The Bass Shack – The Five Dollar Insurance Policy

The Bass Shack – The Five Dollar Insurance Policy…

Performing music in front of a live audience is always a rush. The heightened excitement of playing in front of a crowd along with the desire to deliver the goods may pump up the onstage stress a little, but that’s usually a good thing and any generated tension can usually be harnessed to bring out the best performances. When things are really going well, the frenzy generated on stage and in the audience can sometimes get a little out of hand and bodies can get to moving and gyrating in surprising ways. That’s when things can get a little dangerous for your prized musical instruments.

If you think your basses are safe merely because you keep them at the back of the stage you might want to think harder. It’s true that the crowd may have a tougher time getting at them, but they are not necessarily safe from any of your flailing musical cohorts. I speak from experience, my prized Ernie Ball five string fretless was once knocked for a loop by a bandmate who simply lost his balance while playing on a riser above me. It happens…..

There’s safety in numbers. A successful approach to safeguarding my basses from total destruction has been to secure them all to the same multi-guitar stand. With all the basses firmly tied together, they move as a unit and with the increased mass of the group, and their relatively low center of gravity, they are much more stable than a single bass would be.

All it takes is a bungie cord, two eyebolts and a drill to put it all together. I purchased all the parts at my local hardware store. The whole layout only put me out $ 5.00 and has given me a little more piece of mind while performing.

The first photo shows one of the eye-bolts fastened to the guitar stand.

Here is the bungee cord attached to the eye-bolt.

The completed project. A five dollar investment to help keep your basses a little safer on stage.