Properly placing a DB in a mini van

well, it all depends on the seating configuration. I have a toyota sienna. the third row seats fold into the floor and there are bucket seats in the second row. I simply lie it on it's back with the scroll between the middle row seats. works great. I do the same when it's in the flight trunk. Not sure how the windstar is layed out. If it's a 3/4 bench seat in the second row, you can essentially do the same thing the with scroll to the right of the middle row bench. should work great! I love minivans because you can fit a bass and a lot of other gear and four people. works great for touring! Hope that helps.

Corey

 

Don't know much about that mini van, I currently use a Dodge grand caravan. Either I fold the back seat completely down, *into a normal bed position* and angle the bass in to miss the middle seat. Or fold both the back and middle row seats down and slide it in straight.

 

I've got a '98 Windstar and I've got the repair bills to prove it. Fresh ones, too.

It's simple, Blackie. Fold down the rear bench seat. Load the bass into the back of the van, laying on its back. The back will rest on the folded-down rear seat, the neck will stick out into space between the middle bucket seats. Er, you do have bucket seats in the middle, don't you??

I find it all balances best if the rear bench seat is slid as far aft as it will go on its tracks. If you want you can bias the bass a bit to one side or another and use one of those middle seats as a rest for the neck.

 

And to think that I used to put my DB up on the roof when I first started out - but that was quite a long time ago!

 

My advice would be to allow the bass to ride on it's side (in the bag) if possible. I have a Chevy Astro and I've removed the rear seat altogether. I can slide my bass in on the floor with bridge pointing towards the right rear tire (looking from the rear of the van).

I have ridden my bass (in certain situations) on it's back with the neck suspended in the air (no pressure anywhere). But, if you hit a rather large bump, there's the possibility of the soundpost cracking the top (or the back).

 

I confess I never thought of a bump so big it would jab the soundpost through the top of the bass. In hundreds of jobs and thousands of trips with the bass, I've never even come remotely close to a situation like that. I thought most Canadian roads are pretty bad but what kind of roads are you driving on, Mike?? I'd imagine a bump that bad wouldn't be good for the instrument no matter what....

Also, in the Windstar with bucket seats in the middle row, the neck of the bass isn't really sitting completely unsupported. The whole thing sort of wedges in there and doesn't move -- it doesn't pitch down and foward in a hard braking, for example. If you just bias it a tiny bit left or right, it's completely supported by the bucket seat.

I can see the rationale for putting the bass on its side, but in my mind the biggest practical concern is the bridge getting messed around with as a result of impact with something else. I wouldn't want Blackie to arrive at his lesson finding the bass on its face and the bridge 3 inches to the left. If the instrument is bungeed in place, or if you pack the other gear well around the bass, no worries at all...