Those D'oh moments.

[Maude]

I'm such an idiot. 

I've just been doing a little extra fettling on my recently purchased cheap Precision. I decided to give the trussrod a little tweak now it's had Chromes on for a couple of weeks, and then set the intonation properly, it was only roughly done as I knew I'd be tweaking once settled. 

Anyway I slackened the A and D strings and popped them out their nut slots to allow room to turn the allen key (headstock end adjustment), gave it a quarter turn and popped the strings back in their slots. 

Reached up to the D string tuner and gave it a couple of swift turns to put some tension back in the string and the G string exploded. 

Yep, that'll be the G tuner I was turning, not the D. 

D'oh! 

 

Anyone had any similar D'oh moments (D'ohments) when afterwards you think, how did I manage to be so stupid? 

 

😁👍

[MacDaddy]

At a sound check, I couldn't work out why I could hear my bass through the PA, but not my amp.

Forgot I'd muted the amp when I turned it on. Bass through the DI box was fine 😖

[Old Horse Murphy]

Cold sweat running down my spine thinking that my amp was dead. I forgot to plug the speakon  in to the back of the cab. 
 

I wouldn't mind but I've done it several times and each time I've panicked 

[Staggering on]

The D'Addario mini tuner that I use on my EUB tailpiece(Yamaha SLB 200) sometimes gets a bit loose and the vibration gets picked up makes a weird buzz/rattle through the amp. This caused a major crisis at a rehearsal the first time it happened and after much fiddling about with the EUB, amp and PA I finally figured out what was causing the problem. A few weeks later the same thing happened, this time at a gig, and I went into crisis mode until it finally dawned on me it was the same problem. That would be bad enough but it happened AGAIN at another gig and more sweating and swearing until I got the offending tuner off the bass and things returned to normal.

It amazes me how my brain can get so addled when something like this happens and I have no doubt it will happen again sometime. Maybe it's old age but you would think I could remember something so obvious. Definitely a D'oh moment and awfully embarrassing.🙄

[chris_b]

I hit the first note in the first number, and. . . . nothing!!

Everything was on, the bass was plugged in. . . . panic!!

With the band well into the first verse, I looked around the back. . . . I hadn't connected the cabs!!

 

[Man.about.Tyne]

Almost 50 years ago I was changing strings on my first ever guitar and trying to tune up a string.  Problem was, I later realised, that I was aiming at an octave above what the string should be.

 

Unsurprisingly,  the string snaped with some force and the end of the string embedded itself into my forehead right between the eyes.

 

From that day to this, I’ve never changed strings without slipping a pair of glasses on.

[ubit]

Slammed the hatchback door shut on my old Vauxhall Astra GTI when I had the gear in the back. Smash!

[Jean-Luc Pickguard]

Loading an ashdown cabinet after a particularly exhausting gig, I missed the boot and clumped the rear light cluster of my car with the corner of the cab causing a hairline crack. The next time it rained heavily the light filled up with water. It cost me £70 for a new light assembly.

[chris_b]

23 minutes ago, ubit said:

Slammed the hatchback door shut on my old Vauxhall Astra GTI when I had the gear in the back. Smash!

 

Many years ago, our keyboard player did that in a VW Passat. Left the keyboards poking out, slammed the hatchback down, bang the whole window broke into glass confetti.  Then our singer did the same thing with the PA in the back of his VW Golf. The look on his face said it all. I had to keep a straight face, but roared with laughter when I got in my car and drove away.

 

[Maude]

1 hour ago, chris_b said:

 

Many years ago, our keyboard player did that in a VW Passat. Left the keyboards poking out, slammed the hatchback down, bang the whole window broke into glass confetti.  Then our singer did the same thing with the PA in the back of his VW Golf. The look on his face said it all. I had to keep a straight face, but roared with laughter when I got in my car and drove away.

 

That reminds me, I pushed the windscreen out of a Mini with a hardcase once. 

It was a proper Mini, the screen was held in with a rubber trim, which had a beading running through it to secure it firmly. I'd put a new screen in but couldn't get the beading in (there's a special tool) so just left it out, the screen felt secure enough. 

I used to have a quick release passenger seat that allowed me to put my big Peavey 15" amp on the floor where the seat would be with a matching cab on the back seat. My bass, in a hardcase, would lay on top of the amp and cab. 

Being young and over enthusiastic about everything, I was whizzing through the country lanes, rounded a corner, met a car and had to brake sharpish. The hardcase shot forwards and pushed the screen out, and they both then slid down the bonnet and onto the road. 

I casually got out and put the case and cracked screen on top of the amp/cab and continued to the gig. 

The other driver was having a right laugh at me. 

The cheeky bleeder! 

😄

Edited April 15, 2022 by Maude
Missing words, missing words.

[ped]

8 minutes ago, Maude said:

That reminds me, I pushed the windscreen out of a Mini with a hardcase once. 

It was a proper Mini, the was held in with a rubber trim, which had a beading running through it to secure it firmly. I'd put a new screen in but couldn't get the beading in (there's a special tool) so just left it out, the screen felt secure enough. 

I used to have a quick release passenger seat that allowed me to put my big Peavey 15" amp on the floor where the seat would be with a matching cab on the back seat. My bass, in a hardcase, would lay on top of the amp and cab. 

Being young and over enthusiastic about everything, I was whizzing through the country lanes, rounded a corner, met a car and had to brake sharpish. The hardcase shot forwards and pushed the screen out, and they both then slid down the bonnet and onto the road. 

I casually got out and put the case and cracked screen on top of the amp/cab and continued to the gig. 

The other driver was having a right laugh at me. 

The cheeky bleeder! 

😄

Could be quite a stylish way to unload at a venue with some practice

[Maude]

7 minutes ago, ped said:

Could be quite a stylish way to unload at a venue with some practice

Stylish but costly, having a new screen each time. 

And praying it doesn't rain while your playing. 😄

[Maude]

There's a lot of unplugged cabs, amps, etc. 

Is there any link between this seemingly common problem and the average age of the Basschat member? 😁

[Lozz196]

Dunno but I can def add to it. Think it was the third time we played Rebellion, I set up, no sound, so started in a panic to check all my gear. Hadn’t plugged my lead into the amp from my pedals. D’oh!

[CJPJ]

We have Brass in Pocket in the set list but haven't played it for a while. In fact, I used to play it on a 5 string and have since moved to a 4 P Bass. Anyway, I needed to refresh so downloaded the tab and started to play. Didn't sound right. Watched some YT covers and tried to emulate. Still didn't sound right. After 20 minutes or so of scratching my head and thinking I was loosing it, I realised it was DADG tuning 🤣 ☺️

[Paul S]

I was fitting a new set of TI Flats to a newly acquired short scale bass.  It did occur to me that I was cutting off rather a lot of the end of the string but I carried on regardless.  About 2 and a half strings in I realised I was trimming down a long scale set, the short scale set - bought especially for the bass - were still in the packet on my desk.

[mr4stringz]

Packing into cars from a lockup space for a gig years back, we’d almost finished loading other than the guitars so I went to have a quick Jimmy, while the guitardists loaded the guitars (including my two basses in hardcases) into the car. 
 

Got to the gig, unloaded. Thought one of my cases felt incredibly light. Opened it to find it empty. My backup bass was still on a stand in the lock up.

Edited April 15, 2022 by mr4stringz

[davepb24]

6 hours ago, chris_b said:

I hit the first note in the first number, and. . . . nothing!!

Everything was on, the bass was plugged in. . . . panic!!

With the band well into the first verse, I looked around the back. . . . I hadn't connected the cabs!!

 

Lol as a former soundman for our church band this wasn't unknown on a Sunday morning  😅 

[Newfoundfreedom]

10 hours ago, Maude said:

There's a lot of unplugged cabs, amps, etc. 

Is there any link between this seemingly common problem and the average age of the Basschat member? 😁

 

More to the point, how do you not check all this before it's time to actually play???

😕

[miles'tone]

12 hours ago, Maude said:

There's a lot of unplugged cabs, amps, etc. 

Is there any link between this seemingly common problem and the average age of the Basschat member? 😁

 😂 There does seem to be a link between Ashdown owners and Basil Fawlty. 

[nilorius]

I just ended practising and put my bass back in to the stand and turned away and suddenly my leg swirled the stand and it lost control over the bass and it got out and fell dow right on the floor. In panic i started to check out if everything is ok and - yes, it was fine. D'oh

[ezbass]

Leaning my bass against the seat of my computer chair, forgetting that it’s a swivel chair and watching as it turns and sends the instrument hurtling towards the ground. I’d like to say I’ve only done this once, but, er, well, you know how it is. 

[Len_derby]

Most of mine are concerning travel to venues.

I think the worst one was getting half way to a gig and realising I’d left my bass on the drive at home. Luckily, the bass was still there when I u-turned to collect it. I made the venue in time too, The Maze in Nottingham if anyone remembers it.

[ezbass]

40 minutes ago, Len_derby said:

Most of mine are concerning travel to venues.

I think the worst one was getting half way to a gig and realising I’d left my bass on the drive at home. Luckily, the bass was still there when I u-turned to collect it. I made the venue in time too, The Maze in Nottingham if anyone remembers it.

Left both of my basses in a pub but, fortunately, realised before I’d got too far. Left my pedal board in another, fortunately (again), the guys in the band picked it up for me.

[ubit]

3 minutes ago, ezbass said:

Left both of my basses in a pub but, fortunately, realised before I’d got too far. Left my pedal board in another, fortunately (again), the guys in the band picked it up for me.

 

 

Back when we were really busy with gigs we used to leave our gear stacked in a corner and pick it up the next day. I've seen me leave it until Monday after a Saturday gig. Trust worthy people round here plus we knew the bar staff would never let anyone else take the gear.