Mottlefeeder

In the busking band I play in, the BL likes to have one PA speaker at the front corner and one PA speaker in the opposite corner behind him as his monitor, but just doesn't get the fact that the back line have to wear hearing protection as a result of having a speaker so close to them. Although we play at relatively low levels, we often get feedback issues when the next front-person plugs in with a different mic to the previous one. I've probably spent as much on IEM gear as I have on my rig, just to keep the noise level down, and to hear what I am doing. David

@Bassassin has the right words for it - a tenon joint not a lap joint. Stop sniggering at the back David

I can't see that little amount of neck thickness taking enough screw thread to hold, so it may be that the neck has a muffin top profile to fit an undersize neck pocket. Maybe... David

Yes you would need something to mimic the pot. If you don't then you will hear pick-up (electrical) resonances that the pots usually damp down. David

The P2 has a volume control but no blend or mix controls, so you will need to do the mix elsewhere. First question, how many of the outputs from the mixer have your bass signal on them, and secondly, what else do they have on them. With that information, you may be able to home in on the signal that suits your needs. David

Nice chord sequence, I wasn't aware of it before. Good explanation too.

I was in the house band for an open mic night in Warrington, so we elected ourselves as support for Dodgy when their last / comeback tour included our pub. I was playing a 5-string acoustic bass at the time and my main recollection was that the local bought-in sound guy had no idea what to do with a bass like mine. Dodgy weren't impressed with the venue or the sound as I recall. David

In many UK pubs, being a stones throw from a wall socket does not equate to being allowed to use it. Single sockets with one-armed bandits plugged in, no cables trailing across a gangway, etc. David

I bought some IEMs on Alliexpress, and one earpiece was dead. Seller refused pay for postsge back unless I sent him a video of the fault, which I could not do since the window of opportunity for uploading videos closes as soon the fault is registered. Sent the earbuds back at my expense and the buyer chose not to collect them from the depot where they were taken because he was not in to accept delivery. He then refused to refund me because he hadn't had them back. I eventually got my full refund, partly through Alliexpress and partly through Paypal, as a goodwill gesture. Buyer beware... David

This is possibly a niche review, but for those of us with hearing loss, it could be a game-changer. The Mackie OnyxGO is a rechargeable, battery-powered microphone, mixer, EQ and 3.5mm monitor output socket, in a box slightly smaller that a 9v battery. It is designed for podcasting, and the audio signal is fed to your phone by Bluetooth, so you can then record it using the companion App. The signal is also fed to the headphone socket on the device. Within the app there is separate EQ for the signal fed to the phone, and for the signal fed to the headphone output. Playing a metronome through the HiFi and listening to both the HiFi speaker and the OnyxGO through open-backed headphones, I was not aware of any latency, so it appears that the monitor EQing happens within the OnyxGO, and not within the phone. The microphone is designed to withstand close mic'ing of loud people, and I have not heard it distort when we are playing, or at HiFi volumes where my existing Tascam Bass-Trainer mics are audibly overloading. For my purposes, it clips onto my bass strap, and picks up the ambient stage sound, and feeds that at my preferred volume to the headphone socket. I use the EQ to boost the mid-frequencies that I have lost, so I am now getting better clarity when the front line remember to tell me what the next song is (we are buskers, we don't have a set list). This gadget is replacing a microphone feeding a dedicated mixer with 3 band EQ that I need to provide that mid-frequency boost. I am not sure if I would use it, but it will also play your Wav and MP3 tracks and mix them with the microphone signal - possibly a useful practice tool for singing or for acoustic playing. Pricing is all over the place - Gear4Music have it at £35, Andertons at £55 and several others at well over £100! So far, so good, but there is some less good news. The app is available on the Apple store, but has been withdrawn from Googles' Android PlayStore, apparently due to software bugs. It is however still available from non-authorised sites, eg https://apkpure.net/mackie-onyxgo/com.mackie.onyxgo/download . For what I need, whatever bugs are lurking there are not causing me problems. The battery life is given as 5-6 hours. This may be true if it is just used as a Bluetooth mic, but with headphones plugged in, I only got 3 1/2 hours of use before it shut down. However, it does function while charging from a USB C power source. So, it will cover your average pub gig etc, but if you are busking for 5 hours you will need a power pack. David

I'm not sure that my experience will help, other that telling you to go a different route. I used a water-based tint to change the wood colour, followed by several applications of transparent glue that turned out to be water soluble, and then peeled off, followed by several applications of superglue, which didn't stay put on the corner as it dried. I got it moisture- and dirt-proofed and stopped there. Looking at it now, it appears that the superglue is not sticking to the original finish. If you are planning to use an impermeable filler, a water-based stain may not work for you, and a dedicated product like Gluboost might give you better adhesion than superglue. David

Vauxhall - our Astra broke a cambelt and cost us a lot of money. It was 2000 miles over the 50,000 limit to change the belt (we were running two cars with differing service intervals and I got confused) so their initial response was that it was not their problem. However, the cause of the belt snapping was a sensor bolt that had unscrewed itself and fallen into the path of the belt - a known problem with a modification kit to prevent it (if caught in time). After considerable argument Vauxhall agreed to pay half the cost, and I have not considered buying another Vauxhall since. David