How badly have you broken your bass?

[Dubs]

I done this to my Warwick Streamer Standard in early 2004 when I was playing a few 80’s tribute gigs with my college on the Isle of Wight. I was significantly pissed and found a skateboard in a bush but I had my bass on my back in a gig bag, so I jumped on the skateboard and…

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I’d like to think I’ve learnt from my mistakes having acquired some considerably more expensive basses than a Streamer Standard (rrp £360ish).
I managed to get it fixed for 50 quid in a local shop and it came back looking spotless. I couldn't believe it. This bass is now retired from playing and is tucked up nice and safe. It won't ever be getting sold because of emotional attachment (it was my first 'real' bass), but don't know if I'd be able to get anyone on here to buy it anyways after reading this .

Has anyone broken a bass worse than this?

Edited April 14, 2008 by benwhiteuk

[warwickhunt]

Almost 30 years of playing and I've not... I'm going to stop right there! I'm not tempting fate, especially with a gig tonight

[WarPig]

damn man you mustve created some new swear words when you did that! So far so good for mine. Only damage inflicted is my upgrades haha.

[Jase]

Ooooo, that's nasty, I'd be gutted. I had a few strap locks fail on me, nothing serious just a bump and a ding. Looks pretty Rock and Roll though

[markytbass]

My mate managed to snap the headstock off his Gibson Les Paul guitar, so much for soft padded gigbags eh.

[Buzz]

Gibbo's are renowned for that though arn't they?

[Dubs]

[quote name='Buzz' post='175391' date='Apr 12 2008, 07:41 PM']Gibbo's are renowned for that though arn't they?[/quote]

yeah, a guitarest in an old band dropped his on stage and the headstock literally dropped off. His own fault for being a guitarest

[Kiwi]

i left my Jaydee on the floor, being too afraid to leave it up against a chair in case it slid over...

...and promptly tripped over the lead I'd left in it ripping the jack socket out of the front of the bass plus a healthy chunk of wood.

I turned the air blue with my ranting and self contempt for half an hour afterwards.

[Gamble]

I had (should still have if I can get it back) a no-make P-Bass copy for my first bass that I had a rock&roll guitar abuse moment on stage with back when I'd just started playing, though it would be cool top give a bit of a show. Would have been cooler to ACTUALLY smash it, but I just smacked the bottom of the body on the floor a few times, lobbed it on the floor and jumped up and down on it. I only jumed on the pickups so as not to damage the neck, and I think I even finished the song we were half way through (it was a drum break if I remember rightly). I only used that bass for the one song at the end of the night so I could do that!
Never done any serious damage to any of my basses (touch wood - where's my Thumb bass?!) although I have made a bit of a mess of the black laquer face on one of my guitarists Gordon Smith custom Les Paul. He says he doesn't mind, but I'd have killed me!

[jakenewmanbass]

Alembic basses were designed with funny shapes at the end to stop people leaning them against things. This came about as the company was formed out of a repair and customisation shop, the most common repair being a snapped off headstock from people leaving their instruments standing up.
It's a bit of a pain but as I can't stand mine up I always put it in the case even on gigs when swapping to upright.

[greyparrot]

[quote name='benwhiteuk' post='175372' date='Apr 12 2008, 06:55 PM']I done this to my Warwick Streamer Standard in early 2004 when I was playing a few 80’s tribute gigs with my college on the Isle of Wight. I was significantly pissed and found a skateboard in a bush but I had my bass on my back in a gig bag, so I jumped on the skateboard and…

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[attachment=7589:IMG_0154.JPG]
[attachment=7590:IMG_0157.JPG]
[attachment=7591:IMG_0159.JPG]
[attachment=7592:IMG_0170.JPG]


I’d like to think I’ve learnt from my mistakes having acquired some considerably more expensive basses than a Streamer Standard (rrp £360ish).
I managed to get it fixed for 50 quid in a local shop and it came back looking spotless. I couldn't believe it. This bass is now retired from playing and is tucked up nice and safe. It won't ever be getting sold because of emotional attachment (it was my first 'real' bass), but don't know if I'd be able to get anyone on here to buy it anyways after reading this .

Has anyone broken a bass worse than this?[/quote]


Ouch! did you get it fixed?

[MB1]

[quote name='benwhiteuk' post='175372' date='Apr 12 2008, 06:55 PM']I done this to my Warwick Streamer Standard in early 2004 when I was playing a few 80’s tribute gigs with my college on the Isle of Wight. I was significantly pissed and found a skateboard in a bush but I had my bass on my back in a gig bag, so I jumped on the skateboard and…

[attachment=7587:IMG_0147.JPG]
[attachment=7588:IMG_0152.JPG]
[attachment=7589:IMG_0154.JPG]
[attachment=7590:IMG_0157.JPG]
[attachment=7591:IMG_0159.JPG]
[attachment=7592:IMG_0170.JPG]


I’d like to think I’ve learnt from my mistakes having acquired some considerably more expensive basses than a Streamer Standard (rrp £360ish).
I managed to get it fixed for 50 quid in a local shop and it came back looking spotless. I couldn't believe it. This bass is now retired from playing and is tucked up nice and safe. It won't ever be getting sold because of emotional attachment (it was my first 'real' bass), but don't know if I'd be able to get anyone on here to buy it anyways after reading this .

Has anyone broken a bass worse than this?[/quote]
MB1.
Theres a lot to be said for the Hardcase!......Great for keeping your bass safe!.....sh*t for skateboarding with!

[kevbass]

I'd really like to see a pic of the repair job if thats cool?

[bigjohn]

Horrible breaking basses.

I've got no pictures of mine. But I've got a bad story.

My first "real bass" - a late 70's US Epiphone "rock bass". Luckily it's not my 1st / only bass anymore. It's always had a bow in the neck. My mate came around - he works in a guitar shop (I shall name no names!) we we're giving it a bit of a set up when we decided to try and get the bow out. The truss was fully tightened - thus why I thought it wouldn't go more straight. His idea was to put washers on the rod to get more turn on it. We made the washers out of bits of a picture hanging set I found in my tool box. We got them on the rod and turned it. It was very nearly straight when a creaking noise started - then the truss rod came right out of the back of the neck!

We glued it - and did the same thing a week or so later. "the glue's stronger than the wood" we thought. No - It split again.

He took the neck away with him re-glued it - built a jig - submerged it in a bath for 3 days. It's now straight - only thing is, the fretboard had warped a bit - so we had to remove some frets - and sand the fretboard down an bit. It took hours. Eventually it was ready - looking good - when one of the tuners, those sealed jobbies, went "ping" and now doesn't work. She's currently sat in my spare room feeling sorry for herself. Any one got any spare tuners lying around?

[url="http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=15498&hl=tuners"]tuners wanted[/url]

Edited April 13, 2008 by bigjohn

[OutToPlayJazz]

[quote name='MB1' post='175611' date='Apr 13 2008, 01:07 PM']MB1.
Theres a lot to be said for the Hardcase!......Great for keeping your bass safe!.....sh*t for skateboarding with! [/quote]

Not so sure there, Martin... If you land in the drink with your skateboard, you can always use the hardcase as a paddle!

[Dubs]

[quote name='OutToPlayJazz' post='175946' date='Apr 13 2008, 10:53 PM']Not so sure there, Martin... If you land in the drink with your skateboard, you can always use the hardcase as a paddle![/quote]

always thinking outside the box

[Tait]

[quote name='Buzz' post='175391' date='Apr 12 2008, 07:41 PM']Gibbo's are renowned for that though arn't they?[/quote]

I got a mate who paid a grand for a gibson (SG I think, definatly a guitar though), and three days later he gigged with it and broke the headstock off! I was killing myself with laughter when he told me!

[Lfalex v1.1]

Utterly annihilated a (Luthite) Ibanez EDB600.
Was practising at home, and after being interrupted six times in six songs, I discarded the bass rather than taking it off carefully. I tossed it at the sofa in disgust...
And missed.
It hit the floor and made a strange, dull "click".
I'd cracked it, and sheared off the whole lower bout, south of the top edge of the control cavity rout.
Cracked the EQ board, too.
This due to the fact that we've got solid concrete floors, and that the previous incumbent in our house didn't put any underlay beneath the carpet!

Now seriously annoyed, I firmly grapsed the tip of the headstock, put a foot on the neck at about the 12th fret...
And pulled.

PING!

24 frets a-flying. (Yes, they all fell out)

Neck broke in half at 12th fret.

Headstock broke into 3 strips around the tuners.

Truss Rod fell out.

Ibanez necks...
Slim, fast and fragile.
I reckon if the body had been wooden, it would have survived.

Forgive me BC'ers, for I have sinned!!! (Sorry guys, no pics!)

[Dubs]

I also done this to an acoustic guitar 2 years ago...

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I got it for free so I wasnt too gutted. I fixed it with superglue and sanded it down, worked a treat

[budget bassist]

man you don't like your headstocks do you?

Also the worst i've done was to my tobias, i knocked it off the guitar stand by mistake and snapped half the front of the tuning peg off. I never got round to fixing it and surprisingly it still stays in tune perfectly.

[Dubs]

[quote name='budget bassist' post='176561' date='Apr 14 2008, 06:52 PM']man you don't like your headstocks do you?

Also the worst i've done was to my tobias, i knocked it off the guitar stand by mistake and snapped half the front of the tuning peg off. I never got round to fixing it and surprisingly it still stays in tune perfectly.[/quote]

yeah maybe i should stop shouting about breaking guitars...

it's all rock and roll though

[redzombie]

Many moons ago, in my teens, during a fun night of indulgence in a certain well known psychedellic substance, for whatever reason I thought it'd be fun to take my Marlin Slammer (cheap P bass copy) with us on an excursion to the local Esso garage for fags at 2 in the morning. After a fun barefoot walk around the place and an interesting chat with the clerk, a friend jokingly suggested that I "launch my bass" outside, which I thought was a great idea. So, as we travelled back home, the bass was propelled through the air with as much force as my scrawny arms could muster (about 10 feet in the air). The impact took the headstock clean off, much to our amusement, yet with the help of my dad and some Araldite I was playing it again less than a week later. This was only for it to "lose it's head" again a few months later after another "launch" this time at a gig, the same gig at which I proceeded to destroy the pickguard and electronics of my other Slammer by beating the bass against a monitor. I was so proud, 2 basses in one night, Cobain would've been proud!

In case you were wondering, that was the last time I ever trashed any gear other than a Tanglewood Les Paul copy guitar, but that's another story. Things are a bit different, when you're paying for your own stuff and it's a tad more expensive.

Edited April 16, 2008 by redzombie

[Dubs]

[quote name='redzombie' post='178103' date='Apr 16 2008, 05:42 PM']In case you were wondering, that was the last time I ever trashed any gear other than a Tanglewood Les Paul copy guitar, but that's another story. Things are a bit different, when you're paying for your own stuff and it's a tad more expensive.[/quote]

I can relate to that, I was thinking of keeping my first ever bass (a cheap p bass copy) to play the last song of a big gig then smash it up on stage. Just ended up selling it for a packet of fags and a box of 24 Carling. I think I got a good deal
I'd never purposely smash anything I own now though.

[MB1]

[quote name='benwhiteuk' post='178246' date='Apr 16 2008, 07:44 PM']I can relate to that, I was thinking of keeping my first ever bass (a cheap p bass copy) to play the last song of a big gig then smash it up on stage. Just ended up selling it for a packet of fags and a box of 24 Carling. I think I got a good deal
I'd never purposely smash anything I own now though.[/quote]

MB1.
Packet of Fags and a box of 24 Carling......Not Bad!....... Wot!.....No Kettle Lead?

[Dubs]

[quote name='MB1' post='178256' date='Apr 16 2008, 07:52 PM']MB1.
Packet of Fags and a box of 24 Carling......Not Bad!....... Wot!.....No Kettle Lead? [/quote]

haha yeah, almost felt like I was ripping the guy off