I will never gig without a backup ever again...

[Five or Six]

Ive always carried 2 basses. Funny thing is, my Carvin 5 string broke the same tuner as yours. Nice part was, I was practicing at home when it broke. I've seen it said here that there are a bunch of people that only take 1 to a gig. Good luck. It's not if it happens, it's when. Nice you had a replacement in the crowd.

 

[Chickenwheels]

I took two basses last night. First time in years! Lately I’ve been watching the guitarist break a string mid song and not have a spare (he has spares…at home) so I thought I’d lead by example. I ended up using both just for the hell of it and it was fun, too.

 

[Ekulati]

WOW. Below is my post this past January from a similar thread. Bass is my 1998 LB70 (avatar pic).

Nothing against Carvin or Grover, but crazy coincidence!

Just a couple months ago on the morning of a festival gig for a couple thousand folks, I had a 25 year old Grover tuner shaft break at the base, near the gear. 40 years of gigging and first bass failure ever. Never even broke a string.

Found the exact same Grovers, got a set, good for another 25!

 

[Polfuste]

For the longest time, I always took a backup bass with me for those "just in case" situations that might arise. After years of never needing it, and never taking it out of the case even, last week I decided to stop doing it.

Last week's gig was fine. My 2000 Carvin LB-70 played with no issues and all was great.

This week, tonight, I had it with me and we played through sound check with no issues. We mill around the private party for a while and then we go to play. I try to tune my bass and I canNOT get the A string to stay in tune. I look, and I get it tuned, and can watch the post slip and drop out of tune under tension. WTH!?

I reach up and this happened...View attachment 5226797

So there I was, about 40 minutes from home and have a broken bass.

Fortunately, someone in the audience pipes up and says, "You need a bass? You can borrow my dad's."

They go get it, bring it up to me and they say, "Its a pretty crappy bass, sorry," and hands me a Precision bass copy with a single mini-humbucker where the split-P would be. The name on the headstock in fancy script is "Aims". The output jack is janky, and no strap (my strap has Dunlop strap locks on it). I get a chair, and I sit for both sets and manage to get through with this bass.

It actually wasn't a bad bass. The jack was really the only bad part about it. The neck was nice, it stayed in tune and sounded pretty dang good. I don't know what I would have done had it not been close at hand for a party guest!!

I will never go without a backup ever again!!

Replacement tuner on order, but won't be here before our next gig. Its ok, though, as I have plenty of basses in the house, its just that this one is my "JC Bass Signature" bass.

lesson learned. I've learned the same way but in rehearsal. Then when my main bass upper attach screw broke during a gig, I've my backup under hand and two minuts later it was ok..

 

[eriky4003]

Had something similar happen to me less than a week before a gig. Called a friend who lent me his brand new 5 string bass which I believe I returned totally unscratched/undropped etc. Yamaha sent/sold me the tuner which had 'slipped' and I was back to normal in a few weeks.

 

[edmidlifecrisis]

I only gig locally and drive a minivan so it is not a big deal to bring an extra bass (which I usually do and leave in van). I am a lifelong pessimist (just ask my wife) and believer in Murphy. I brought an extra to my gig this past Friday and it stayed in the van. Sometimes I bring BOTH my Genz Benz amps. Usually one stays at home and one is in a Pelican case for gigs. Sometimes I bring two cabs but lately have only been bringing one. Depends on my level of paranoia that night. I almost always forget SOMETHING, though!!!

 

[selowitch]

Almost every gig I only take one bass. There was perhaps one exception when I took a fiver and four-string. I like to carry as little gear as possible.

 

[marchone]

Almost every gig I only take one bass. There was perhaps one exception when I took a fiver and four-string. I like to carry as little gear as possible.

Good maintenance can be a preventative measure. An amp on the other hand …

 

[Stranger Danger]

Whenever I change strings, I make sure everything on the bass is screwed in and right from the tuners to the pots to the neck bolts. I have brought backup basses to gigs but don’t anymore. I do bring batteries, strings, tools, etc.

I’m sure there’s a one in a million chance something could happen but I’m fine with that. I could get run over by a reindeer too I suppose

 

[hbarcat]

Order a full set of the tuners. Once my Carvin tuner broke like that ( the bass was 21 yrs old) I ended up having 2 more do that over the next six months. Apparently it is not as rare a malfunction as one would think.

I had two Carvin tuners break that same way during twenty years of gigging with my Carvin as a my main bass.

It also happened to me another time with a cheap, no-name tuner on an low end Ibanez, plus I've seen it happen to a few others, so it's not that uncommon .

I've never personally seen it happen on a Hipshot or any other "upgrade" tuning machine. I've been using Hipshot tuners exclusively for the past 10 years.

Even so, I always bring two basses with me to a gig and I always will. I bring a spare of everything, except a speaker cabinet.

 

[Stranger Danger]

Back then Carvin was using cheap Han Chang tuners. It's pretty common for the post to break off of the gear. I had 2 of them break like this on my old LB70. I hope they're using something better now.

The key takeaway here is those are cheap ass tuners and the OP was lucky they hung on for so long. Live and learn

 

[JimmyM]

Sorry to hear. I’m still going to gig with only one, though

 

[Tom Bomb]

Murphy was an optimist with a back-up bass.​

 

[Jscriv]

I once had a lead come off my pickup mid song. Luckily it was at practice.

 

[Jazzdogg]

You can disassemble a Dunlop lock with a car or house key.

I love my Dulop strap locks, and I always install them in the second hole, leaving the first hole open - just in case. This has saved my bacon more than once.

 

[39-Bassist]

Wow I have never had a tuning key break while playing. (unless it fell over, lol)
you could have just improvised by not playing the A string. (take it off and retune other strings. Then just go from there)
I had my E & G string break mid shows. (2 deferent shows.)
First time no backup and 2nd time I got smart.
Glad you made it through the show...plus I REALLY loved my Carvins too.

 

[Pelagic]

I played a duo gig with a buddy and lost my output jack. luckily, some bar goer says "I was in a cover band in the 70's and live 5 minutes from here". He disappeared and came back 10 minutes later with a 60's Hofner that needed a setup, but it worked! as a bonus I got to play a legendary bass (but I was really happy to get my Modulus back lol)

 

[BlueTalon]

Horror author Steven King had the right attitude. He said when he was a kid growing up in an under heated farmhouse in wintery New Hampshire, he was always told by his grandmother to keep his legs under his blanket at night. Because if he didn’t a cold pale arm would reach out from under the bed and grab it.

That explains a lot.

 

[bigdaddybass12]

30 years of gigging and I have only needed a backup one time. It was one of the rare times I didn’t have a spare with me. I got to the gig an hour early and when I opened my case the G string had cracked my nut (insert juvenile laughter here). I had time to run home and get another bass so all was good, but that taught me my lesson.

Had that happen, matchstick under the string will get u thru the night!

 

[bigdaddybass12]

Do You bring an extra amp?