Lending someone your bass

[bassbloke]

Last Saturday's gig, bassist in opening band broke 2 strings 😮

 

Plea went out for assistance and as my bass was already onstage tucked away in a gig bag and tuned down a step fished it out for him. 

 

Totally changed their sound (passive ash jazz with overwound pickups vs active yamaha) and was clearly setup very differently, but it was an interesting experience.

 

I guess he was lucky it was our first gig in a while and I didn't fancy using the fretless. 

[Downunderwonder]

Jeez that's brave. I don't carry spare strings. If someone broke 2 I think I'd be hiding for fear my strings were next.

[binky_bass]

Tis good of you - I always take a spare set of strings and two basses to gig just in case.

[Reggaebass]

I’ve never ever broke a string, how does this happen, the only way I could see would be if you were slapping hard and pulled the G maybe too much 

[Chaosanator]

You're a better bloke than I am 🙂 

What was he doing to break two strings in one set?

[Thunderbird]

1 minute ago, Reggaebass said:

I’ve never ever broke a string, how does this happen, the only way I could see would be if you were slapping hard and pulled the G maybe too much 

I've slapped pretty hard while pulling on a g string in the past lol

[bassbloke]

4 minutes ago, Chaosanator said:

You're a better bloke than I am 🙂 

What was he doing to break two strings in one set?

Heavy pick player and, to be fair, they hadn't been changed in a while. 

[Bassfinger]

Prior Planning and Preparation Prevents Pith Poor Performance.  I go prepared for every reasonable eventuality when I play live (2nd bass and spare steings and luthiers toolkit), and if someone else can't be bothered to do so then im not bailing them out by lending them something as precious and personal to me as a bass.

 

I take my hat off you for soing so, but I'm  also happy to affirm that I would not have been so generous.

[Cat Burrito]

I lent a bass to a guy in a similar situation a few years ago. I got an absolute critique afterwards about how my bass wasn't really good enough for him, which started with the phrase "I'm usually a guitar player..." I cut him dead with "next time I'll leave you onstage with a dead bass for you to sort out as my bass is clearly beneath you". He soon changed his attitude. 

[Doctor J]

I'm not sure I would have been so charitable, especially to someone who has broken two strings. How the hell do you break one bass string, never mind two?

 
I once loaned my Rickenbacker 4003 (when they were very hard to come by over here and very, very expensive in the days before online sales really took off) for a soundcheck to a guy on the bill who had "forgotten" his bass. All I did was worry about "what kind of bassist forgets his bass"? My conclusion was "one not to be trusted with my Rickenbacker" and he was instructed to use the time between soundcheck and their set starting to unforget his bass, he wasn't getting my one for their set.

[pbasspecial]

I’m the house bass player at our local jam night. Yesterday someone came and asked to use my bass as he’d come straight from work. I was a little hesitant but said ok. He was a decent player and a nice guy. However I did pre-warn him and said no flea type antics with it though!

[Reggaebass]

If it’s someone I didn’t know I might think twice, it might come back like this 😁

[Steve Browning]

I've not come across a real Neanderthal (not quite true as I've been there) and haven't refused an offer to borrow my bass, up to now. I always carry a spare and have strings etc to accommodate pretty much any eventuality.

 

Each to their own so my choice is purely mine. I can understand why others would be reluctant.

[Thunderbird]

I will only lend stuff to people I know and trust who will respect my stuff and I say you break it you pay for it and I would do the same if I accidentally damaged something I'd borrowed from a mate as accidents do happen unfortunately 

[paul_5]

Broke 2 strings?!?

 

that’s twice as many as I’ve broken in over 30 years of playing, I’m afraid it would have been a ‘no’ from me.

Edited November 11, 2021 by paul_5

[Beer of the Bass]

I've loaned my double bass a couple of times to people we were on the bill with (who I knew were competent bassists) to make their travel arrangements easier. And I did once finish a guitar gig with a guitar borrowed from another band as the pickup selector packed up on mine. With three bands in a basement in a city centre with poor parking, it's simply not feasible for everyone to bring multiples of everything, even if that might be a reasonable plan in other settings.

Edited November 11, 2021 by Beer of the Bass

[Hellzero]

To be fair Neanderthals were absolutely not rough, stupid and brutal, that's the Homo Sapiens who are stupid rough brutal destroyers...

 

That said, I've seen, in the late 80's, the guitarist of The Scientists destroying the black early 70's Stratocaster he's been lent by the La Muerte guitarist at the end of the show.

 

I've seen the smile on the La Muerte guitarist's face slowly fading out while watching this Homo Sapiens totally destroying his newly acquired vintage guitar.

 

I would have jumped on the stage and finished the work by smashing the remains on his idiot junkie head.

 

That's certainly why I'm very reluctant to lend my instruments except if I know the person well, but there would be a lot of recommendations and the first would be to wash their hands as I can't stand greasy fingers.

[BlueMoon]

I guess it would depend on the circumstances and which bass I had with me to lend. Some basses, yes; some basses, no. 

 

Although I might make a few exceptions if it were Pino or Macca doing the asking 😀

[binky_bass]

8 minutes ago, Hellzero said:

To be fair Neanderthals were absolutely not rough, stupid and brutal, that's the Homo Sapiens who are stupid rough brutal destroyers...

 

That said, I've seen, in the late 80's, the guitarist of The Scientists destroying the black early 70's Stratocaster he's been lent by the La Muerte guitarist at the end of the show.

 

I've seen the smile on the La Muerte guitarist's face slowly fading out while watching this Homo Sapiens totally destroying his newly acquired vintage guitar.

 

I would have jumped on the stage and finished the work by smashing the remains on his idiot junkie head.

 

That's certainly why I'm very reluctant to lend my instruments except if I know the person well, but there would be a lot of recommendations and the first would be to wash their hands as I can't stand greasy fingers.

My fingers are constantly coated in a thick layer of butter in anticipation of playing your basses... 

[Hellzero]

1 minute ago, binky_bass said:

My fingers are constantly coated in a thick layer of butter in anticipation of playing your basses... 

That's why I bless Boris and the Brexit. Good name for a band, that said, please put the envelope in the pigeon hole.

[Steve Browning]

2 minutes ago, binky_bass said:

My fingers are constantly coated in a thick layer of butter in anticipation of playing your basses... 

Especially if about to play a tango in Paris!!

[BigRedX]

I get around this problem (and the one of people wanting to borrow my amplification) by having instruments and gear that is strange and unusual, and one look at them are enough to put any prospective borrower off.

 

Having said that in the days when I played guitar, I did lend one to the guitarist of the (reasonably well known) headlining band after his Telecaster suffered a catastrophic electrics failure (I don't know either). Since I was playing a Gus G1 as my main guitar and a Custom FretKing Esprit as my backup neither were a particularly good fit from an image, sound or playability PoV. IIRC he settled on the FretKing, and the band were able to complete their set although their guitarist looked seriously uncomfortable the whole time.

 

In my early playing days, I found myself in a similar situation where I broke a string on the opening song and not having a spare string or bass had to use the support band's violin bass copy which was strung with flats and attached to a strap so long it hung at about knee level on me. After that experience I made sure I never gigged without a spare guitar or bass and a full set of replacement strings.

[E sharp]

There’s more than a few stories of Norman Watt Roy trashing support band bass rigs, by playing too loud- then just walking away. Yet people still say what a diamond bloke he is. 
 

Also used to regularly do a bike rally, and my mate had the same Eden rig as me. They booked a well known rock bass player as a headline, with his side band. He had no idea, and nearly blew it up. 
 

Pros eh?

[Dan Dare]

I carry a set of part used strings so I can replace one that breaks and not have the replacement twanging and stretching and causing issues if I have to change one on a gig. I would happily offer then to someone who broke a string, but wouldn't lend them my instrument. I once had a similar experience to Cat Burrito, where someone I offered to lend a bass to moaned about it being strung with flats. I put it back in the case and told them to make other arrangements.

[cetera]

Unless I know you well and it was a genuinely unfortunate and unexpected occurrence.....Just "no...."

 

You didn't bring a spare bass or spare strings. Not my problem.