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Dropped my bass for the first time!

#121
My Fender Mustang bass fell out of the case on the sidewalk in front of school when I was in 8th grade. It had some pretty serious road rash, but was playable. Four decades later, I still have the bass.

Don't give up on standing with the bass. Lick your wounds and move on. Straplocks are a worthy investment.
 
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#124
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:)
 
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#125
DiscoRiceJ said:
Dunlop strap locks can get filled with crud and not engage properly. Schallers have never failed me. I swing the bass around a lot and jump and such nonsense. I'm not sure "I" trust the rubber washer thing, but that seems at least better than nothing.
Click to expand...

I had the opposite happen with Schallers failing on a gig, the part connecting to the strap got loose. Never had an issue with the Dunlops, they are on all my basses plus you don't have to worry about keeping the washer things tight.
 
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#126
BassSquatch said:
Only been playing for about 6 months.
My MIM Fender Noir P-bass is my pride and joy. It's the best decision, hobby, toy, thing I've ever done just for myself in 48 years. I always play sitting down but decided to stand infront of the mirror, on hard tile floor, and try to look at my technique. Strap came lose on the bottom of the guitar and hit the floor HARD! My heart sank but looks like I got away with just a small dent. I will never play standing up again.
Any horror stories to share?
Click to expand...
I practice standing up because the gigs I play are usually standing on a stage. Get a good strap. Practice as you intend to play live.
 
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#128
BassSquatch said:
Only been playing for about 6 months.
My MIM Fender Noir P-bass is my pride and joy. It's the best decision, hobby, toy, thing I've ever done just for myself in 48 years. I always play sitting down but decided to stand infront of the mirror, on hard tile floor, and try to look at my technique. Strap came lose on the bottom of the guitar and hit the floor HARD! My heart sank but looks like I got away with just a small dent. I will never play standing up again.
Any horror stories to share?
Click to expand...
Strap locks.
One of the best descicions I ever made.
Lock of choice?
Dunlop.
...you're not the only one.
Good Luck!
 
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#129
A few days ago, my cat jumped up and bit the wood just under the 21st fret on the nice shiny new $2000 bass I got for myself as my ultimate 4-string long-haul investment a month ago...within like 5 sec of my opening the case and turning my back to pick up my cable & tuner to take everything into the next room.

Sigh.

These instruments just won't stay perfect forever. It takes time but we make peace with the fact that we're gonna wear them out if we really play them (or let them out of the hard case at all haha). And that's cool! We tell our stories in our instruments, which makes sense to do since we essentially pour our lives into playing them.
 
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#132
BassSquatch said:
Only been playing for about 6 months.
My MIM Fender Noir P-bass is my pride and joy. It's the best decision, hobby, toy, thing I've ever done just for myself in 48 years. I always play sitting down but decided to stand infront of the mirror, on hard tile floor, and try to look at my technique. Strap came lose on the bottom of the guitar and hit the floor HARD! My heart sank but looks like I got away with just a small dent. I will never play standing up again.
Any horror stories to share?
Click to expand...

Hi Mate,
Been there and done that more than once, so I know the feeling. What the guys say is right. Go to the music store and ask for strap locks and your worries are over, but there is something else to consider.
Assuming you'd like to play with a band when you're ready, it would be better to get used to playing while standing up anyway. The mirror is fine for those who care about looking cool, but will never help you with your technique, so forget it. As you learn you will develop your own technique. Mostly, technique is personal and just the best way each player finds to do the things they want, so how important is it anyway? If you could do could play the same things that Geddy Lee plays would it worry you if you did it a different way?
When, like you, I was a relative novice I mostly sat as I learned, but soon found how strange things looked and felt when I tried the same my feet. When I practice alone now I'm usually seated because it's comfortable, but I've been playing long enough now for it not to matter. My advice (and I hope it helps) is this.
Definitely buy the strap locks first. Adjust your strap so that your bass is in the most comfortable position for you to play while standing (even if it don't look cool). Go through your practice routines or tunes you're learning to play while standing. Only when you're happy that you've mastered them, then practice them seated.
Bottom line is, be comfy, learn and enjoy and above all don't drop it again!!

Regards. Marc.
 
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#133
Coolhandjjl said:
I put those on two of my basses. Feels very secure with the straps I put on them.
View attachment 3264165




Then there’s always the Gretsch way! The threaded part is supposed to stay permanently anchored onto body and you screw the knob on and off each time you want to put the strap off.
View attachment 3264161
Click to expand...

Hey, I like those! Are they available?

I showed my method of straplocking using woodscrews, but I’d use those.
 
#134
Agree with all the suggestions to practice standing up, it's healthier too. Get an anti fatique mat if necessary, personally I use a yoga mattras (folded so it's thicker) to stand on.

Make it a habit to check the strap before sling it over your shoulder. Strap lock or no strap lock, make sure the strap end at the bottom is not "folded". I would guess that your strap, the bottom end, was "folded" so when you slung it over the shoulder the strap came off.
 
#135
mikeswals said:
Played a bill in Seattle where the other bands' bass player had his strap permanently screwed to his bass...then the strap ripped! I ran and grabbed my bass to help him out
Click to expand...

I showed a pic of how I screw my strap to my basses and why.

I never thought about the strap ripping at the screw hole, which is totally possible.

My possible saving grace so far is that all of my straps are made of pretty thick leather. They are really comfortable.

And for friggin’ crying out loud. Does no one practice both sitting down and standing up? Further, does anyone not give a dayum either way?
 
#137
geesharp said:
Agree with all the suggestions to practice standing up, it's healthier too. Get an anti fatique mat if necessary, personally I use a yoga mattras (folded so it's thicker) to stand on.

Make it a habit to check the strap before sling it over your shoulder. Strap lock or no strap lock, make sure the strap end at the bottom is not "folded". I would guess that your strap, the bottom end, was "folded" so when you slung it over the shoulder the strap came off.
Click to expand...

I stand on an oriental rug. Seems to be the standard for any band.

I have tried to practice sitting on chairs, stools, benches, cabs, etc., but gave up. My body just won’t allow for it.
 
#138
I bought my first good bass in 1971 when I was 18, Sunburst Fender Precision w/case. I used to take the telephone and sit on the top of the cellar stairs right off the kitchen and shut the door on the cord so no one could hear my conversations. It was pretty new, I'd say less than one month old and I decided I was going to play it over the phone for my girlfriend with no amp(must have been a very patient girl). I got the bass, sat in my customary place on top of the cellar stairs, put the phone against the body so the sound would go through the receiver and my girlfriend could hear it, and somehow it slipped out of my hands and went right down the stairs body first on it's back and landed on the cement floor, I can still remember watching it slide down the stairs with horror:laugh:. It was all scratched up on the back but that's about it, I have since realized that you could probably drop a Fender P bass out of an airplane and it would still play but I was horrified watching it slide down the stairs.
I have many stories like that but this is enough for now, well there was that time me and my buddies were moving our equipment in a pickup truck and my Fender Dual Showman cab fell out of the back onto the middle of the road on it's back and both speakers pulled right through the particle board. Well another time I dropped an SVT head off the top of an 8 x 10 cab onto a concrete sidewalk because I was in a rush, all it did was make a little crater in the sidewalk and dented a metal corner, played like nothing ever happened. The sidewalk got hurt more than the head. Don't get me going now you young whippersnappers!
 
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