String breaks at a gig!

johnashfield · Post by **johnashfield** » Mon Aug 01, 2005 6:39 pm

I played the International Pop Overthrow in LA the weekend before last. There were a bunch of bands playing, so it's one of those deals where everyone shares gear.

I got a good sound out of the bass rig, and we started playing. Things were going great until... the 'A' string broke in the 2nd song! So I played 3 string bass. It was a 20 minute set, so I had no back up.

I loved the sound of the Lakland 'joe osborn' flatwound strings, but I obviously am disapointed that I broke one after 3 gigs and a couple tunes! And a few rehearsals I guess.

I put on chromes but the 'D' string doesn't sit in the nut quite right, so I guess I'll need to get it widened. I know people here like those, so I am checking them out. I have some pics from the show, I'll post them after I resize them.

rictified · Post by **rictified** » Tue Aug 02, 2005 4:13 am

When I was a kid I did an opener in front of at least 2000 people at an outside concert with the areas hottest local band at that time. We did a whole Who set with all the somgs running into another or pretty much anyway. I broke I think a D string during the second song and had to play the rest of the set without it, this was a three piece band too and we did stuff like My Generation, all Entwistles really tricky stuff, was not a good set. haha! I had a burr on my bridge.

charlyg · Post by **charlyg** » Tue Aug 02, 2005 4:21 am

Or a burr under the saddle? {:^)

david_schwab · Post by **david_schwab** » Tue Aug 02, 2005 8:06 am

I used to break A strings on my Ric a lot back in the day. Did your string break near the bridge or the nut?

rictified · Post by **rictified** » Tue Aug 02, 2005 9:03 am

Oh, I guess you were addressing that to John.

jwr2 · Post by **jwr2** » Tue Aug 02, 2005 9:39 am

John ... always carry an extra set of strings with you just in case ... or bring a 2nd bass ...

rickenbrother · Post by **rickenbrother** » Tue Aug 02, 2005 9:56 am

Hey John god to see you post again, I do like Jeff does, spare strings, bass and lots of other spare stuff for gigs and recordings

atomic_punk · Post by **atomic_punk** » Tue Aug 02, 2005 11:02 am

Always have a backup! Although with a 20 minute set, you'd like to think you could get by without one. I'm even thinking about buying a spare head in case I blow mine up, putting it right in the rack so I'm not stuck.
My guitar player says I'm the only bassist he has seen that brings 3 basses to the gig. He just doesn't get it

wayang · Post by **wayang** » Tue Aug 02, 2005 11:09 am

A spare head in case you blow yours up??! Oh, I see...you mean an amplifier...

I thought for a minute you were onto something REALLY high-tech...

iamthebassman · Post by **iamthebassman** » Tue Aug 02, 2005 11:19 am

My gig requires I take more than one bass, and as far as amps go, I always have a SansAmp Bass Driver DI with me. It's always sitting on my amp and if the amp dies, my bass would be plugged into the SansAmp, the XLR cable to the PA would be pulled from my amp and plugged into the SansAmp, and some of my bass signal would be added to my monitor mix. Our soundman already knows the drill.

atomic_punk · Post by **atomic_punk** » Tue Aug 02, 2005 12:23 pm

Thats a good idea, Ronn. Maybe I will get just the Pre-amp to take care of that problem.

rickfan63 · Post by **rickfan63** » Tue Aug 02, 2005 12:27 pm

I have a SansAmp Bass Driver, and I absolutely love that thing. It makes my amp sound soooo much better. I wouldn't want to play with out it.

rickenbrother · Post by **rickenbrother** » Tue Aug 02, 2005 1:11 pm

that makes 3 of us who gig with a SansAmp BDDI for the same reasons.

rictified · Post by **rictified** » Tue Aug 02, 2005 1:29 pm

The last string I broke was the one in the preceding story, that was in 1977.

jwr2 · Post by **jwr2** » Tue Aug 02, 2005 1:30 pm

I have my bass pod which can be run into the PA without an amp ... I have a sans amp as well but I don't use it much ...