stingrayPete1977

[quote name='mr zed' timestamp='1488234793' post='3247173'] They need this for an online licence check code. This is fairly new since the paper part of a driving license became defunct. [/quote] That's not their job though is it? You are supposed to do it and give them the temporary access code. I suspect in that case it's so you can do it on their computer if you haven't bought the code with you?

If I tried a new bass in a shop that went head down on a strap I'd put it back without plugging it in, that said I dont think I've ever tried a bass on a strap in a shop, luckily all the Thunderbirds and Rickenbackers I tried were dogged with other faults so I never got that far, they look nice though

Bugger!

I had a 78 Ricky on loan for a while, I don't know why they didn't just put the bridge on the opposite end so you could play it the other way up!

No it looks hard to me, maybe a pointy hat would help?

[url="http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/like/282226770420?lpid=122&chn=ps&adgroupid=41285909471&rlsatarget=pla-278687363403&adtype=pla&poi=&googleloc=9046429&device=c&campaignid=738225731&crdt=0"]http://www.ebay.co.u...38225731&crdt=0[/url] [url="http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Zinc-Nickel-Plating-Kit-Electroplating-Bright-for-Car-and-Bike-restoration-/282011973400?hash=item41a9393718:g:pLoAAOSwgQ9Vit~f"]http://www.ebay.co.u...LoAAOSwgQ9Vit~f[/url] Annoyingly no white option

You can electroplate stuff at home using donuts of donor metals, a battery charger, buckets and solutions, I have always fancied having a go but it looks a bit of a faff tbh. It does however end up with an anodized finish much more suitable for a bass bridge. Powder coat is a bit clunky all told.

There's no rule to say you cant buy another if you do feel the urge remember, I have thought about slimming down my elec bass collection in a kind of reverse of your situation where I can see me looking for more upright stuff in future and less electric band stuff. Good luck whatever you decide

[quote name='EBS_freak' timestamp='1487956567' post='3244606'] Limited numbers... but it's easy enough to do. Blast the coating off existing hardware and powder coat. Hipshot would probably send you a bridge uncoated cos they seem awfully nice chaps. [/quote] Someone wanted one the other day and I suggested that but afterwards I replied thinking actually powder coat might be too thick, it's not great on anything detailed like saddles, Also it's quite soft so saddle screws would sink into it even if you just did the main part?

Oh right, odd as they were correct, lol.

What was that stuff popping up during The 1975 slagging them off, ironic or disgruntled employee?

How long has the scale extension on a double bass been around, fanned frets pah who needs frets at all?

[quote name='BigRedX' timestamp='1487778814' post='3242808'] Image is important. And I find it hilarious that "Progressive" rock band should be so boringly conservative. I'd have understood it if they had deemed you Yamaha to be too conventional. If this was me, and I really liked the music I'd be tempted to turn up to the next rehearsal with either a Fender in exactly the same colour as the Yamaha, or something really weird looking, but in a nice safe sunburst finish. [/quote] Musicman Big Al 5 in sunburst would be perfick!

Just over a year in it's revolving format I think and that's on a knife edge, lol. I once joined a blues band as a temporary member as the proper guy had cancer and they had gigs booked, it wasn't my thing at all, about seven years later I realised I was the only original member!

[quote name='Bolo' timestamp='1487717764' post='3242217'] He should have pulled that trigger before starting a family, what a waste of ones and zeroes. Sorry if this offends anyone but when you have a family you have bigger responsibilities, that's my opinion. [/quote] I'm not offended but it shows how much with work there is still to do in educating people about mental health issues.

[quote name='yorks5stringer' timestamp='1487696330' post='3241939'] I have heard it said on here that if you practice /rehearse all the time, you just get good at rehearsing/practicing and actually playing gigs is a different skill. My Americana Band rehearse every week (and it does my head in) unless we bring on new material, which we are doing this year, thank goodness! [/quote] At our last gig we made a car crash of the stuff we practiced at the previous rehearsal yet I was apprehensive about the songs played on double bass as I hadn't practiced at all, they were our best songs all night!

It's been discussed many times but the flip side of the half up front thing would be for example, I wouldn't send out my Stingray Classic 5 unless ALL the funds had cleared, it would be insured to cover my end if it didn't get there and photographed to within an inch of it's life too avoid "I've found a little mark and I want £50 back to cover it" discussions.

[quote name='BigRedX' timestamp='1487672637' post='3241631'] Firstly in my very limited experience of playing covers, I think that bands whose key members have been playing the songs for many years together don't realise how difficult it can be for new band members to find their place musically. Also without them realising it the songs may have evolved away from the original recorded versions over time. When I joined my covers band I was given a list of songs to learn, and duly went out and bought to CDs with them on so I could get on with working out the bass parts. It was just as well this band rehearsed because at our very first practice I discovered: 1. On a couple of songs the drummer played a very slightly different rhythm to that on the recorded version (probably without even realising it anymore), which meant that my carefully learnt bass lines no longer fitted the groove properly and it was very noticeable in places that they didn't. That took more than a couple of run throughs to nail. 2. Although their excellent singer had no problem doing all the songs in their original keys, the guitarists had kept the songs that had been originally done down-tuned a semi-tone in standard tuning. It wasn't helped by the fact that of those songs, the two I'd learnt were both perfectly playable on the bass kept in standard tuning - in fact one of them was actually easier with the bass tuned to standard and the guitars in Eb! Needless to say those were a complete train wreck the first time we played them in rehearsal. 3. Unless the band has exactly the same instrumentation match all the overdubs of the original, some fiddling of the arrangement - usually to the rhythm section is inevitable. Especially on songs recorded in the 60s and early 70s where the "bass part" is an amalgamation of the bass guitar, keyboards and extra rhythm guitar, and simply playing the recorded bass guitar part on its own lacks sufficient drive to propel the song along. I found in those cases that bass line I ended up playing owed far more to the left hand of the keyboards than to the original bass guitar part. 4. Song length and version. It's all very well asking beforehand which version the band has based their cover on, but sometimes they are not even aware that alternative versions and edits of the songs exist. Several times I found myself still playing one part of the song while the rest of the band had moved on to another, because they played a different version, to the one they thought they'd told me to learn. And that's before we get into endings the band have written for songs that fade out (and intros for songs that fade in). Just about all those changes meant that playing along to the recorded versions in many cases was pretty much pointless, and the only way I was going to get my bass lines tight with the rest of the band was to practice playing with them. For the seasoned covers bands veteran, I'm sure all of the above is completely obvious, but for me whose previous experience of playing covers was to break the song down to the lyrics and vocal melody and then rewrite everything to suit the band and their instrumentation, it was an eye-opener and not always in good way. [/quote] It's interesting that we see a lot of comments about people not wanting to play in a covers band from those that have never tried mainly, the presumption is that once you have nailed Brown Eyed Girl you are all set and there's no skill or challenge to be had but in reality and especially for dep players there's keys,tempos, syncopation, stops and starts, nods and winks going on to keep you busy, the best players do it without looking troubled at all maybe with nothing more than an email a few days before the gig, I know dep players that would do a better job of my regular gig unrehearsed.

I've been in bands that practice every week that make the same mistakes at the gigs and I've been in bands that rarely practice that were much tighter so I don't think it's a hard and fast rule. I couldn't be bothered with the weekly practice bi annual gig bands anymore but my current band needs to practice more tbh.

[quote name='LewisK1975' timestamp='1487609047' post='3241181'] Well, I don't think so Pete, but judging by some of the posts here it does seem to offend a few.. [/quote] That bit is rather confusing I agree, I can't stand Morrissey so I don't listen to the Smiths, I don't like prawns either but I'll gladly have the soup to start with if someone wants a prawn cocktail too.

The top and bottom of it is that's there's enough wealthy middle aged blokes than want people to think they've been gigging for years all over the world as there are guys that want you to think they might have been a racing driver in the 70s, lol. Either way they're not hurting anyone are they?

[quote name='LewisK1975' timestamp='1487606058' post='3241130'] OK, so is it MINI/BMW or MG offering that finished relic mini / MGB for sale in addition to their range of shiny new pristine models? Like Fender do? That is what makes it different IMHO! YMMV! [/quote] Your digging yourself a hole here, lol Aston Martin and Jaguar have in the last couple of years opened their own departments just for this purpose, Mercedes never stopped and have a huge network worldwide covering all models, G Wagons are very popular amongst the stars and wannabes for example built to any spec you can afford. Mini have been offering bolt on bits from the early 60s up to the current models, the MG B and Midget models can be built by the MG workshop as can Lotus elans etc, Jeez look at Morgan, they are basically the Fender Custom Shop but for new Morgan cars.

[quote name='LewisK1975' timestamp='1487598451' post='3241029'] So, I haven't scrolled back to see which side of the fence you're on Pete, so correct me if I'm wrong, but what you're saying is that in the classic Car world (of which I know zero!), it's OK, but for guitars it's 'fake'? And really my statement was about the posts comparing artificially aged guitars to modern general consumer cars (which is what folks were referring to) being purposefully damaged and that being sold as a premium, which is ridiculous, IMHO! [/quote] I'm not really on either side here regarding the cars or guitars,for every example I can give a car example which people keep saying its nothing like when trust me it's exactly like. Here's a perfect example, you can buy a heritage shell for a mini or MGB, brand new, people will then paint them with thick cellulose paint and flat it back a bit before fitting the car out with new but period looking parts, you don't want a 2017 lacquered look finish, you want it to look old but good, almost as if to convince on lookers that's it's a genuine old car that's been around the houses, the rally boys will drill holes for extra lights, bonnet clips etc, it's exactly the same as a Limelight bass other than it's a car not a bass

[quote name='Muzz' timestamp='1487598664' post='3241031'] Does the car relicing extend to making them rusty? Genuine question... [/quote] Yep, massive rat look scene and 'oily rag' restorations, have a Google.

Obviously not many fans of historic race cars here then? They slot into the analogy perfectly, old and genuine complete with the battle scars fetch the most then there are people buying up standard mk1 and 2 escorts and minis just to relic them into 'recreation' or 'homage' race cars, they fetch huge money and business is booming making brand new replica parts, SU carburettors have just released a fuel injection system hidden inside old fashion SU carbs for example. There is a saying in the classic cars world, "of the 30'000 Lotus Cortinas built only 40'000 are still on the road", is that analogy not exactly the same as comparing pre CBS era fenders and new relic versions?