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Double Bass Moving your bass in a truck bed..

MoEllis

MoEllis

Sep 11, 2008
483
6
Los Angeles
#1
I was looking at getting a new vehicle, and was wondering whats everyones opinion on transporting your bass in a (watertight, covered) pickup truck bed. My old teacher drove a truck with one of those caps on it and never had a problem with his nice carved bass. I was looking into a hard tonaeu (sp) cover I know it obviously needs to stay dry, but my concern is the tempurature and/or humidity. do you think it would be a problem? :help::confused:

P.s. I live in Ohio at the moment so there is all kinds of weather to contend with....
 
#3
I've hauled mine in the bed without a cap around town with no damage. I can get it in the cab but it's a pain. I usually tie it on its side against one side of the bed and sort of suspend it with bungy chords. No cold temperature issues in Texas, just hot and hotter. I'm more worried about the bouncing than the temperature over the short hauls I usually have.

That said I'd rather have a SUV or hatchback for bass hauling but I had the truck before the bass so I make do. The truck comes in handy for other thinigs so I'm not ready to trade. Maybe if I become a gig whore (see other thread)!
 
#5
relacey said:
I've hauled mine in the bed without a cap around town with no damage. I can get it in the cab but it's a pain. I usually tie it on its side against one side of the bed and sort of suspend it with bungy chords. No cold temperature issues in Texas, just hot and hotter. I'm more worried about the bouncing than the temperature over the short hauls I usually have.

That said I'd rather have a SUV or hatchback for bass hauling but I had the truck before the bass so I make do. The truck comes in handy for other thinigs so I'm not ready to trade. Maybe if I become a gig whore (see other thread)!
Click to expand...

In the cab? what kind of truck are you drivin.. I was lookin at f-150 supercrews and 09 ram crew cabs
 
#8
I live in Pennsylvania and for years hauled my plywood bass around in the back of my Toyota pickup (with a cap). It didn't hurt it, but it wasn't ideal. In winter it took a long time for it to warm up, and the strings were icy cold for the first 10 minutes or so. I wouldn't do it w/ a carved instrument (in Ohio or Pennsylvania) if I could avoid it. I later sold my truck to a friend, and he was able to get it in the cab (it's an extended cab pickup) with the neck sticking out the back window into the covered bed. (The lock on the truck cap had frozen, and his only option was to put it inside--he was lucky it fit!).

Good luck with your choice, but I recommend a station wagon (i.e. a Subaru).
 
#9
Trucks typically ride pretty stiffly, so the bass is going to get knocked around and bounced up and down. The bed doesn't share the same air space as the cab, so you can't accurately monitor how cold and wet or hot and dry the air is. I didn't do my first bass, a beatup old Kay C-1, any favors by driving all over northern California in the driving rain or summer heat with it bouncing over every pothole and expansion joint. A station wagon, van, or SUV is the best way to go.
 
#10
Looking past the actual ride quality and just specifically at the air conditions, is it possible to somehow make a truckbed suitable??

I have an HHR now and wont be getting rid of it so its not last resort situation, I would just like to be able to move it in the truck. I need to just check to see how it fits in the cab next time i test drive..
 
#11
I've hauled my basses (Kay and Epi) for 3 years now in the back of my Nissan Frontier with a topper on it. I built a plywood shelf so the bass gets the "upper bunk" while the rest of my stuff is under the shelf. I lay the bass on it's back with memory-foam pillows supporting the neck / heel area so that the scroll never bottoms-out on the shelf. If I'm going into the mountains for a camp-out jam on a real-rough road, I lay a chunk of 3" thick memory-foam mattress topper (Costco) under the bass and several rolls of the same foam around the edges to keep the bass from shifting around. The old plywoods have seen temps from -10° F to 100° F in the back of the truck on occasion :rollno: but with slow warm-up and cool-down .... They have kept on ticking just fine :D .
 
#12
In my 05 Tacoma, you can't get a bass in the cab without removing one of the front seats. I've been thinking of going the cap route as well, as most of my trips are short and gentle.

I've been trying to come up with a "yakima" style bracket for the bed rails to hold it up off the floor of the bed (I usually need that space). I'll probably end up making something out of plywood and lining it with foam padding. I'll probably have it laying on it's side, and the bracket would hug both bouts with a bump up for the C bout, and strap it down on there tight. The neck would just float in the air.
 
#13
The foam is the kind of stuff i'd do! I know i've left my plywood in a hot car all day (its been through hell and hast had any problems), so i'm not too terribly worried about that. Now the humidity and extreme cold is what i'm worried about. Naturally I wouldnt leave it in these conditions longer than the ride to and from the gig.
 
#14
I think a good case or padded bass cover should mitigate most concerns about environment and ride in the bed of a pickup. I have not had any problems with the bass in my Tacoma. It is really nice for loading and unloading.
 
#16
bertbassplayer said:
A friend of mine used to carry his around in his Acura Integra, if you can fit it in one of those I figure you should be able to fit it in a truck cab... especially a crew cab.
Click to expand...

I transport my rig in my Integra hatchback all the time. The back seats lay flat so I have tons of room. In fact last night I had my NV425, 6-space rack in road case, two basses (one hardcase), two guitars (one hardcase) and two Fender 1x12 guitar amps (Hot Rod Deluxe and Supersonic) and a keyboard with stand in the back. The passenger seat was still available for my wife in case she wanted to come to the gig, too :) I've seen some big trucks, but you could not do this in the cab of most.

I'd probably use a pickup with a canopy if I had one. The car is a lot of work to load. My area is pretty temperate, though.
 
#17
As a homeowner in rural Maui, a truck is pretty much a must for me. I'm a truck guy. So yeah, my daily driver is an '01 Nissan Frontier. It works very well for hauling the bass, but there are a few caveats that should be stressed to anyone that's considering using a pickup truck to haul a bass;

1.) You'll need a bed cover of some kind. Mine is an Extang Fulltilt, which I've used for several years. It's a lightweight soft top on a rigid frame, it tilts up llike a big trunk lid, it's absolutely weathertight, it removes in a few seconds if I want access to the bed for hauling. Highly recommended, I think mine ran about $450.

2.) The suspension of a typical truck does not provide the cushy ride that you would have with a passenger car... so it's important to provide a little padding in the form a blanket or some foam. Since the truck bed is dead flat, you need to put something under the neck block in order to avoid direct pressure on the scroll... in my case, it's a small boogie board. :cool: Also, it's good to be aware of pothole and craters in the road, a little more than you would with a passenger car.

3.) When you get to your destination, it's good to get the bass out of the truck bed ASAP. Why? Because the exhaust system on many pickups is tucked right up under the bed. This isn't a problem while you're moving, but when you stop, the bed heats up pretty quickly, especially with the bed cover closed.
 
#18
We have a wool picnic blanket we use for camping. It has a waterproof bottom layer, and provides good thermal insulation. I'm thinking you could sew several together to make a big bag to fit over your bass case. That should protect your bass from the elements for a reasonable amount of time. Of course you also need to tie it down properly, as others have mentioned. Neck joints don't fair well when the scroll is left to bounce around on the bed. Still, I think transporting the bass on its back is better than on the side in this case, unless you also secure the scroll.
 
#19
bannerman said:
I transport my rig in my Integra hatchback all the time. The back seats lay flat so I have tons of room. In fact last night I had my NV425, 6-space rack in road case, two basses (one hardcase), two guitars (one hardcase) and two Fender 1x12 guitar amps (Hot Rod Deluxe and Supersonic) and a keyboard with stand in the back. The passenger seat was still available for my wife in case she wanted to come to the gig, too :) I've seen some big trucks, but you could not do this in the cab of most.

I'd probably use a pickup with a canopy if I had one. The car is a lot of work to load. My area is pretty temperate, though.
Click to expand...

LOST!
Please tell us which hard case for double bass fits into an Acura! Let alone making room for a second DB and your wife:rolleyes:
 

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