Downunderwonder Posted January 2 Share Posted January 2 My fretless mysteriously broke a string so I had to play the whole show on DB. Some of the trombone players probably noticed but nobody said anything. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ossyrocks Posted January 2 Share Posted January 2 I think the decision whether or not to take a spare depends quite a bit on the basses that you have/use. Mine are vintage 70’s for the most part, and very recently I had a pickup spontaneously expire. If I had been on a gig, with no backup, it could have been awkward. It was a Jazz bass however, so I could have got away with just using the other pickup for the rest of the gig. In the case of a Precision pickup failure, it’s game over. Since the pickup failure happened, I have bought a double gig bag, and always carry two basses. The chap who rewound my Jazz pickup (Ash from Oil City Pickups) told me that pickup failures in 70’s Fenders are becoming much more common as they hit that 50 year milestone. Rob 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TimR Posted January 2 Share Posted January 2 It's really mainly someone's attitude to risk, which depends on the outcome of any potential failure, along with experience. Once you start paying lots of paid gigs and have one or two failures it becomes a no brainer to chuck in a cheap second hand £50 bass. I played hundreds of gigs over 20 years and never had a failure. Never took a spare, didn't even consider it. Then one night lost a machinehead. Playing a 3 string bass all night that could have been solved in seconds. Had another one go 10 years later but had a spare bass. No impact. I've since upgraded all machineheads instead of just swapping with OEM. 2 manufacturer failures (that turned out to be common on that manufacturer) in 40 years of playing. That's pretty good odds and most people would take a bet on that never happening to them. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Muzz Posted January 2 Share Posted January 2 I always take a spare - if it's a prestige/well paid gig I'll take two nice basses (I've got quite a few nice basses, might as well give them a run out now and again...tho one will usually stay in the case), if it's the Dog & Duck I'll take my (passive) BB414 (which is fast becoming my bass of choice anyway) and chuck the Westone headless in the other side of the gig bag...if the venue/band area turns out to be the size of a postage stamp I might use the headless anyway. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
asingardenof Posted January 2 Author Share Posted January 2 (edited) On 01/01/2024 at 03:02, asingardenof said: Well, I needed it. I recalled a couple of occasions previously when using the Sire that things had mysteriously cut out (but nowhere near as badly as Sunday with the P though), so to be thorough I took the pickguard off the P and gave all the wires a good tug to make sure the connections were still sound, and they are. So I think it's the Elf that's actually the problem. So it's going back to PMT tomorrow for testing and repair/replacement. Just have to use the ABM for the time being I suppose - oh no, what a shame, etc. Edited January 2 by asingardenof 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TrevorR Posted January 2 Share Posted January 2 (edited) On 31/12/2023 at 11:26, TimR said: This is where it is important to have competent band mates who are able to to comp while you 'faff'. Indeed! The beauty of that set up is swap over time is take bass off, put on stand, pick other bass up, put strap over head, step on A/B/Y footswitch (Lehle 3@1 - fabulous pedal, bomb proof)… maybe 10 seconds tops. Little or no band filling required! Edited January 2 by TrevorR 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve Browning Posted January 3 Share Posted January 3 6 hours ago, TrevorR said: Indeed! The beauty of that set up is swap over time is take bass off, put on stand, pick other bass up, put strap over head, step on A/B/Y footswitch (Lehle 3@1 - fabulous pedal, bomb proof)… maybe 10 seconds tops. Little or no band filling required! Yes. The Lehle is a terrific switcher. I used one for ages, before going for a Mike Hill unit. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bassfinger Posted January 3 Share Posted January 3 (edited) I lug a spare, a cheap and cheerful Harley Benton MB4 bought for that purpose. Being an compulsive fiddler it soon ended up with Wilkinson tuners and bridge, and a Warman pickup, and became a superb sounding, very decent bass in its own right. That being the case, depending on the gig and the set list, I may occasionally use it as my number one and my usual Sire becomes the backup. Being a cheap bass I've not been as careful with the HB as perhaps I should and its a bit battered, a genuine roadworn patina. A couple of bullet hole decals add to the effect and its a good looking beast, a very capable and worthy backup. Edited January 3 by Bassfinger Speelign 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TRBboy Posted January 3 Share Posted January 3 I only actually use one bass during a gig these days, but I always take a second as a spare. Although failures are rare, I always figure that if you own more than one, why wouldn't you take a spare? I virtually never need to use it, but it's there I if I do. In fact, our last gig before Christmas I had a problem with my main bass during sound check so used the spare for the gig. I did have one gig a few years ago where BOTH basses developed issues, but I managed to limp through. I've chalked this up as an outlier that'll probably never happen again in my lifetime... 🤞 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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