Staggering on

There's one for sale in the EUB's and Double Basses for sale....the website says it is "hard foam", might be what he is looking for, it's definitely not the type of hard case used for shipping a bass but might work for your friend. I wonder if anyone on here has used one.

Good point, I hope he is feeling better for tomorrow and Sunday. I tried to text him this morning but over here in the colonies there are places in the northern areas where there is no cell service and that is where he is, camping in his RV at the festival site. 🙄🤞

Played a set at a bluegrass festival last night as a trio of guitar, mandolin and DB and we all sing. We have done this before and it went well but the leader and main vocalist was not feeling well and it showed with sloppy intros and endings and some other slip ups that are not normal for us. On Saturday and Sunday we play two more sets but with the full 5 piece band and by that time we are hoping the leader has recovered. Not our finest set but that's just the way it goes sometimes.🙄

That's old school but always works. Back in my acoustic guitar days in the 60's all set lists were taped on the guitar and now when I use my "beater bass" for bluegrass I do the same thing and as an old guy I can write the titles as large as I need. I have played with musicians who use an ipad on their music stand and I tell them that I have an "eye pad" and they laugh but my list is always there and the battery won't die and it's much better than having it on the floor, it's not pretty but I am the only one who sees it.👍😊

And here I am at the church looking for a note....

Last weekend my bluegrass band played two outdoor sets at the Tottenham (Ontario!) bluegrass festival, the largest one in Ontario in very hot humid weather. Our Friday early evening set was made more interesting when the PA suddenly cut out part way through the third song. Since we are all playing acoustic instruments and are seasoned players we kept right on playing and singing and the crowd of about 400 loved it and cheered and clapped and we didn't miss a beat. We moved to the very edge of the stage at the end of that song to more applause and started our next song and then amazingly the PA came back so we gracefully moved back to our mics and finished our set. The Saturday morning set had a smaller crowd but we were in fine form and it went well and my twin sister was there, first time she has seen me play since the early '60's when I played guitar in a folk group in high school, yeah, I'm that old. The next day we played a concert as a trio (guitar, mando, and me) in a lovely old church and changed our set to outline a brief history of bluegrass and it was the best we have ever played. Super sound and the audience who were not very familiar with bluegrass loved it. The reason we were a trio is because one guitar player had to go home for a family event and the banjo player was suffering severe stomach pain due to a reaction to a new medication and had to leave. We have done this trio thing before and it works really well and we play some non bluegrass songs like some Eagles, Gordon Lightfoot, and even Ralph McTell's Streets Of London which always goes over well. Sorry for the late report but the area where I live, almost six hours from the gig, was hit by a severe storm Saturday night and when I got home at 11PM Sunday there was no power and it didn't come back for another two days and I am still clearing downed trees from my yard. Bass was my "70's Czech ply through Nux wireless to my Traynor SB112 and DI to PA.

Here's a bit of the mojo on "Peaches", definitely well used but she sounds great. The colour has been called "butterscotch" as opposed to "blonde" but I think that's just the colour she changed as she aged.😊

I'm with you on that. My Shen SB100 is in perfect shape but "Peaches" my "beater bass" , a '70's Czech ply bass, is perfect for bluegrass, it has a seriously cracked finish that is actually rough if you run your fingers over it. The bass side shows some nasty buckle rash and a bad hit in the C bout that has been repaired as well as some beat up edges. Most of the damage was there when I bought it but gigs in very hot sun and also some in very damp conditions probably added some more mojo. It also had some open seams but that has been repaired and is holding well. From a distance it looks good and a lot of bass players have asked me about it, in bluegrass circles a little mojo is not a bad thing at all. It has Spiro mediums and is loud acoustically and amplifies well and it will get a good workout this weekend.😊 Yes, I know, naming your instrument is silly but "Peaches" just fits with this bass.

Wow, that's great! I watched the video and he and his band have nailed it, music and costumes are perfect, I'd love to play in a band like that. I hadn't heard of the band but I can see why they would appeal to a certain crowd. Same instrumentation as our band but their arrangements are much more period correct than ours, great stuff and fun to play. Thanks for the link, I will pass that on to the band members. Our gig was a lot of fun last Saturday but this week I am going in a very different musical direction as I get ready to head out of town and play with my bluegrass band at a two day festival on Friday and Saturday and a concert on Sunday... variety is the spice of life as they say.😊

A bit of a time warp gig last night, an old fashioned dinner/dance evening with a "Gatsby to Casablanca" theme, just perfect for our 7 piece swing/Dixie band with a guest vocalist. It was a dress up affair with costumes from 20's flappers to gangster outfits and the crowd of just under 50 were up for a good time. As you can imagine most were older but there were some much younger folks there as well. We were scheduled to play 4 sets from 7-11 and figured we would end early but we started early when the meal ended and went right to 11, not too many dancers still there but it went surprisingly well although the horns didn't have much lip left when we finished with a blistering version of the Stray Cats Rock This Town. We started the night with Let's Dance to set the tone and followed that with Five Foot Two from the 20's where I switch to tenor banjo. To get people dancing I gave a quick Charleston dance lesson to about 25 folk and from there on it was a great evening, one of the best the band has played. Our band has a few stony faced musicians but last night they all got into the mood and actually smiled and interacted with each other and the audience, first time that has really happened in 8 years. The vocalist is the conductor of the local symphony but is a good entertainer and has good voice for the type of music we played , almost all standards and big band hits from the 20's through the 40's and we threw in some latin dances and even a waltz medley As front man I worked hard to keep things moving and the band and crowd responded so it was satisfying night for me, the band and the crowd, that doesn't happen too often and we all went home tired but happy. No pics this time but I used my trusty Shen SB 100 into our Bose PA and my Baldwin Ode tenor banjo acoustically, it's plenty loud without a mic. We were in suits so no interesting shoes to report just black dress shoes.😊

For smaller gigs I go direct to our Bose PA but when I play at bluegrass festivals I use my combo amp and DI to the PA and it always seems to work OK. At bluegrass gigs most of the sound guys know what a bass should sound like for bluegrass and are good at setting things up for bass players.

If you can play several DB's that would be ideal. Just because it is a "3/4 double bass" doesn't mean too much because the dimensions and shape vary a lot as well as the neck size and shape. I have owned three DB's and one is perfect for my body size and shape, another is OK and the third was not good at all for me. Just a suggestion, play as many as you can before you buy so you will know what feels best for you. Good luck.

Who knew? Interesting stuff.😊

Yeah, if only I was 16 again. I figure I'm lucky just to be playing at all!😊

Not many of these over here but you can see another photo and a story in my post in General Discussion "How was your gig last night". It is a 3/4 bass with a 42 inch string length and although it is not a very big bass it has a massive sound and came with a C extension and is lovely to play and sounds fantastic, too bad it's not mine.😊