One of my colleagues was over at my place a few years ago, and we were geeking out in true double bass fashion, playing duets, working on excerpts together, and getting into deep discussions about gear.
He and I left for lunch, leaving our basses out of their cases. We had a good time, got back, and he proceeded to pack up and take off.
pluck, pluck…
Later that day, my wife told me an amusing little tale about something unexpected that happened while we were gone.
Apparently, my big man cat Dan decided to do a little investigating of my colleague’s gear. He had left his bow out on our coffee table, and Dan the cat quickly realized that he could pluck the bow hairs out of the tip with his claw. My wife walked into the living room and found Mr. Dan furiously pulling the hairs off this bow. He’d gotten at least a dozen or so. Horrified, she pulled him off the table and shooed him away.
Uh oh!
Not knowing what to do, she took some nail clippers and trimmed all the broken hairs off the stick. My friend and I came home late that day and he packed up his gear, not knowing that his load had been lightened by quite a few bow hairs.
I didn’t know about this until later that day, and I got a good chuckle out of it, though I did eventually tell my friend about the dehairing incident.
Look out for kitties and basses! They can do some pretty destructive things with their little claws and fangs.
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