casapete

Here you go….

Apologies, I honestly didn’t know. Will amend my post.

I always took my bass in to the hotels after gigs, no exceptions. Actually, after I had a hotel room cleaner come into my room one morning ( uninvited I might add! ), I used to jam my bass case against the door handle to prevent any further incidents. 😆

Post deleted.

A while ago there was a spate of band’s vans being broken into at Travelodges. Easy pickings if they don’t have alarms / security locks etc, as all the thieves have to do is watch the van being loaded up at the venue and then follow it to the hotel. Because the vans arrive so late there, more than likely the only parking spaces left aren’t near the reception area too, making it easier for the theft to go undetected. Be careful out there folks.

Many specialist musical instrument insurance companies ( Musicguard etc) will cover items left in the car, albeit with some conditions being met. Still better off left in the hotel IMO - a good chance some toe rag may just steal the car anyway, not even knowing what’s in the boot space.

Nice Les Paul Special - obviously a man of great taste.

True dat. Some Premier Inns don’t require the key card in the holder thing, although most do. Reception will often give you two key cards as well.😆

Because you’re staying in the same room for a couple of nights, from my experience of Premier Inns it is unlikely any staff will be entering it to tidy / make the bed etc until you check out. Obviously leaving your basses unattended anywhere does involve a certain amount of risk, but I’d still go with the hotel over leaving them in a vehicle. Put them upright in the wardrobe section, behind some clothes if possible and leave the ‘do not disturb’ notice on the door handle. Leave the TV on too, just loud enough for anyone in the corridor to think there’s someone in the room. I think you would then be extremely unlikely to have any problems.

Also if you order from them before November 11th they are offering free international shipping on all orders over $75. Great company, used them many times.

That’s crap but in this game stuff like this happens all too often. Back in the early 80’s when I had a day job, my band was offered a short tour in Scandinavia as a support act for a band who were just beginning to do okay. I booked time off work, even getting my boss to swap his holidays around with me so I could go, as one of us needed to be in the office. The band arranged the carnets / gear / transport etc, and I even went to Liverpool to queue up to renew my passport which was dangerously near its expiry date ( a round trip of 250 miles ). Then about 10 days before we were due to leave, the tour got cancelled. Flimsy excuses were offered but we suspected it was down to poor ticket sales / promotion etc. To cap it all, I had two weeks of lousy weather staying at home on my ‘holidays’ whilst my boss had a fortnight of glorious sunshine on his.

I don’t really have a problem with it per se - if someone pays the price I’m after then what they do once it’s theirs isn’t my concern. If I’ve bought something on here though, then I think it’s only fair to sell it back on here again,for a good price - if it doesn’t sell then try it somewhere else for more of a realistic price. (To be fair I’ve done this a few times when my listings on here have n’t raised any interest.) The one sale that did anger me was a few years ago (and didn’t involve this forum). A guy answered my local ad for a guitar I was selling. When he came round to try it he brought his lad with him, about 9 years old. Told me the guitar was for him, his first instrument etc and used that angle to get me to knock the price down which I did. Later that evening it was advertised on eBay for considerably more than he’d paid me. Was considering arranging some false bidding to mess his sale up but in the end I just let it go. Older and wiser now….

Looks good - how’s the Taylor doing Neil? Seems like exactly the sort of gig it would be suited to.

A couple of bands ago I had a call from a guy who had depped for me on well paid gigs in the past. He asked if I would do a dep for him, which I assumed was offered to me partly as thanks for giving him some dep work. Then it turns out to be with an 18 piece big band who used their rehearsals as informal ‘ gigs’ in a local pub, with a small cover charge on the door. When I asked him what that amounted to I think he said something like a fiver each plus a pint from landlord! He seemed surprised at my reply that I was busy on a Monday night ( I didn’t want to offend him by getting into a big debate about it). Never knew if he found someone to do it, but he hasn’t rung me for it again. 😆

Another Sunday night acoustic duo gig at one of my favourite venues, The Lookout Cafe in Scarborough. We were the first to use their new PA set up, which consists of a pair Turbosound Milan powered cabs. A definite improvement on their previous Alto cabs, with a crisper high end. Sound man Bob was well pleased with them, and one or two customers noticed the difference too. Anyway, a busy night with requests, including quite a few we’ve rarely or never done before - ‘Summertime’, ‘Blackbird’, ‘New York state of mind’ and ‘Downtown’. ( Some of these made even more difficult for me due to a very attractive & slightly inebriated lady dancing nearby ). We are next there at the end of November, and then also at their Christmas party in December. and here for @Mickeyboro Milestone Acoustic Duo Ibanez PCBE12MH bass into Fender Rumble 100 combo / DI into house PA. The Lookout on The Pier, 18, West Pier Scarborough.

I've been reading up on Quincy following his death and plenty of stuff I didn't realise about him. For example, never knew he produced these two pop belters for Lesley Gore in the early 60's -

For anyone interested, here’s a picture of my 63 Precision in the hands of its previous owner! Jeff Ramsdale was originally in Hull band ‘Roger Bloom’s Hammer’, who had a good go at breaking into the big time. They were signed to CBS and supported quite a few famous bands in the late 60’s including T.Rex. When Roger departed they carried on as ‘The Hammer’, and as well as Jeff they had Rod Temperton in the band of Heatwave / Quincy Jones /Michael Jackson fame. When The Hammer broke up, Jeff carried on playing, and the picture below is him with my bass playing at The Hofbrauhouse in Hull, probably in the late 70’s. By then someone had made a strange scratchplate for the bass which you can see. I played in a couple of bands with Jeff after this and the bass was refinished in a sort of mustard yellow by Rokas in London. Sadly Jeff died in a tragic car accident, and I was contacted by his family a year or two later to see if I wanted to buy his bass . When I went round to see it, it wasn’t in a good state after being kept in a loft for a while. After acquiring it I had it refinished to natural, and Paul did a great job of making the horrible holes from the previous scratchplate look like knots in the wood. Fortunately the original plate was still intact, and that’s how it’s remained for nearly 40 years. It’s a lovely bass, not heavy and sounds like a good P.bass should - will remain with me till I’ve departed.

Here’s my Precision , 61 years old and mine for nearly the last 40. Refinished in the late 80’s by Paul McNab (Paulman guitars of Huddersfield).

I have a Rumble 500 combo, and it’s great! Use it in a blues rock 3 piece with a loud guitarist and it doesn’t struggle at all. Easy lift, compact and sounds ace. Many people who bought the 2x10 extension that goes with these have never needed to use them, the combo being enough on it’s own.

Went to see ‘Fire and Rain’ last night at Howden’s Shire Hall. Second time seeing this band who play James Taylor and Carole King stuff. Couple of friends play with them, and it was a fabulous night. Probably around 100 people in this great venue, and the sound using the house PA and engineer was knockout. Tom Townsend in particular was outstanding on guitar and vocals, but the whole band were exemplary.

Reckon it’s that or the teeth then…. Seriously, get a pack of 5 for around a fiver off eBay and see if he can adjust.

Some interesting old stuff on BBC4 tonight, including Santana in concert from 1976 at 10.55, and an OGWT special featuring the Average White Band at 12.05am in a concert from 1975.

On a maple board that has a finish applied then just a damp cloth does the job. For unfinished boards I think Ernie Ball does a product that is suitable ( for Stingrays etc), but never used it on mine.

A true legend, always the number one hired gun if you wanted that fast picking style he became famous for. Seen Albert many times and met him too, he’s a lovely humble man who is just so talented. I actually prefer his playing when it’s not all 100mph solos, and as ezbass says, he also plays wonderful piano as well as having a great voice - he toured with Don Everly during the years the brothers split, and covered Phil’s parts. Albert kindly arranged for us to meet Don and Phil in Lincoln after a gig when they were touring over here together, which was terrific. Albert is 81 this December and still doing it, long may he continue. 😊

Great venue - unfortunately I’m working or else I would have been there. Hope you have a good one.