One of our readers Sam C asked me a very interesting question today:
This may be sort of an odd question, but I have to move an upright bass soon and only have a jetta sedan available to move it. I noticed on your blog you had the same issue. Does it work, did it fit? With the back seat folded down I assume? Could you fit a passenger in there w/ the bass too
Great question, Sam. It will fit with much patience. I have a 3/4 size in a soft gig-bag, your mileage may vary if you have a bigger bass or hard-shell case.
I obviously put down the back seats as flat as I can get them. But then I’ve found that two crucial things are to 1) pull and tilt the driver and passenger seats all the way forward 2) (very important) take off the headrests on the driver and passenger seat. Again, taking off the headrests has been really important for me. I always think that I can make it fit without doing that and it doesn’t really work.
From there I open up the door behind the driver and I tilt the bass and put it in head first. The head of the bass rests where the passenger headrest used to be. Once its in I put the driver’s side headrest back on for safety’s sake.
You may be able to fit a passenger with some finagling. If you can they won’t be particularly comfortable but I believe they will be able to fit. That said, if its your first time moving this particular bass you may want to go it alone just to be safe.
Hope this helps!
Nate
