OK... so age is now taking effect...

[Doctor J]

Again, varifocal lenses are the answer here, a different prescription for different areas of the lens, no magnifying effect up close at all. Talk to your optician.

 

Edit -> there's nothing happening here which hundreds of millions of people haven't gone through already. Your optician will be your best source of advice.

Edited 4 hours ago by Doctor J

[Huge Hands]

This doesn't really help the OP, but for my points:

 

In the concert band I play in, I have moved from using paper sheet music to an iPad.  It is a game changer, but I have to be very careful with the angle of my stand as it sometimes ends up sitting in a position that is on the varifocal divide between far and short lens, so can get a bit blurry if you look at it from the wrong angle.

 

In my late 40s, my back is already shot, so although I use pedals, they have to be pre-set before a gig and switched by foot only as I can't bend down far enough to change settings on the fly! 

Edited 4 hours ago by Huge Hands

[cheddatom]

couldn't you have a little lamp on the floor pointing at your pedals and set list?

[Lozz196]

38 minutes ago, la bam said:

 

The question is/was relating to what ideas/tricks/methods do people use when father time starts catching up. Ie larger screen displays, higher screens, audio cues, different straps.. .. Etc

 

My back is bad and have gone short-scale, have a Sandberg Superlight on order (2 year waiting list, aaarrrggh). I`ve also started using a Mono GS1 strap, and heightened it as before had the low-down punk setting which doesn`t help posture.

 

The combination of a shorter bass with its centre of gravity being more over the core of my body, plus the thicker padded strap and playing the instrument higher up have all made a difference. 

 

I don`t use pedals with screens but if I did I would be in the same position so would be looking at one with a bigger screen or lets say 3 patches where each could be selected like on the Zoom B3, and then just add this on to my copy of the set list so as to know which patch for which songs. 

[Lozz196]

38 minutes ago, la bam said:

 

The question is/was relating to what ideas/tricks/methods do people use when father time starts catching up. Ie larger screen displays, higher screens, audio cues, different straps.. .. Etc

 

My back is bad and have gone short-scale, have a Sandberg Superlight on order (2 year waiting list, aaarrrggh). I`ve also started using a Mono GS1 strap, and heightened it as before had the low-down punk setting which doesn`t help posture.

 

The combination of a shorter bass with its centre of gravity being more over the core of my body, plus the thicker padded strap and playing the instrument higher up have all made a difference. 

 

I don`t use pedals with screens but if I did I would be in the same position so would be looking at one with a bigger screen or lets say 3 patches where each could be selected like on the Zoom B3, and then just add this on to my copy of the set list so as to know which patch for which songs. 

[CherryLine]

Totally get it. I went with a lighter jazz-style bass and a wide strap; big help for longer sets. For the eyesight stuff, maybe try a Zoom B3n or something with a bigger screen. If you want to stay sleek, an iPad flat on the board with dimmed screen could work. Adapting without killing the vibe is key. Still playing shows is what matters.

[jezzaboy]

If you need a lightweight bass there seems to be some nice options out there these days. If I had the need and money I would speak to Shuker and get him to make something nice and light. I have crap eyesight due to various things and wear glasses when gigging. It`s a bit of a rubbish look in a rock band but as I can`t wear contact lenses, glasses it is.

 

In fact the one time I played without glasses, I couldn`t see the set list and a few comments were made that I was getting vain in my old age 

 

In other words, do what can to make the gig easy. Good luck!

[jezzaboy]

2 hours ago, Hellzero said:

You won't like my comment @la bam, so don't read it, even if the solutions are in there.

 

Easiest way as it's what's your heading to with your vanity is stopping playing in any band.

 

Sounds harsh, but your behaviour is exactly that: harsh and selfish...

 

Wearing glasses is not an option, it's mandatory and concerning the distorted view with varifocal it's linked to the type of lenses, the cheapest one will give that effect and as you go up the range and price, there are excellent varifocal glasses that will allow you to read from left to right without any distortion or problem as well as from bottom to top : this is what they are really intended for and need a very tiny bit of time to get used to them IF you wear them all day long (took me exactly 1 second to get used to them and I only need glasses for close sight, but chose to have the perfect correction even for my very good far sight, which is now excellent).

 

But, excellent varifocal glasses are expensive, around 2 to 3 k£...

 

Think about it another way: I guess you're driving a car without glasses and not seeing anything at a remote to far distance, it's simply criminal and I hope you'll never get involved in an accident where it's proven that it's linked to your poor sight!

 

Concerning the weight of instruments, you could play sitting, using a Dynarette (https://www.thomann.co.uk/hopf_dynarette_high.htm) as this accessory will relieve all the weight, or use a lighter instrument for ALL sets, your back will thank you.

 

Now I'm certainly pissing against the wind as you seem to prefer the ostrich way than acting for the better ... and you know it.

 

Sit on your vanity and see the positive of all the above and I hope you're not dying your hair too or wearing a head covering to hide your baldness...

 

Told you you wouldn't like my comment.

Harsh and selfish? The op was just looking for helpful suggestions not character assassination. 

[knirirr]

12 hours ago, Rosie C said:

 

 

...though I am considering a monocle!

 

 

I tried that for a while, before the other eye also worsened. These days monocles only appear to be made in certain set diameters and gallery depths rather than made to fit the wearer; if those standard sizes are right for your eye then you should be fine. Otherwise, it is likely to fall out frequently and be uncomfortable to hold in pace.

[Schlippy]

For the specs you probably need either an intermediate or occupational (standard in the middle with a "boost" at the bottom of the lens) prescription for on stage, and as far as the look goes if it's good enough for Elvis, Ozzy and Slash it's good enough for you. If you don't play rock then Bootsy, George Clinton and Nile Rodgers all wear glasses on stage and no-one's gonna accuse any of them of not looking the part.

 

Short scales can save your back, a lot of them come in well under 3.5kg / 7lbs (my stock SG was 2.8kg!), but a wide padded strap can go a long way to mitigating the weight of a full scale - I got a 5" wide Maruszczyk PES50 off here a while ago, it's super comfortable and I can happily wear a 4kg+ full scale for over an hour without my fully herniated L5/S1 complaining. I find offsets cause more trouble than heavier guitars these days, think it's more about the diagonal distribution of the weight than the weight itself.

[BigRedX]

I have the opposite problem with glasses. My long distance vision is ok, but everything close up is out of focus. For work I have "occupational" glasses which are for reading and computer screen use with the balance shifted towards computer screen use. I tried full varifocals and they were terrible for me for all the reasons described by others in this thread.

 

For playing I have a Helix Floor which has a nice big display and scribble strips that I can read fine without glasses and I have a pair of gig glasses that I use when setting up and if I need to do anything to the computer that runs our drums mid-set. These are out of the way on the computer stand and I only need to wear use them during the set if something has gone wrong. Because my glasses are needed for near vision I can't really wear them when standing up and moving around because they make all objects more than 2m away out of focus and make me feel dizzy if I wear them while moving.

[tegs07]

13 hours ago, Rosie C said:

My optician suggested one eye short vision, one eye long vision, but I dismissed that out of hand as a crazy idea

Sounds crazy. Works very well. I never persisted purely because the hassle of using them outweighs the vanity of the easier glasses option.

[Rosie C]

2 hours ago, knirirr said:

 

I tried that for a while, before the other eye also worsened. These days monocles only appear to be made in certain set diameters and gallery depths rather than made to fit the wearer; if those standard sizes are right for your eye then you should be fine. Otherwise, it is likely to fall out frequently and be uncomfortable to hold in pace.

 

I'd not realised that was significant, but you're right - although the place I'm planning to use seems to be one of the leading suppliers, there only 38mm and 40mm sizes. Not that I need it to read music, more to take a quick look at a set list, or remind myself of the opening bar of a tune. I'm in a 'border morris' side, so a monocle will work well with the rest of my outfit. 

 

[Geek99]

Can you just wear one contact lens? 
I used to do that with my untreated eye but soon realised that I struggled to read. Might work for you though 

Edited 1 hour ago by Geek99

[Supernaut]

15 hours ago, la bam said:

OK, so as many of us will probably have already come across, or will do soon.... Little awkward bits of getting older are now taking effect on being in a band. 

 

Like what? 

 

We'll, my main two are:

 

1. (this kills me to say..) weight of basses. Even though I'm fine with the weight, I can really feel it when the gig is over. 

So, a lighter bass for longer gigs (we do an average of 90 mins in one go) is an option. Any other ideas? We are fully no backline and iems so I've already saved on that. 

 

2. And this is causing the most hassle.... Eyesight. 

Its going worse as I get older, but now I can't really see a set list on the floor. Worse, I can't see what patches I'm on on my (albeit small) zoom ms60b+. 

 

The thing is, we are in a touring band (theatres /larger venue etc) where the look is just as much as the playing, so I can't have a stand, or anything obvious. I don't want to wear glasses, but if I did it still wouldn't work as I can see fine close up, but not further away.  So... on this one I don't know what to do? 

Get an ipad? A larger pedal with a large display so I can read it? (we do switch through a lot of different patches and sounds). 

 

Any other tips people have come across?

Sandberg SL series. 
 

Contact lenses. 

[prowla]

4 hours ago, la bam said:

OK hold on... there seems to be some people waking up angry this morning for no reason.... vain seems to be being mentioned a lot....quit playing etc etc.... I'm the least vain person out there

 

I wear prescription glasses for driving as its my longer vision that is slightly off, so that takes care of that. I can then see perfectly. 

 

Close up I'm absolutely fine, what I'm not fine with is tiny small pedal displays on my zoom ms60b+ which is the size of a normal boss pedal on a dark stage with awkward colour contrasts, and the angle it is shown. So I have the juxtaposition of the glasses would probably be fine for reading the pedal and set list, but absolutely awful for playing the bass, as it would look all out of perspective, ie a lot closer to me and larger than it actually is. 

 

The question is/was relating to what ideas/tricks/methods do people use when father time starts catching up. Ie larger screen displays, higher screens, audio cues, different straps.. .. Etc

 

You could get a really long strap so the bass hangs down near the pedals; then you'd be OK with the glasses! 🙂