As soon as bass and I bond together. Otherwise back on chopping block instead of gig. I pay dues - my bass pays dues. No instant gigs. Yeah!
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When I bought my frettless 5er I brought it to rehearsal on friday night.
The others having beer + pizza next door I plugged it in and played some of our stuff.
The door opens the drummer comes in: New bass? Play that one tomorrow night and forget the old one!
I never told him it that it was a frettless; (he kinda hates Jazz and everything coming close to it)
The bass is still my main player and the drummer and me are good friends
may the bass be with you
Wise(b)ass
I can think of 2 exact instances, and one that is cloudier. When I bought my first USA fender new in 1998, I gigged it relatively soon, but not the day of. I just remember that one of the gigs the low E which was taper wound broke during the set (stock fender strings). Gigs were not always often at that time.
The other 2 the timing was memorable, back in 2001 the same day I got Warwick #3 (2000 FNA5 blue, used), I had an audition at an "open mic" that night, and it was not a popular open night, so we got to play for a while, lots of 12bar. Literally no adjustments, from the purchase right to the "gig". That ended up being my band for the next 2 years, but I never used that bass with them again because fender 4s were more appropriate, though I did use Warwick #1 (2000 FNA4 red, new) at a few shows and for all the studio recordings. The #1 was gigged relatively soon after I got it in a previous band, but no recollection of how long after I got it.
The most recent was a goth Thunderbird, bought it on a Wednesday around 9pm, spent a couple hours setting it up for drop C, took it to rehearsal on the next night, and gigged it on Saturday, without taking it out or tweaking any more on Friday.
If a bass is to be used for something specific, obviously I have to set it up first, but if it is a standard tuned band, if the bass has no issues it can hit the stage ASAP. I generally do some setup though, because I can't stand fret buzz and I dig in pretty hard.
The other 2 the timing was memorable, back in 2001 the same day I got Warwick #3 (2000 FNA5 blue, used), I had an audition at an "open mic" that night, and it was not a popular open night, so we got to play for a while, lots of 12bar. Literally no adjustments, from the purchase right to the "gig". That ended up being my band for the next 2 years, but I never used that bass with them again because fender 4s were more appropriate, though I did use Warwick #1 (2000 FNA4 red, new) at a few shows and for all the studio recordings. The #1 was gigged relatively soon after I got it in a previous band, but no recollection of how long after I got it.
The most recent was a goth Thunderbird, bought it on a Wednesday around 9pm, spent a couple hours setting it up for drop C, took it to rehearsal on the next night, and gigged it on Saturday, without taking it out or tweaking any more on Friday.
If a bass is to be used for something specific, obviously I have to set it up first, but if it is a standard tuned band, if the bass has no issues it can hit the stage ASAP. I generally do some setup though, because I can't stand fret buzz and I dig in pretty hard.
The norm for me is to wait till I feel at home with the bass so that I'm not distracted with playing it or altering the controls on the fly. That said I've had a new stratocaster I bought delivered to me at the venue an hour before a gig and played it on the same night great. But for bass I think the shortest length of time from buying to playing on a gig is about 4 days.
As long as it takes to restring it and to set it up to my standards.
I hit the local GC on the way to an audition and bought a used MIM J after about 5 minutes of trying it, mostly to make sure intonation was not totally hosed and all the knobs and pups worked. I would have taken more time to look at other basses but i'd have been late for the audition.
If you had zero experience ever playing a fretless before that was indeed a bold maneuver!
I did cheat just a little; ripped the frets off my acoustic bass and fooled around with it over the summer holidays when I was out sailing, just to see if I would like it.If you had zero experience ever playing a fretless before that was indeed a bold maneuver!
And I liked it!
So my electric fretless was immediately put to action when it arrived.
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For Me, it's right after a set-up since all the basses I purchase are only "new" to me and not new purchases.
