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have you ever dropped/fallen with your bass?

hernameisrio

hernameisrio

Guest
Sep 27, 2011
1,202
250
Berkeley, CA
#1
So yesterday evening I was on my way to an audition and it was pouring rain. I had my Peavey Cirrus in my gig bag over my right shoulder and was walking down the subway stairs into the station. The stairs were extremely wet...practically flooded. I was wearing sensible shoes (my Vans, so they have a decent tread on them) and just walking normally and looking down because I knew it was slippery.

Before I knew it, I'd slipped on the second to last step and had sort of a slow-motion "NRRRROOOO!" moment as I landed on my left side with my bass flung on top of me to try and protect it. I heard a horrible "crack!" sound as the body of my bass hit the metal step. I hope I never hear that sound again. With all due respect to personal responsibility, there really wasn't anything I could've done differently...I was appropriately careful walking down the steps, it wasn't like I was tap-dancing down them after three martinis or something.

So, yeah. I was kinda crumpled in a heap, totally shocked and worried that I'd messed up my bass. My bag kinda cushioned my fall, so I was fine...jarred my back a little, but nothing too bad. This lady was tugging at me trying to help me up and I was flailing at the neck of my bass to keep it from getting bumped around in the process.

Thankfully, it seems the only damage that my bass sustained was a dent on the bottom of the body, just along the edge, so nothing noticeable. Even so, I was really rattled and pretty angry. They don't have any sort of rubber grips or treads on the stairs at all...so when it's icy or raining, it's a death trap. For all the money the MTA spends on their stupid public service announcements, on reprinting the subway maps to read "Atlantic Ave/Barclays Center," for all the fare hikes...why is it so hard to actually make things safe?! "Be more careful" is a really stupid answer for such a simple problem that could be easily remedied. God help you if you're on crutches or have a cane, I mean I don't even know how you'd navigate the subway system...they really just don't seem to care about the safety of their passengers!

So I'm not usually the type to do this, but I filed a complaint on the off-chance that something ends up going wrong with my bass. I played it and everything seems okay, so I'm hopeful...but I won't feel totally sure until I bring it to a tech. Ugh, it really sucked. :(

I'm sure I've now joined the club. It's not like this is the first time a bass of mine has gotten a ding or scratch, but at the same time, I'm really careful with my stuff and I'm VERY protective of my Peavey Cirrus. Has anybody else had something like this happen?? The irony is that my Music Man Sterling already has pretty substantial nicks/dings/dents from the previous owner, so go figure, I guess I picked the wrong night to bring my "fancy" bass!

At the least, it looks like I might've gotten the gig, so there's that...and it does make for an interesting story...
 
#2
I make sure my gig bags are very well padded (I usually take a Sadowsky Portabag or, if the case needs to be lighter, a Mono Case) so I don't have to worry should something unforeseen occur. I'm pretty obsessive/anal retentive when it comes to my basses so I need all the help I can get!
 
#3
I was hosting an open stage some years ago, and suffered what the hospitals like to term an 'event'.
My guys said I started to sway, then wrapped my arms around my bass and went sideways off the stage.
Woke up in the hospital some hours later with no recollection at all.
Broke my leg, but the bass survived without a scratch.
 
#4
NOT ME BUT ... while i was taking the bass amp inside ... my freakin ex girlfriend tried to help me and hung the gig bag like a woman´s purse and the next thing .... the damn thing hit the floor -all this was told to me by a guy who saw it all- RESULTS: A big BIG ding on the bottom, and of course complete set up needed..... tanxx for helping me honey!!!!! NEXT MOVE ... GET A HARD CASE!
 
#5
Wiped out halfway down a very long steep stairway in an old hotel, once. Carrying my Washburn Bantam, a Steinberger copy. Sprained wrist for me, tone control ripped right out of the bass. Back on stage playing in less than 10 minutes, long enough to tape the wires together in the bass, and a foot long ruler to my right wrist.
 
#6
Last year I was playing an outdoor gig on a flatbed. I was using a Hercules 2 guitar stand and Had just picked up my Modulus Q5 to tune it. My $1500.00 Lakland was still on the stand when a gust of wind came along and caused the bass and stand to fall off the back of the flat bed into the gravel parking lot. It took two big chunks of bass down to the wood by the tone controls and scratched the head stock.
My guitar player bought a MIA Fender tele and on the first gig with it his strap lock didn't work right and the guitar fell and hit a metal stand and took a big chip out of the back of the body.
 
#7
Ouch!

This is merely an incentive for me to get proper insurance on my gear. Right now I have homeowner's which helps, but now I need to get my gear appraised so I can be covered outside the apartment...oy...!

When I first bought my Music Man I found myself wondering how it got the big chip on the bottom of the body. I thiiiink I know! ;)
 
#8
OP, you need a better bag or a hardshell.

The typical "sleeping bag" with a thin layer of foam is nothing more than an elaborate handle or shoulder strap, they will not protect your bass from impact.

The nicer bags are a rather stiff styrofoam, yet they are still shaped like the old "gig bag" and provide nice handles and straps for public transportation commuters.
 
#9
Well, not exactly falls or drops, but...

Years ago, I had just bought my first "old" bass, a '73 Jazz. Got it online, and when it arrived, I carefully unpacked it and took it out. Beautiful original sunburst finish, in great shape. I was poring over it, just getting the feel of it, and laid it down on the couch so I could check out the headstock. I set it down so the neck was on the back cushion of the couch, and stood up to take it all in and admire it.

As I was standing over it congratulating myself on such a fine purchase, the friction holding the bass against the couch fabric gave way, and it slid right down and THWACK, cracked the corner of the coffee table. Put a big ding in the body, bigger than anything it had before.

Never told anybody that story until now. :rolleyes:

Another family favorite is when I got my very first bass, a G&L, I was showing it off when we had some relatives visiting. My brother said, hey, can you do that thing where you spin it around your body like on the videos? Sure, I said, just meaning to fake it but not actually slinging it all the way around... so I swung the bass up real hard and put the headstock right through my mom's dining room ceiling.
 
#11
on stage, was in the middle of a song, strap lock failed, luckily i caught the bass and was able to keep playing. tho i was crouched supporting my bass on my knee. no damage to the bass but i looked like a complete dork, looking like i was posing like im some bassass or something
 
#14
Two stories for me:

1) Playing an arena beer garden fund raiser for a local hockey team on a raised stage.
During break a drunk stumbled up onto the stage and stepped on the foot of my stand (one those old fold up Hamiltons) and THWACK, face down goes my '76 4000.
No damage other than a scuff to the face of the bakelite nut and needing a re-tuning.

2) Shortly after scoring my '81 4080 (Rick doubleneck) I was playing the bass and watching a hockey game (Toronto vs Ottawa I believe) when one of the cats started attacking the telephone cord hanging down the wall a few feet away in the hall.
I placed the bass on the couch and shooed away the cat, as my 4 year old daughter comes back downstairs to fetch her blanket which was draped over the couch under the bass.

She tugs the blanket out as I turn around just in time to see the bass bouncing off the floor. :eek:
No noticeable damage, though the guitar bridge got jarred out of alignment.

I was pretty lucky both times.
 
#16
I've had the strap slip off the button and down goes the bass. The classic for me is lifting the bass and smacking the headstock into the ceiling.

I dunno if it's ever fallen over, although in high school I tripped on a friend's guitar cable (strewn across the floor) and his scallop-necked Ibanez went face first into the floor and split where the headstock joins the neck. He was rightfully pissed and being a dumb teenager I blew him off. Needless to say we weren't really friends after that.
 
#18
While on break from practice at church I put my acoustic guitar down on one of the pews with the neck extending over the back of the seat. I turn around and here this loud smack and the strings playing open tones. The dang thing fell off the pew and the butt end of the body hit the leg of the pew in front of it.

Big ole chunk of guitar on the floor and i'm honestly surprised that it didnt just crack across the top, since it was on the corner where the side meets the top.
 
#19
I use this:

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Lighter than a hardshell case, and less expensive, but much better protection than a gig bag.

No gig bags for me!

I think your bass will be OK, but I wouldn't use it to hammer in nails, or anything.
 
#20
During a song at a gig, my strap came loose and while I was playing and wiggin' out, my bass just all of a sudden falls...LOL! I couldn't get it back on until after the song was over (it has a plastic end that you kind of turn a little gear on it to tighten it, so until the end of the song, it was hooked on, but if I moved much, the bass would fall off again). One guy in the crowd was like, "I was pissed off for you...I've had that happen to me before!"
 

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