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This is Why I Can't Have Nice Things

E

eJake

May 22, 2011
1,222
2,759
New Orleans
www.instagram.com
#1
I have one fancy bass and yesterday it hit the ground hard.

I usually bring out the 200$ SX but i broke a string the other day which hasn't happened in 10 yrs. So I am waiting on a string to come in from BSO and I bring out my American V Jazz (it's fancy to me!) To do my reggae gig. Some back pain issues lead me to put it in my 30$ gig bag so it won't be heavy.

I'm hanging at a club down the street when a buddy calls me up to sit in so I grab my bass by one strap and sling it over my shoulder. The strap comes apart in the middle and it just keeps on going straight onto the concrete floor.

I try not to freak out about things and pulling it out I found a nasty gouge near the bottom strap lock. It definitely could have been worse. I was gonna post a pic but you can't really see it with the natural finish.

My takeaway is that if you're going to spend too much on a bass (that you still mean to play out) you might as well give it some character because you're sure never going to get your money back on it :)

I consider myself lucky that the bass is still playable and will bring the Protec case when I bring the American J5 out in the future, it's not that heavy.
 
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#8
eJake said:
I have one fancy bass and yesterday it hit the ground hard.

I usually bring out the 200 SX but i broke a string the other day. Last time I broke a string was probably 10yrs ago. So I am waiting on a string to come in from BSO and I bring out my American V Jazz (it's fancy to me!) To do my reggae gig. Some back pain issues lead me to put it in my 30$ gig bag so it won't be heavy.

I'm hanging at a club down the street when a buddy calls me up to sit in so I grab my bass by one strap and sling it over my shoulder. The strap comes apart in the middle and it just keeps on going straight onto the concrete floor.

I try not to freak out about things and pulling it out I found a nasty gouge near the bottom strap lock. It definitely could have been worse. I was gonna post a pic but you can't really see it with the natural finish.

My takeaway is that if you're going to spend too much on a bass (that you still mean to play out) you might as well give it some character because you're sure never going to get your money back on it :)

I consider myself lucky that the bass is still playable and will bring the Protec case when I bring the American J5 out in the future, it's not that heavy.
Click to expand...

I will not use gig bags for that precise reason, my basses are too important to me to have them come flying out or dropped with no protection etc etc etc. All hard shall cases for this guy. But saying that I have done some really stupid stuff with basses, i once dropped my brand new (at the time) Fender Precision down the cellar stairs all the way from the top at my parent's house when I was a kid, it was painful to watch it slide all the way down and land on the cement floor. Don't even ask me how that happened. Me and a couple of friends were driving up a hill once with my fairly new blackface Fender Dual Showman amp in the back when the cab fell over the tailgate and landed upside down in the middle of the street, I could go on and on but I won't. Did I tell you about the time my SVT head fell off the top of a cab right onto a cement sidewalk?:laugh:
 
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#9
eJake said:
Some back pain issues lead me to put it in my 30$ gig bag so it won't be heavy.
Click to expand...
Not sure why they aren't more popular here or elsewhere - I'm sure there is a reason though - but I like moulded foam cases: they're more protective than gig bags, still very light and (the shaped ones) nearly as wieldy.
An example (don't have this one, mine is a no-namer:
Invalid Link Removed )
Just a heads-up - won't fix what happened but I thought it might still be of interest to you for the future, given your back issues.
 
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#10
bobyoung53 said:
...But saying that I have done some really stupid stuff with basses, i once dropped my brand new (at the time) Fender Precision down the cellar stairs all the way from the top at my parent's house when I was a kid, it was painful to watch it slide all the way down and land on the cement floor. Don't even ask me how that happened. Me and a couple of friends were driving up a hill once with my fairly new blackface Fender Dual Showman amp in the back when the cab fell over the tailgate and landed upside down in the middle of the street, I could go on and on but I won't. Did I tell you about the time my SVT head fell off the top of a cab right onto a cement sidewalk?:laugh:
Click to expand...


OMG
 
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#11
bobyoung53 said:
I will not use gig bags for that precise reason, my basses are too important to me to have them come flying out or dropped with no protection etc etc etc. All hard shall cases for this guy. But saying that I have done some really stupid stuff with basses, i once dropped my brand new (at the time) Fender Precision down the cellar stairs all the way from the top at my parent's house when I was a kid, it was painful to watch it slide all the way down and land on the cement floor. Don't even ask me how that happened. Me and a couple of friends were driving up a hill once with my fairly new blackface Fender Dual Showman amp in the back when the cab fell over the tailgate and landed upside down in the middle of the street, I could go on and on but I won't. Did I tell you about the time my SVT head fell off the top of a cab right onto a cement sidewalk?:laugh:
Click to expand...
I will not use cheap gig bags for that precise reason. My first gig bag was a cheap, store-branded number, and the first and only time I carried my bass around in it, it looked like the straps were about to break (though luckily, they held up). The next day I went and got a Mono Vertigo. Haven't worried since.
 
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#13
Brand new bass! First rehearsal!

frtboard.jpg


Drummer + cymbal = :banghead:!!!! :poop:******!!! :rage: *****!!!! :mad: ****!!!! :crying::crying::crying:


Wise(b)ass
 
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#14
2003 I was showing up for band practice with my new fretless Warwick Corvette. Had a beautiful bubinga body. As soon as I pulled it out of my Cavalier and put it on my shoulder the weight of the bass opened the cheap rock bag zipper and BANG, huge amount of pavement damage.

Sold for a massive loss. You don't have to do that though, Jazz Bass bodies are plentiful.
 
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#15
JakobT said:
I will not use cheap gig bags for that precise reason. My first gig bag was a cheap, store-branded number, and the first and only time I carried my bass around in it, it looked like the straps were about to break (though luckily, they held up). The next day I went and got a Mono Vertigo. Haven't worried since.
Click to expand...
I second the cheap case statement.

Throw them in the trash.

I use a Mono Vertigo and Gator double.

You can watch your bass fall all day without worries.
 
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#16
Clark Westfield said:
I second the cheap case statement.

Throw them in the trash.

I use a Mono Vertigo and Gator double.

You can watch your bass fall all day without worries.
Click to expand...

Actually I am pretty sure that no amount of padding could save an instrument from absolute obliteration if it were to suffer a fall from such a high altitude that it would take it a whole day to hit the ground.
 
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#19
Yet another cheap gig bag story. People never cease to amaze me.

A friend of mine had a 1959 Martin Acoustic in amazing condition, that was his pride and joy. He'd been offered $10,000.00+ for it on a couple of occasions... Guess what he carried it around in? Probably a $15.00 nylon gigbag. This past winter, he slipped on some ice and landed flat on his back on top of it. It's now a worthless pile of splinters and wire. As an extra bonus, he also had no insurance. I suppose the one plus in this story is that the gigbag survived the ordeal.
 
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