Hey guys,
I needed to share this experience, because I figured ya'll would appreciate it more than anyone else.
Last night I played a show over in in Fletcher, NC. As the night went on, it began snowing pretty heavy and the temp dropped big time. The turnout was pretty small, and we were worried about making it back over the mountains to TN, so we decided to break off early. We packed up, headed out, made our required stop at Waffle House, and made it home without incident. When we arrived at my house, the guys unloaded their stuff from my big Wagoneer and headed off into the night.
It was 2 am and I was too beat to carry in my stuff, so I decided to just bring my bass in. When I went to the back to get it, I was sickened to find it gone! I checked and rechecked, but nothing. Then it hit me. I realized what had happened. While we were loading up, I had leaned my bass against the wall and headed back inside to get more gear expecting my bandmates to load it up. Well, it was pretty clear at that moment that they hadn't seen it, and it was still sitting there a hundred miles away, over a mountain, through a snowstorm. I started to head back for it then, but I realized that would have been crazy, and it may have been gone anyway.
I tossed and turned the rest of the night waiting for it to be late enough in the morning to call the establishment's owners. Luckily, I got ahold of one early this morning and they offered to drive over and check to see if it was still there. Several minutes later my phone rang, and I held my breath. Amazingly, it was still there, gig-bag covered in snow, right where I had left it! I then made the 3 hr round trip to go get it.
I remember reading that Sheldon designed these basses to withstand the harsh Canadian climate. For that I am glad, because after a night in a snowstorm with nothing but a gig-bag covering it, my bass wasn't even out of tune!
Those of you who know and love these instruments like I do can probly imagine how I felt during this ordeal. Some would say this is only a material object, but I disagree. Over the last four or five years this bass has become an extension of myself and it could not easily be replaced.