Double Bass Put stickers on a Bass??????

[210superair]

I support decals on a cheap bass, got some on my Eastman. I didn't chose to start it tho, my kid put some dinosaur stickers on it, and I decided to go with it... Lol. I'll say I prefer decals to stickers. I don't think they take away from the music as has been postulated. Indeed I think they add to it, if done tactfully.

Imho the heyday of grass music is out, or certainly being 'handed its hat'. Billy Strings is the closest thing to a really blowing up grass star anymore, no? Lots of YouTube sensations, but nobody is packing houses like Mumford or ocms did in the early 2000s I don't think....

 

[Steve Swan]

If you want to sell your house, you don't put up greasy old wrecked cars and let pit bulls leave uncollected poop all over the place. Just saying ...

 

[BarfanyShart]

"This Bass is a Pipe Bomb"

 

[Don Hergert]

... Imho the heyday of grass music is out, or certainly being 'handed its hat'. Billy Strings is the closest thing to a really blowing up grass star anymore, no? Lots of YouTube sensations, but nobody is packing houses like Mumford or ocms did in the early 2000s I don't think....

Not sure how this relates to stickers and decals, but I'll bite; however I'm making an assumption that "grass music" is a reference to bluegrass music. If not, disregard everything I'm going to say here...

Having lived as a young and enthusiastic person through the "1970 and on" half of the big bluegrass period, I'd observe that that popularity period was a function of more than just music, just as, for example, the popularity of MASH and All In The Family was more than just a function of TV programming. Bluegrass "1970 and on" was culturally at the right place at the right time to become what it was, just like disco and a number of other genre that had much shorter-lived popularity were. I don't expect that combination of right-place-right-time conditions to happen for bluegrass again within my lifetime...

While I expect bluegrass to live on, it's going to have to mutate in order to fill a need for the young folks who are going to take it over. In this current period, that transition is still very active and there are both subtle and not-so-subtle conflicts happening between the old guard and the the younger generation. I expect these conflicts will continue until most of the old guard pure-bluegrass folks are out of the music scene...

Until then, any top-level performers are gambling with pure bluegrass. Their possibility of success is much more likely if they spread their talents between bluegrass and other country or roots related genre. This of course does not endear these performers to the pure-bluegrass crowd, but it keeps food on the table and gas in the tank.

There are some top-level pure-bluegrass performers out there, but since at least the early '90s, money for top-level performers in bluegrass has been a drop in the bucket compared to more popular genre, so those performers have to live very carefully to survive. That is not much encouragement for any band to make a full-time commitment.

All that said, I don't see a huge amount of sticker or decal use on bluegrass double basses, just like I don't see them a lot on guitars, banjos, mandolins or Dobros. That probably comes from a general respect for old wood and old instruments. But there's no rule or anything like that for double basses that I've ever heard about.

 

[210superair]

Not sure how this relates to stickers and decals, but I'll bite; however I'm making an assumption that "grass music" is a reference to bluegrass music. If not, disregard everything I'm going to say here...

Having lived as a young and enthusiastic person through the "1970 and on" half of the big bluegrass period, I'd observe that that popularity period was a function of more than just music, just as, for example, the popularity of MASH and All In The Family was more than just a function of TV programming. Bluegrass "1970 and on" was culturally at the right place at the right time to become what it was, just like disco and a number of other genre that had much shorter-lived popularity were. I don't expect that combination of right-place-right-time conditions to happen for bluegrass again within my lifetime...

While I expect bluegrass to live on, it's going to have to mutate in order to fill a need for the young folks who are going to take it over. In this current period, that transition is still very active and there are both subtle and not-so-subtle conflicts happening between the old guard and the the younger generation. I expect these conflicts will continue until most of the old guard pure-bluegrass folks are out of the music scene...

Until then, any top-level performers are gambling with pure bluegrass. Their possibility of success is much more likely if they spread their talents between bluegrass and other country or roots related genre. This of course does not endear these performers to the pure-bluegrass crowd, but it keeps food on the table and gas in the tank.

There are some top-level pure-bluegrass performers out there, but since at least the early '90s, money for top-level performers in bluegrass has been a drop in the bucket compared to more popular genre, so those performers have to live very carefully to survive. That is not much encouragement for any band to make a full-time commitment.

All that said, I don't see a huge amount of sticker or decal use on bluegrass double basses, just like I don't see them a lot on guitars, banjos, mandolins or Dobros. That probably comes from a general respect for old wood and old instruments. But there's no rule or anything like that for double basses that I've ever heard about.

It was in response to his Mumford grass comment, and has nothing to do with stickers on basses. No, I've never seen a sticker on a bass at a bluegrass jam. It's pretty specific to rockabilly/country style stuff, or other styles of music that use an UB. Never seen it in jazz, orchestral, bg, etc etc. Pretty genre specific...

 

[Ed S]

Missy Raines has a bunch of stickers on her main axe. At a show last year she told me they were on it when her father bought it, and she got it from him.

 

[Keith Rawlings]

I say that it depends on the bass. For instance, I couldn’t imagine my ‘51 Kay with the custom hot rod paint job without my pinup girl and TCB stickers on the back.

If I had a beautiful fully carved instrument then of course I wouldn’t put any stickers on it; but my Kay has been through hell and back, slapped, bowed, beaten and stood on and she’s still here and sounding great as always.

 

[turf3]

Not going to look so good when you try to peel a sticker off and the finish comes with it.

I'm going to vote a resounding "No".

Your $100 Squier bass guitar, OK. Your $1000 Honda Civic with the $5000 stereo system and 1" high tires and fartcan muffler and enormous wing, OK, you may as well put stickers on it. But I wouldn't do it to a double bass.

 

[neddyrow]

i just cover everything else gig related with stickers. my rack case, amp cabinet, gear cases, etc. not my beautiful instruments.

same reason i don't have any tattoos, "you don't put bumper stickers on a Ferrari" - sebastian maniscalco

but a $500 backup bass...and you play rockabilly, i'm in the camp of one nicely placed pinup girl or bomber jet might be the move.

 

[Ed S]

I was discussing this w/ bandmates recently, and they observed that many BGers are exploring jazz and such, a la Chris Thile. Which I don't really care for.

But yeah - Billy Strings. As well as Molly Tuttle. And Hawktail! BG and oldtime have never really packed them in. But I far prefer it to Mumfordish poopie, "new grass" and the like.

We played before Steep Canyon Rangers recently. They are REALLY GOOD at what they do, and it was a full house, but I didn't care for it and it sure wasn't BG.

How did we get here from discussing stickers?

 

[Don Hergert]

Maybe we need BLUEGRASS stickers???

(Stickers on instrument CASES is very common in bluegrass.)