knirirr

Only for a short distance I hope! I’m reminded of getting me and the drummer back from a gig years ago, in a Citroën 2CV. I can’t remember why his other transport wasn’t available. Anyway, I had to roll the roof down so we could lower the bass drum in.

@Paul S it turns out it does go in neck first. I'm a bit concerned about the neck being forward, but it does seem to be the favoured option.

I've got good visibility via the other mirrors and don't normally need that one except for some parking. I'm not sure but will try it via the boot. I certainly won't be able to get it in the door.

Problem solved - bottom-first insertion from the rear, over onto the front seat. This technique gets it in without having to pull out to access the doors on the left. Still plenty of space for horn, passenger (both non-negotiable) and amp.

Claimed!

It does. But, I seem to have bought the skinflint's version of this car, which doesn't allow the front seat to fold flat forwards and therefore adds to the difficulty.

Interesting, thanks. I was planning to drive out onto the road tomorrow afternoon to try things out.

Is something like this what you're thinking of, or sitting upright?

That might be worth considering - I am not sure I could manage to construct a robust enough cradle.

I thought someone might ask that. That would not be ideal. Much as I have problems with acoustic basses and the cramped conditions of the house, I also have the difficulty of a parking space barely larger than the car (there are stone walls either side).

These came off a Warwick Triumph but appear to be BG tuners. Free to anyone wiling to pay postage costs (I'm going by a post office on Tuesdays at the moment).

For a short time I have borrowed a DB which I may purchase if I can find means to fit it in my house. Having dealt with the stairs (difficult, but possible, it turns out) the car boot is next. Unfortunately, the only way I can get it in is to place the neck between the front seats. Lowering a front seat is not possible; I need to carry two people, bass, amp and baritone horn if driving to jams, if/when that happens again. Is this at all risky? I wonder if the bass might shift and snap the neck. Perhaps something (but what?) towards the bottom of the bass to stop it moving about might work?

From the other half, a bow clip so I can quickly switch between sounding bad and very bad.

It was a one-off 5-string custom job made by this company: https://starfishdesigns.co.uk/ Presumably they don't do basses any more. Five strings were too many for me, but I sold it to a colleague who's using it around Southampton (covid permitting).

I used to use side dots on my previous EUB (see below), but I've been able to adjust to not having any. In fact, the point of getting that particular model was so that I could see if I could manage without them. Some of the suggestions made by the fellows you mention should sort you out in any case.

I bought a Warwick Triumph second hand in March; I note also that there was one of a similar age (< 10 years old) for sale here recently. Overall I've been very pleased with it, but it required a bit of fiddling, including a setup from a DB luthier, and decent tuners fitting. This latter modification allows the use of proper DB strings, and the Evah Pirazzi gold/slap I have on it give a good tone. A copper pipe over the endpin has got it up to a reasonable height for me (I am 6'3"). N.B. there are no dots on side of the neck.

Yes; I saw him do a live solo performance in a theatre in Dundee a long time ago. Perhaps it was the early 1990s. The most astonishing guitar playing I'd ever heard/seen.

The proprietor of a nearby studio has said that he will keep it open as he was at work and the bands visiting were practicing for work. However, the number of bookings has apparently dropped to an unsustainable level.

I feel somewhat guilty in that my job involves writing research software; I can do 99% of this from home and doing so has been a lot more pleasant than spending 2 hours commuting each day. It has also saved quite a bit of fuel and parking money, so I have spent it on luthier's fees, more frequent bass lessons, live streamed gig tips etc.

In the end the drummer's persistence, powers of persuasion and "covid secure" organisational skills persuaded the landlord that we should go head with limited numbers. Our quintet thus played outside in a rather brisk breeze to a socially-distanced audience never exceeding our numbers. I suspect it made a notable increase in the pub's takings that night. Conveniently, I discovered that the scroll of my bass can be hooked over the gazebo frame for when I need to take a trip to the bar or bog.

To my complete lack of surprise it has been; the pub landlord is concerned about being fined, and I don't blame him.

The regular jam I attend moved out to the pub car park and we got a couple of sessions in, two weeks apart. It worked quite well, though running power cables out and arranging the horn players to blow in appropriate directions was tricky. There's one planned for next week but presumably it will be cancelled. Of course, we could always drive to the pub to test our eyesight and, whilst we are there anyway, jam in a very specific and limited way...

Some work by a luthier to replace the BG-style tuners and it's now possible to fit proper double bass strings on this instrument. Not cheap, but far better than paying £6000+ for the deluxe Triumph model.