CoolCat Posted January 18, 2010 Share Posted January 18, 2010 (edited) ...Ccccrrrack ... (what was that?) ....BLOOM!! Ouch!! Tailpice wire gone after 10min in on my warm-up session (at home) last Saturday. Quite frightening as it sounded like there was a crack on the wood somewhere before exploding parts flew all over... Turns out that the cheap tailpiece "steel" wire was rusty in a out of site section and just fraied until snaping. No damage to the bass, just the strings and tailpiece dangling free and bridge and tuner flying across the room. Heartbreaking to spend the weekend looking at the bridgeless bass in a corner.... 1 or 2 days until new wire arrives. Check your wires now!...specially the bit tucked on the tailpiece holes... Edited January 18, 2010 by CoolCat Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bassace Posted January 18, 2010 Share Posted January 18, 2010 (edited) You're lucky it happened at home. It happened to me on a gig when I was using one of those aluminium three point bridges. So the bridge and its three separate feet were launched into the audience. Luckily I managed to retrieve them all. I also had a tailpiece wire let go while I was tuning up just before a gig. It's disheartening to be winding your tuner [i]up[/i] and the note goes [i]down[/i]. So I reckon that this sort of failure is not as uncommon as might be supposed. Any other experiences? Edited January 18, 2010 by bassace Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TPJ Posted January 18, 2010 Share Posted January 18, 2010 Whilst watching a bluegrass gig in Leeds, the wire let go at the start of the last number. The poor young lady playing DB nearly had a heart attack when it popped. Sounded like someone let off a firework in the bass. Scared the poop out of a lot of the audience as well. Luckily, no damage other than pride on that occasion. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
27 frets Posted January 19, 2010 Share Posted January 19, 2010 [quote name='bassace' post='716780' date='Jan 18 2010, 04:56 PM']You're lucky it happened at home. It happened to me on a gig when I was using one of those aluminium three point bridges. So the bridge and its three separate feet were launched into the audience. Luckily I managed to retrieve them all. I also had a tailpiece wire let go while I was tuning up just before a gig. It's disheartening to be winding your tuner [i]up[/i] and the note goes [i]down[/i]. So I reckon that this sort of failure is not as uncommon as might be supposed. Any other experiences?[/quote] My tailpiece 'wire' went a couple of weeks back too, and i wasn't even playing it at the time - maybe it's sometihng to do with recent the weather conditions! This was a nylon version supplied with the bass (1 year old), but having checked on replacements I went for the steel version made by Wittner, which seems pretty good. Stringzone do them online at a good price, and free delivery. No serious damage, and all fixed now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jonny-lad Posted January 20, 2010 Share Posted January 20, 2010 (edited) Mine once went when I wasn't even playing the bass aswell...not surprising as it's a cheap chinese bass and the wire supplied with it was puny and thin looking! Didn't do any other damage though! I replaced it with one of these: [url="http://www.contrabass.co.uk/bass_sure_lock.htm"]http://www.contrabass.co.uk/bass_sure_lock.htm[/url] It's loads better and ideal for a cheap bass as it's affordable, reliable and easy to fit! Edited January 20, 2010 by jonny-lad Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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