawai teardrop vox copy - hollow body, short scale, with a floating bridge - kind of like a les paul meets a banjo. it had 20 year old flats on it when i bought it.
my little brother tried to put new rounds on it, and tried to crank them down so that the light gauge rounds were as "tight" as the ancient flats ...

*snap*

the rosewood portion of the bridge just disintegrated. i shopped around, the cheapest i could find at the time was a violin shop my at the time GF suggested in cinci - they wanted 3 times what i paid for the bass, just for the wood portion of the bridge.

a few weeks later, i bought my '93 foundation.

Meddle · #8 05-03-2011, 02:53 PM

There is a small chance I somehow stripped the trussrod nut on a J copy I keep at my parents house. The truss used to turn but now I don't get any purchase in one direction. Its odd, I can turn it one way but the thing won't grip the other way, like a limited slip dif or something. Odd.

That bass is going to become fretless this summer though, so all is good.

jay tay · #9 05-03-2011, 02:55 PM

the closest I came was when I loaned my P-Bass to a friend for an out door gig. he was soloing at the front of the stage when the strap pi came out, the bass flipped round and fell 6ft head stock first onto the concrete, with my friend still holding onto the strap, on stage (you couldn't make this stuff up) any way the head stock had snapped in two, and three of the machine heads were smashed. I managed to fix it, by gluing and setting the headstock in a vice, and buying some new machine heads! It sounds a little bit muddy now, but it's perfect for playing reggae. Really earthy tone! only problem is I had to sand the logo of the headstock, so now everyone thinks its a fake! I often wonder what the damage would have been if my buddy didn't manage to grab the strap?

hennessybass · #10 05-03-2011, 03:06 PM

I mostly stick to dings, dents, and scratches.

Have a buddy who is an upright player who fell into his bass while doing the rockabilly stand on your bass thing. Middle of a solo... just fell right through it.

jay tay · #11 05-03-2011, 03:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by hennessybass

I mostly stick to dings, dents, and scratches.

Have a buddy who is an upright player who fell into his bass while doing the rockabilly stand on your bass thing. Middle of a solo... just fell right through it.

amazing!

Sublab · #12 05-04-2011, 01:46 AM

On you tube there's this guy trying to flip his bass 'round his neck during a song and the bass just flies off into the air. Don't know if there's damage or not, and it certainly wasn't me, but that bass just flew and smashed down. Hurts even looking at it.

SLaPiNFuNK · #13 05-04-2011, 01:58 AM

I havent but knew a guy who had a modulus graphite, was riding a motorcycle with it...

that didn't end well...

Tituscrow · #14 05-04-2011, 05:52 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sublab

On you tube there's this guy trying to flip his bass 'round his neck during a song and the bass just flies off into the air. Don't know if there's damage or not, and it certainly wasn't me, but that bass just flew and smashed down. Hurts even looking at it.

That sounds unendingly watchable. Any links?

baileyboy · #15 05-04-2011, 06:07 AM

The only bass that I ever inadvertently ruined was a '98 Fender P. It was at a time when I was taking time off from playing on a regular basis and left the bass it in its case in the living room with the wood stove going all winter. This particular winter, I did not provide humidity regularly, sooooooo... by the time spring rolled around the neck had become so warped no amount of adjusting could save it.

jim777 · #16 05-04-2011, 09:10 AM

Never a bass, but I lent an ESP Custom Shop Explorer to my brother just before he got two Swiss Mountain Dog puppies. They found it on a stand one night, and literally ate it - chewed it up together for a good 8 hours undisturbed. Beautiful dogs, but not terribly bright unfortunately.

vinxbass · #17 05-04-2011, 09:47 AM

Several yrs. back I used to host a jam at one of the local pubs. A drunk keyboard player came in with his own amp and set up in front of my Ibanez BTB405. I had to tell him that he was done for the night after he had made a drunken ass of himself. He decides to pick up his amp and hoist it over his shoulder and in the process he ends up throwing the amp over his shoulder onto my bass. I watched in horror as the amp came crushing down on the body, breaking off to of the control knobs and shafts and also putting 2 huge, thru the finish dings in the front of the bass. It cost me $150 to get it repaired. Needless to say I grabbed the ****** by the neck and personally threw him out the door.

Kenner · #18 05-04-2011, 09:52 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sublab

On you tube there's this guy trying to flip his bass 'round his neck during a song and the bass just flies off into the air. Don't know if there's damage or not, and it certainly wasn't me, but that bass just flew and smashed down. Hurts even looking at it.

I've seen it...beyond AWESOME!

amimbari · #19 05-04-2011, 09:54 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tituscrow

That sounds unendingly watchable. Any links?

that pic is old but here it is:

.

Nightlyraider · #20 05-04-2011, 12:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sublab

On you tube there's this guy trying to flip his bass 'round his neck during a song and the bass just flies off into the air. Don't know if there's damage or not, and it certainly wasn't me, but that bass just flew and smashed down. Hurts even looking at it.

Cheap Trick did this by accident. Funniest part is the sound it makes going thru arena sized stacks at the end.