This happened to me during a load-in to a theatre gig, backing silent movies. The freight elevator lobby, dad & 2 kids running around him. Put my double-bass in a corner (still in gig bag) and secure, went out to help the drummer bring in gear we come back in and the bass is on its belly, the bridge punched through from hitting the floor.
No Security Camera, No Witnesses = No Apology. Just a sheepish looking Dad with now-clinging kids who took the elevator hastily in silence as I opened my gig bag flat on the floor to inspect the damage.
Had it somehow slid out of the corner from gravity, it would've landed on its back and maybe the soundpost might've been knocked down or perhaps even punched through the belly a little — but having somebody knock the bass down on its face, the bridge caved in the whole top. I was gone but for 1 minute, absolute tops. My first bass, a fully-carved, now a write-off.
Scrambled back to the BL's flat to get his stick bass and still made it back to the gig in time , but...
Further to further back in the thread regarding collectors...
During one of my contracted jobs during the DotCom Bubbling, I met a consultant who collected PRS Guitars. I mentioned I liked guitars and he showed me pics of all his "babies" with great excitement describing each. He loved the wood grains, the colours, the features, the variations between models — with no wife, no kids and a lucrative income "consulting" tech startups, this sexagenarian had amassed no less than 53 PRS guitars, most custom-ordered.
He doesn't play.
At all.
.
