Outdoor Gig...Effect of Heat and Humidity on a Bass??

Take care of it, wipe the sweat off frequently and you should be fine. I play outdoor gigs in Texas all summer.

 

Don't leave it sitting in a hot car for hours. Don't leave it in the direct sun for a long time (in or out of the case).

Other than being really hot, you should be fine.

 

Yup, what they said. I've done some hot sweaty outdoor gigs with my MIA Jazz and it's been fine.

The worst part will be the giant belly-sweat spot you'll get from where your bass hits your belly. I HATE that. Yick.

 

Avoid temperature extremes. Should be fine. Don't be surprised if the humidity and sweat kills your strings dead after one set, but you can reincarnate them with a soak in denatured alcohol for a day. Drink lots of water...let your fluid level drop too much and you'll get cramps and your hands and fingers may decide to stop working right.

 

+1

 

I've noticed while playing outside in heat and humidity tuning isn't always stable. Make sure and tune between sets. The other poster is right also, that your strings will go quick. This isn't a problem for me, because i don't like the sound of brand new strings. Besides that, follow the rest of the advice given, and you'll be fine. This is just another reason I love my Zon. It's absolutely stable no matter what the weather.

 

My black Ric gets surprisingly warm in the sun. Never had any problems with it. If you have shade you should be fine. The only problem I ever had at an outdoor gig was my amp going into thermal shut down. Lesson learned: Don't let an amp in a black SKB case sit in direct sunlight and expect it to pump out tons of watts for an hour at a time.

Also, look out for wind. I had a guitar player who's guitar blew over in it's stand on break. I always try to shelter my stand from the wind by at least putting it on the lee side of my stack.

 

This is where Elixir nanoweb strings become especially valuable: they are not affected by sweat. Might also be true for other coated strings, but I've only used Elixirs.

Excellent advice. In addition: DO NOT DRINK BEER! The urban legend is that beer, or any other kind of alcohol, will hydrate you and cool you off. NOT TRUE!

I'm sorry to shout, but one of my bands played a brutally hot and humid outdoor gig a couple weeks ago. The guitarist and I warned everyone to drink water. The drummer, an older guy, said "I'm drinking Coors Light, it's mostly water". We said "doesn't work that way, it'll dehydrate you". He said "Nah, I sweat the beer out, I don't even feel it". Well no, you'll sweat the water out and become dehydrated... but we couldn't convince this guy. Sure enough, by the end of the 2nd set he was heavy lidded and gasping for air. I hope you all are smarter than he.

 

I've been wary of extreme heat/humidity outdoor gigs ever since my band played at the Birchwood Elementary School Summer Picnic in 1974 and my guitar neck warped so badly I couldn't play any notes on the bottom 6 frets!

These days when I get an outdoor gig and the forecast looks oppressive I bring the Steinberger or the Modulus, just for peace of mind.

 

I played a 6 gour gig earlier in the week for Canada Day and I had no problems. It was mid 80's and sunny. We did have shade where we were playing but the worst thing that was affected was my bass. I had to tune it between sets. Honestly, I don't think I had to tune it more than I do inside though.

Also, drink lots of water. If you have to drink beers, pace yourself and only have one between every 2nd set or so.

 

Good advice from everybody.... except the beer... come on... at least a couple... ;-)

 

+1 on the NO BEER. It's the worst thing you can do to yourself in high heat and humidity.

 

Your bass should be fine. Try to keep effect pedals out of the direct sun. Also try to bring a fan to circulate the air on-stage.

 

Def don't leave it in your car for to long, that's real important. Mainly, just keep it out of direct sun and wipe the sweat off when you get a chance. Worse case scenario would be your gonna have to get new strings from the sweat and grim of your hands.

 

Well, today I played outdoors in hot and extremely humid conditions. The crowd passed the hat and had us play an extra set, a long one, right up until the fireworks display. Aside from a Vanilla Coke I drank water all day long. I killed a set of strings with sweat, but I stayed reasonably fresh the entire gig.

No issues with my bass or amp. To the contrary, my pair of Berg HS210 cabs was thunderous in the anechoic conditions!

 

IMHO, if you are well hydrated, shielded from sun and rain, and your gear is as comfortable as you are, you are gonna be fine.

Ok, yeah, a beer or two or some bourbon in the gatoraid, why not? Is is summer, Gott seit danke!

Our 4th of July downtown gig was great! Hot, humid, a little rain, but great audience and tons of energy. Lexington Rocks!

PS. Played my Sadowsky, and brought a Fender Jazz back up--didn't need the back up.
My rig was not miked or DI'd into the PA. Carried the day. Got lots of compliments.