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worst you've broken a bass.

#121
As a youngster who just got his driver's license, I was late to rehearsal. I ran out to the car with my Kalamazoo bass and leaned it against the car. I went back in the house and grabbed my amp and threw it in the back seat. I then got in the car and I looked back at the house. My mom was in the doorway of the house frantically waving her ams. I waved back and slammed the car into reverse - and as I backed up - the bass fell over and I ran right over the neck with my rear wheel. The case was completely demolished but surprisingly - the bass was fine and still in tune.
 
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#122
BassHappy said:
As a youngster who just got his driver's license, I was late to rehearsal. I ran out to the car with my Kalamazoo bass and leaned it against the car. I went back in the house and grabbed my amp and threw it in the back seat. I then got in the car and I looked back at the house. My mom was in the doorway of the house frantically waving her ams. I waved back and slammed the car into reverse - and as I backed up - the bass fell over and I ran right over the neck with my rear wheel. The case was completely demolished but surprisingly - the bass was fine and still in tune.
Click to expand...
Wow, that was lucky!!!!
 
#124
jetgraphics said:
Last song of the night, the drummer knocked over his cymbal stand.
The cymbal headed for the back of my bass amp - sliced through the AC power cord.
SPARKS - BAM !
Darkness.
Crowd cheered, thinking it was part of the show.
o_O
Later, I repaired the AC cord. Almost good as new.
Click to expand...

Same thing happened to me, only it was the bass cable. No sparks but just silencio!
Big panic as to where to get another cord quick, Quick poll of guitarists naturally came up empty, when as panic reached a maximum, it turned out one of the guitards had accidentally left an extra cable in his case. Whew! Panic over. Was part of my training for "always have a spare bass with a cable for each bass in it's case." which eventually evolved into my current fretted/ fretless pair thing.
 
#127
About a decade ago, I had an MIM Jazz bass sitting in it's "stand," a recliner that was part of some cheap furniture set I had. I was vacuuming and bumped the seat, and it fell neck first into the coffee table that came with the set. The body was scratched to hell from the broken glass. I ended up refinishing the body and eventually sold it and kept the neck for another project. Turns out the neck was pretty much unplayable after it fell.
 
#129
Had a brand new beautiful MTD with blood wood top shipped to me the same day I had a gig. I had it on a stand right in front of the keyboard player who decided half way through the gig during the break to move his keyboard forward to have more leg room. The bass fell completely on its front. It didn't break but dinged up pretty bad. I couldn't recover from the damage and ended up selling it taking a hefty hit on it. Be careful out there children, keyboard players are dangerous!
 
#130
BassHappy said:
As a youngster who just got his driver's license, I was late to rehearsal. I ran out to the car with my Kalamazoo bass and leaned it against the car. I went back in the house and grabbed my amp and threw it in the back seat. I then got in the car and I looked back at the house. My mom was in the doorway of the house frantically waving her ams. I waved back and slammed the car into reverse - and as I backed up - the bass fell over and I ran right over the neck with my rear wheel. The case was completely demolished but surprisingly - the bass was fine and still in tune.
Click to expand...
What sort of bass was it?
 
#131
Well, worst I've ever done was trip and fall with a guitar in hand. It was a total loss. Fortunately, the worst I've done to a bass is chip the finish or leave small dents.

This is me, senior year of high school.

tmp_13003-29531_10150177722165195_4378124_n-1798788296.jpg
 
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#132
On a gig, way back in Nineteen Canteen, I used to have this trick of hitting open A and the A and G harmonics on the D and G string and then bending the neck with the heel of my left hand on my (new) Status Series II to modulate the notes. But I had a home-made leather strap that I had had for about ten years by that time and it gave way one night, in a millisecond, or so it seemed at the time. The bass flew away from me and landed on one of those old claw-footed mic-stands and took a gouge outta the upper bout. I had to ship the bass back to Status and the repair cost me $300 back then!

The money was nothing compared to the pain and embarrassment of that disaster.
 
#133
I've told this story before but it's better suited for this thread.

Many years ago when I was living in Florida I bought a Dean Edge One 4 string fretless. (really nice bass)

Fast forward to last year.......

I go to take the thing out of its soft case to play it, and the headstock was broken off, and it was dangling by the strings.:rage::rage::rage:

No one in the house ever fessed up to doing it and to this day I have no idea how it broke.

I bought a replacement (fretted) neck from a different Dean bass, I de-fretted the neck, and I did a horrible poly job that I had to wind up sanding all back off.

When everything was said & done the bass sounded horrible, dead, and muted.

I gave it to a really good Luthier and even though he massaged it thoroughly, it still doesn't sound as good as it did when I got it.

So now she's a wall hanger..................sadly enough:(
 
#134
A. D. Fairhurst said:
What sort of bass was it?
Click to expand...

Hey A.D.

It was a Gibson Kalamazoo, not this one but exactly like it - same color and all - not the SG type model but what I always called the "mustang" model. The body was particle board made by a toilet seat manufacturer in Wisconsin.

I think this white was their "natural"

Kalamazoo1.jpg
 
#135
BassHappy said:
Hey A.D.

It was a Gibson Kalamazoo, not this one but exactly like it - same color and all - not the SG type model but what I always called the "mustang" model. The body was particle board made by a toilet seat manufacturer in Wisconsin.
Oh! When you said Kalamazoo bass, I thought you meant any bass made in the factory of the same same. I wasn't aware of a bass called the Kalamazoo.
I think this white was their "natural"

View attachment 671463
Click to expand...
 
#136
stacker said:
On a gig, way back in Nineteen Canteen, I used to have this trick of hitting open A and the A and G harmonics on the D and G string and then bending the neck with the heel of my left hand on my (new) Status Series II to modulate the notes. But I had a home-made leather strap that I had had for about ten years by that time and it gave way one night, in a millisecond, or so it seemed at the time. The bass flew away from me and landed on one of those old claw-footed mic-stands and took a gouge outta the upper bout. I had to ship the bass back to Status and the repair cost me $300 back then!

The money was nothing compared to the pain and embarrassment of that disaster.
Click to expand...
Definitely tried this and it's definitely gonna get used live :D
 
#137
I was tweaking the micro-tilt on my Fender HM. Going back and forth, for that magic .595" gap between the strings and body. I like to wedge my thumb under the E. Eventually, I forgot to slacken the strings, loosened the neck screws, and ended up with a couple of individual horizontal splits at the neck heel. :eek: I wedged them open with toothpicks, forced a ton of wood glue in, and left it clamped (1 side to side, 2 front to back)for a week. That was 4 years ago, and it's still holding strong. Thanks, Elmer's!
 
#138
I opened my wardrobe door carelessly one day, knocking the Yamaha TRBX off its stand, over onto my bed. The total amount of damage was a minor mark on the finish on the upper horn, which buffed out after 20 seconds with a microfiber cloth.

That's as much damage as I ever ever want to do to one of my basses.
 
#140
Oh wait. Now that BassoP mentions it.
I generally play sitting down (moan moan grumble moan etc, yeah this room is slightly smaller than a British prison cell, gimme a break ;)) and the one thing that bugs me about my beautiful lovely Yammy TRBX is that the jack is (i dunno the technical term) not on the "face" of my bass (a-la ibanez), it's on the edge, the bottom edge (on the side with the G string), so when the thing is hooked up on my leg, the cable is pressing down onto my leg.
I recently returned a cable as faulty. I wonder if instead, it simply didn't like the weight of my bass pressing it into my thigh.

:unsure:
 

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