bassace Posted August 18, 2014 Share Posted August 18, 2014 I took my German Blonde Ply to an outside gig yesterday. It does all the outside stuff because it's more resistant to rain than the carved basses. Set up the amp, bass out of cover, plugged in and just a soggy sound from the strings. It immediately became obvious that the tail wire was about to go. This is the second time it's happened on a German; the older basses were fitted with quite soft wire. So I took it back home and picked up the Martin and got back to the gig for the second set - 50 mins round trip. They said they got on quite well without a bass! This morning I looked on line and found that Martyn Bailey does a tail wire kit and while I was about it I thought I'd treat the bass to a new tailpiece as well; the wire is included. But I found that he's on holiday for two weeks and I've got another outsider next weekend. On the offchance I phoned George Martin who took the call from the back of a horse! Told me to go and see the guys in the workshop and they would fix me up with some cable and a cleat. Which they did for a bag of donuts. On the way out I saw Tom Martin and it was good to have a chat with him. He's doing mainly teaching right now but there will be some more international stuff soon. He said that when he started out he never dreamed that the double bass would take off in the way that it has. He was interested to hear about the Bass Bash and asked me to keep George in the loop. I wonder whether I can persuade him to come. So, back home and the tailwire was fitted by 3 o'clock and I have a fully working bass again. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
geoffbassist Posted August 18, 2014 Share Posted August 18, 2014 (edited) Good to hear, that's great service! Edited August 18, 2014 by geoffbassist Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iiipopes Posted August 18, 2014 Share Posted August 18, 2014 Whew! I'm just glad that when it let go, it did so incrementally so you could tell it was coming off, rather than as a pyrotechnic display that could have damaged the bass! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fatgoogle Posted August 18, 2014 Share Posted August 18, 2014 I once saw a teacher of mine use a wire coat hanger as a tailpiece wire when in a fix. Just about held. I think Tom appears in the most Bio's of any player ever. Every single person I've taken a lesson with has been a student of his. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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