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Double Bass do you loan your bass out ?

#21
noeinstein said:
Nope, if I'm coming in from out of town (or anywhere else) to do a gig, and I'm a bass player, I'll bring my own bass.
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Not so easy with a doublebass.

OP, you handled it fine. Your spidey senses told you it was a bad idea and you offered him a great alternative. Almost definitely what I would have done in the circumstances you described.

I'm not saying that I'm free and easy with mine, far from it. But, if John Lilley was in a spot and I was able to help him, I would. I know he takes care of his bass and I suspect he would be even more careful with mine. If (for hypothetical example) Kevin Hsieh was in town for one gig and the cost or concern of transport made bringing his instrument across the country impractical, I like to think I'd help him out if I could. I'd also let him know who rents locally and if that was a better option for he or I I'd offer to broker it for him, since they know me and I them. There is a brotherhood of the bass that I benefit from and do my best to match when I can.

I've got a promise of a CD release in Alaska next summer if it happens, I'm going to look into renting or borrowing a bass there and would have checked here first. I would never assume that someone would offer to loan me their instrument, but the practicality of moving mine that far and hoping the climate change doesn't destroy it for a couple of down-market jazz gigs doesn't make sense. I don't know if there are shops there that rent or not. Doublebassists do have some logistical practicalities to contend with and our community is pretty supportive and understanding of those.

Electric bass gig out of town? I would and have brought my own. Apples and oranges. That's likely one of the reasons Uncle Leo invented the P-Bass in the first place. People got tired of strapping the Kay to the roof of the station wagon and hoping they didn't drive through a hail storm.
 
#23
WillieB said:
sorry if this is in the wrong topic area. I searched and didn't find an answer.

Would you loan out a bass to a player you don't know ?

Situation is this. A player (banjo) I know has a bass player coming in from out of town to do a gig. the banjo player asked
if he could borrow one of my basses.

Not sure what to do ... my first impression was to say no since I don't know the guy. Plus the gig is an hour outside of town.

am I a bad bass brother ?

I have a 46 Kay so .... its all ply but ....

note .... the gig's in a bar .... and the crazy cats like to party.

now ... does that change your answer ?

thanks for any input

Bill
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No, I would not. He can hire one or bring one of his own. If he cannot be bothered... too bad.
 
#25
I've been on the receiving end of a number of different cats' largesse, I don't travel enough to make the purchase of a trunk a worthwhile investment. And the most recent instance was precisely this situation; I was a friend of a guitarist, I was coming in from out of town and he asked the bassist he worked with if I could borrow his bass. We weren't entirely strangers; I had played a concert in the same town a couple of years before and Travis was the bassist for the opening act, he copped a lesson from me and we traded a few e-mails. But it wasn't like we were well acquainted. He had a gig in Columbia the day I flew in, I fell by the gig and sat in, and then took the bass back to my hotel, played two gigs the next day and, as he was on the same concert bill the same day I was, gave him back the bass that night. But even prior to that, a woman who had never met me loaned me her bass, because I knew the piano player she worked with.
I let cats play my bass all the time, if they fall by to sit in. It's only worked out once, that I've loaned out my bass and that was to a pretty close acquaintance. Actually he was the cat who set up the first double bass I bought. But again, he fell by my gig after the last set, we loaded the bass in his car and made arrangements to meet in the Great Hall at Grand Central Terminal a few days later (he had a recording session and two concerts to do).
It's whatever you feel comfortable with, cause it's YOUR bass. But I'm not as philosophically opposed to it as the rest of you grinches....
 
#29
So, I think we've pretty thoroughly covered the fact that electric bass guitar players don't loan their instruments or understand why someone doesn't travel with their own. But, this was posted in the doublebass forum.

Ed, what's mine is yours if you're ever in Seattle, but you're buying the IPA and geoduck.
 
#32
TroyK said:
I'd rather a respectful player sit in on mine than make me lay mine down in a bar and hope it doesn't get kicked over while he plays his.
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That's a whole other smoke than loaning your bass out to a player who plans to use it on a gig where the owner will not be present, which I thought was the subject of the thread.

For the record, I've offered to rent one of mine as a prop in a musical, but a) I asked to be present through the run of the show and b) I had $250 in the bass.
 
#34
KUNGfuSHERIFF said:
That's a whole other smoke than loaning your bass out to a player who plans to use it on a gig where the owner will not be present, which I thought was the subject of the thread.

...
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Of course, my point being that the logistics of doublebasses vs electric basses (and I should have added "How people who don't own doublebasses THINK they would feel about it if they did") are differnet and I think ours have positioned our community to be less draconian about it than otherwise. For some, that might mean a loan to a contact from out of town. For others not. it's all good.

I wouldn't for just anyone and I would never assume that someone would for me, but I'd always consider and I think that a number of other doublebassists in this community would do the same. I get the other side of the coin too. It's personal.
 

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