TRBboy

Finally got around to putting my BBN5 back together last night, the pickguard still needs finishing and fitting properly, headstock decal needs doing, soldering electronics and a general setup and clean, but I think it's looking pretty bloody good! Quite chuffed tbh. 😊

If anyone's interested, bit more progress over the past couple of days. Rushed to get the last coat of laquer on before it got dark, and I don't know if I've buggered it up a bit though.... 😬 We'll see in the morning! 🤞

Started trying to design the pickguard for my apocalypse project last night... Its surprising how hard it is to do! I ended up looking at pictures of BB1500's and loosely used that for design inspiration.

Well, I've received all the supplies, and finally pulled my thumb out and made the first steps towards my apocalypse /quarantine project last night. It will be having a respray (experimenting a bit, but fingers crossed it'll work out okay!), I'm going to attempt to make a pickguard, and fitting new knobs. Did toy with changing the pickups and pots, but in all honestly there's nothing wrong with it at all! Will keep you updated with my progress. 👍 N. B. Excuse the nappy bags, they were just handy to put the hardware in!

I've seen other BB435's under 10lb too... Can't remember exactly what mine weighs, but I think it's about the same as Dave's was. My BBN5 is noticeably lighter.

I get that it's more difficult with self employed people, because they might have had a much better /worse year this year, so it's hard to make a sobering decision about how much to give them. However, I would've thought that giving them minimum wage at least, if not national living wage based on a full time job would have been a better starting point, especially as they're now paying 80% of employed people's wages.....

I think all they've offered for the self employed is SSP, and any tax payments deferred until January.....

It's definitely going to affect the industry, but it'll bounce back, it's more a question of how quickly. Once it's all blown over, there'll still be people investing in pubs, clubs and venues; if anything there could be a huge surge as people embrace their newfound freedom! Also the state of the economy will likely mean that investors will be looking for closed down places as a going concern, knowing that there will be a big boom in the industry once everyone's free. A lot of people are going to lose out in the meantime though, although hopefully the additional measures Sunak has announced will help to make this possible to survive, even if its not entirely comfortable.... People need to keep this in perspective though, these measures are to save lives. Businesses can be reopened, rebuilt, new jobs can be found, new bookings taken, but loss of life can't be reversed. There's likely going to be thousands of deaths in the UK. I'd gladly gig for less if it meant saving one life.

That's the problem though, they'll likely be fine, but who knows how many people they'll pass it on to, some of whom may be vulnerable and will need critical care - or die.

It is a horrible situation for a lot of people to be in, but like you said it's moral vs financial, and moral should be the winner ultimately... No body should want to choose increasing fatalities over money. Businesses can be rebuilt, we just need to try and get through this with as little loss of life as possible.

That's exactly the problem, and exactly how things got so out of control in Italy; they advised people to only go out if necessary, etc, etc, but didn't force the issue, and as a result people were going to cafes, bars, clubs, hairdressers, etc..... The govt there didn't lock it down until cases really started snowballing, and I think by then it was too late.

Yeah although a number of our local pubs have announced their closure today, there's a band still playing at one of the pubs Saturday night, and a local nightclub has an event on Saturday from 22:00-03:00 called 'keep calm and party on' or something..... 🤦‍♂️🤦‍♂️🤦‍♂️

I think we'll see more stringent and mandatory measures in place by the weekend. I also think we can assume all gigs will be off for at least 3-4 months, if not longer. China have had it since December, and they're only just starting to think about lifting restrictions now.

We were supposed to have one Friday, the pub were still up for it, but we ultimately didn't feel it was socially responsible to do it. Plus it would likely be dead....

We were supposed to have one Friday, the pub were still up for it, but we ultimately didn't feel it was socially responsible to do it. Plus it would likely be dead....

Yeah, as I said before, those are the only different things, but the magnets, bobbins, and all the other stuff is basically the same. I'm not sure how much difference enamel vs urethane wrap coating makes, but the lead wire cloth vs vinyl covering is purely cosmetic. Whatever, they sound great! 😊👍

I love the sound of it, I have to say! Out of interest, how come you sent yours back? Sounds like it was a very lightweight one too!

Interesting! I guess for me, what the guy said, plus looking at the pickup chart, have me confidence that the V5 pickups are decent enough.

Interesting! I guess for me, what the guy said, plus looking at the pickup chart, have me confidence that the V5 pickups are decent enough.

Well that's the thing, they're different in name, but essentially the same. I exchanged emails with the Yamaha UK Guitars Marketing Manager to find out more, and as you can see in the table above, the only differences are that the V7 have enameled wire, whilst the V5 has vinyl, and the V5 is slightly higher resistance. He said the resistance is just to take into account the slight wire difference and body construction; in practice they sound the same (or at least that's the aim). This is what made me decide to go for the 435, the pickups are basically the same as on the top end models. 😊

The 43X series has essentially the same pickups as the 73x and P series, its what made me finally decide to go for the 435 instead of forking out for a higher range model..... And they sound killer!

I think realistically we're looking at at least 3-4 months out, if not 6+. 😔

That seems to be exactly what it is, a cowardly and callous approach from the government. Because they haven't mandated that venues/restaurants, etc close, presumably the operators will not be able to claim anything; if they close, it'll be their choice, no-one told them to do it. Scandalous in my opinion. I'm gutted that I probably won't get to play with the band again for months, and feel sorry for everyone affected. Everyone in the arts, everyone who was looking forward to their wedding, all the small business owners, people who are being ordered to take lengthy unpaid absence, etc, etc. 😔

That seems to be exactly what it is! It looks like we're following in italy's footsteps, but it's highly likely to be even more disastrous.... I was reading more this morning about the government's strategy, and I get the logic a bit more now, but it's a HUGE gamble to take with the lives of the populous, and unknown if it can even work. There will undoubtedly be many, many deaths, and a good few months of chaos and heavy restrictions I think.

You're absolutely right, the economic impact of this will be gargantuan. I think the government are going to have to step in and put measures in place to try and balance the impact across the board and minimise irreparable damage as much as they can. I think no area of the economy is safe. Small businesses and the self employed will feel the immediate strain, but bigger businesses will follow suit, and the impacts will be even greater. The business I work for is by far the biggest employer in my home city, contributing millions to the local economy with around 2000 people at the site I'm on, with 18 sites nationally. Our product is low profit, high turnover. We rely heavily on manual labour to meet our customers needs. If our workforce starts going down, we face a huge challenge. Additionally our whole supply chain is extremely finely balanced and delicate, the slightest disruption can topple everything, with very far reaching effects. The economic effects are almost as concerning as the health effects; who knows what we will be left with after this is all over?