neepheid

I'm not buying just now because I'm busy restoring my Gibson Ripper, and that involves trawling the globe for parts. I'm not feeling that flush either, and I'm also pretty happy with my lot right now. I've got nothing big to sell. Been raising some funds recently by selling little odds and sods < £50. I have to say that the last few bass sales I have done (pre-fees) have not been here despite them being advertised on here - had more success on local music fora and gumtree. I think the last successful transaction ended up being a trade. I'm not going to pay the £20 until I need it - I don't think it's unreasonable, it just makes absolutely no sense to have the clock ticking when I've nothing big to sell.

That's a horrible situation to find yourself in. It's your name that's pinned to something you didn't do and I'm guessing that you find that unacceptable. It's probably best to speak initially to your friend about it. He might be unaware, although if I was driving a four figure project then I'd want to know everything about it. I probably would refuse to pay a producer/engineer who replaced bass tracks with mystery bass without consulting me first. Of course, this may have repercussions for your friendship if it turns out that he did know or sanction it and didn't tell you. But ultimately there's a wrong to right, you're the one left feeling guilty and none of this is your fault. Make the enquiries.

Cream/Jack Bruce Bass looked nicer to me than guitar. I was idly wandering around town and just decided on impulse to buy a bass. Not joking. I had no playing aspirations, I had no friends who were players of instruments. Because of the random nature of this motivation it was an ornament for about 5 years. To this day I have no idea why I bought that Epiphone EB-3 (other than I thought it looked nice). The EB-3 turned out to be just about everything I didn't want in a bass but I'm glad that it all came together in the end.

Yup, another +1 for Roqsolid. I have one of their covers for my RedSub BT5110 "it's cheap so it must be crap, right?" combo. Placeholder strap, red seams (of course ), fits great, does exactly what I need it to, good price, just what I needed.

Began work on the floor last night - the slats, once padded will stop the basses wanting to spin or twist round when sitting in the rack. Still got a couple to put on the lid of the pipe box, but it was getting late.

I don't have a backup bass, all my basses share top billing and I alternate between them all for gigs and practices depending on my mood but trying to be even handed in the distribution. Also - have I just been lucky? I've never broken a string while playing. Maybe I've spread my breakage probability thinly with many basses

Sorry, when I saw the thread title I thought of this: [url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qGbcnZ-3CJQ"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qGbcnZ-3CJQ[/url]

Made some progress on this today - a neck support: Delays incurred because 12mm B&Q dowel isn't 12mm. Had to find an 11mm router bit for a nice snug fit. The foam is nicked from an old guitar stand/rack. Sliced the foam lengthways then poked holes in it for the dowels to poke through. It's pretty solid as is but I think I might glue it down to be sure. Next step: the floor.

[quote name='TimR' timestamp='1370876661' post='2106722'] Indeed. I think you'll find I specifically mentioned the big venues. [/quote] No, you didn't. If you meant that then it wasn't very clear. You said "the venues got bigger" not "the big venues" anything. The venues got bigger - what, ALL of them? [quote] It has always been illegal to sell to or attempt to buy for someone who is drunk. [/quote] Thanks for the headsup. It must have been pure luck that I operated on that basis all this time. Really, are you setting out to patronise and annoy me? [quote] You only need a personal licence for the manager so the big chain pubs can move staff around and not have to license one person to a particular premises. Maybe (forbid the thought) big venues are trying to protect their managers by ensuring the person at the point of sale has more responsibilty. [/quote] In Scotland (it may well be different down South, but it's my point and it's being made in Scotland) there must be a Personal License holder on the premises at all times during licensed hours. This includes pubs, clubs and even little village dances and marquees - anywhere that alcohol is being sold. Doesn't have to be the owner/manager (although they must possess a Personal License), just someone who has received the training and has the documentation to prove that they are a Personal License holder, which can be asked to be seen by Police/Licensing Official at any time during service. This is in addition to the premises/occasional license that must be obtained in order to trade in the first place and governs points of business like licensed hours etc.. I think that's enough detail - my objection today has simply been to your (in my opinion) unfair generalisation.

[quote name='TimR' timestamp='1370873947' post='2106664'] I think you'll find that's always been the case. Unfortunately the venues got bigger and stopped thinking about the law and started thinking about profits. All that happened was the council, and police got fed up with clearing up the mess and started to come down harder on venues. [/quote] I respectfully disagree and at the risk of further thread derailment would like to retort. This came to pass in the most recent iteration of licensing law changes (in Scotland at least) with the necessity for Personal License Holders, spot checks by Police and Licensing Officials and other such guff. I also find the wide brush you're tarring with which suggests that all venues (and by extension all staff) are like that, having worked in the trade, somewhat offensive. I have never sold alcohol to anyone I judge to be worse for wear, just the same as I've never sold alcohol to anyone who in my estimation is under 18 and lacks the requisite proof to the contrary. Profits are irrelevant, I don't like cleaning up blood and vomit. I didn't need an additional burden of responsibility and misplaced, disproportionate consequences/repercussions of errors of judgement to tell me that. I know that there are venues who push their staff to sell, sell, sell and surprise, surprise they're the ones with the police vans outside them every weekend. But we all get it in the neck because the powers-that-be use as wide a brush as you are using right now.

[quote name='4 Strings' timestamp='1370871786' post='2106624'] I don't see why this is the Wal owner's fault? He did nothing wrong. Why should he expect anyone to touch is property without permission, especially something as personal and fragile as a musical instrument. It's a pain in the neck keeping things in cases at gigs where there's so little space, the cases get put away. Going along the 'it takes a village to bring up a child' line, assuming the Wall owner was not right there at the time why did none of the punters stop these two idiots going anywhere near the gear? In reality there is more responsibility there than the landlord who was no doubt busy keeping the queue at the bar down. Its the two idiots' fault, I'm sure it wouldn't be too hard to find them, they need to be given the chance, now they've sobered up, to put things right. [/quote] If it was an ideal world, what you say would be true, but it isn't. I'm not saying it's right or fair but in an environment where alcohol is impairing the judgement of those around you, you must adapt to that environment. To compound the problem that some people can't keep their hands to themselves, I would estimate the the people around the incident would be reticent to get involved for fear of receiving abuse, or getting the wrong end of the stick and experiencing the embarrassment of attempting to stop the rightful owner or a trusted associate from picking it up. Heads down, nothing to do with me, mate. To say or expect otherwise is naive in my opinion and therefore there is a (small) element of blame to be put on the owner if they expected their stuff to be respected by drunk people, or for drunk people to come to his assistance/rescue. Also I do not share your belief that these idiots will be easy to track down and even if you did find them, while your adherence to a due process is commendable I would be very surprised if you extracted anything but slopey shouldered feigned ignorance at best or worse, outright abuse out of them. You may find me cynical but for the record, I would love to live in a utopian world where people kept their irrelevant hands to themselves. I just can't see it happening.

[quote name='xilddx' timestamp='1370866874' post='2106505'] If I were you, I wouldn't bother listening to that 'someone' anymore. [/quote] It didn't sound very plausible to me. Yay, I don't have to book a half price ticket on Virgin Galactic just yet

I'm not going to get into any perceived improvements in sound (mostly because I haven't heard any and it's somewhere below my level of caring - I want reliable cables that work, end of). Dave's cables are solid, reliable and dependable. He's also a breeze to deal with, ask him for what you want, pay the man and in a very short period of time the cable(s) arrive at your door. What more do you need? With the exception of my first ever instrument cable, which (sentimentality aside) is pretty neat looking (clear brown jacket so you can see the braid underneath) and seems to be of a similar bulletproof construction, all my cables are OBBM. Instrument cables, speaker cable, patch lead. There's a rather lonely one in my bag of gig bits and bobs which only sees the light of day when someone in the band forgets/breaks theirs

Anth bought a pickup and associated bits from me. Smooth transaction, prompt payment, great communication, just how it should be

I've owned three and sold three. Tells its own story really. Won't be buying another one. If someone's getting all precious about the acoustic thing then (if I even wanted to proceed) I would offer the "compromise" of the Epiphone Jack Casady. It's got F holes, and that's about as "acoustic" as you're going to get from me.

In general I gig whatever bass I feel like playing, whether it's my RD Artist (which is probably worth 1.5-2 grand depending on who's doing the selling) or the Yamaha BB450 I resurrected for about fifty quid. There is a line, and it's common sense. I won't take an expensive or rare bass to a festival, for instance. To be honest I rarely leave the bass out as we're usually not the only band on the bill so it goes back on in the bag and stashed in the wings of the stage or in a designated area. If we're on first then I might leave it out, but you can bet I'll always be close by (or a band member will be asked to keep an eye out). A couple of weekends ago I was playing at a private party on a farm in the middle of nowhere, I took my G&L El Toro and left it out on the stand. Was never going to be a problem. It's all about risk assessment.

Well, I find it wholly disgusting. I stopped working behind bars because of changes in the licensing laws which basically passed a lot of the blame for patrons' drunkenness onto the staff. We don't pour it down their throats! We had a loosely defined duty of care and we stopped serving someone who is out of it, but who's to stop someone buying a drink for some poor SOB who is already legless then falls over and splits their head open? Now that's our fault? Up yours. I quit. Venues are being hounded and harassed on all sides by the Police, Councils' licensing boards, the PRS and now stuff like this? Sometimes I'm surprised they bother to open their doors at all. And before you question my credentials, I know venue owners personally and have installed and maintained CCTV in a couple of places. What fun - bouncers getting put in the dock for doing their job - physically restraining someone who is throwing punches around is assault, apparently. I've been hauled to court as a witness to something I never actually saw because I lifted the CCTV footage, I spent a whole morning waiting around then finally the perp changed his plea. Wonderful. It's not a morning off work by the way - it's a morning of sitting around uneasily in a waiting area playing spot the junkie. Fun. As far as I can see, rather than the courts tackle the drunken individuals who can't or won't handle their ale, they'd rather solve the problem by harassing venue owners and staff. They'd love it if all the bars in the country closed. Someone also told me that if a contractor falls off their own badly maintained ladder on your property, you're liable and can be sued? Is that right? Now someone has taken their eye off the ball, something bad happened that was completely unforeseeable by the venue staff/management (and indeed, unless they're running a bass crèche, not their problem) and he's trying to extract compensation out of the venue? Balls to that. In a perfect world you would be able to leave your property lying out and people that have nothing to do with it would leave it well alone, but this isn't a perfect world. I despise the way this world is going. Blame anyone but yourself. In my opinion there are two problems here - of course the vast majority of the blame is on the drunken idiots who fkd about with the bass in the first place but a smidgeon of blame rests with the owner for not taking the appropriate steps to secure his property IF he left it unattended. It's no-one else's problem or concern. Deal with it.

Yes, one will be more expensive than the other for ill-defined reasons

Well, at least you've got a pickguard to hide the routing, which will be a strange amalgam of jazz and precision shapes. Or sack trading - just buy the P/J Deluxe

[quote name='pete.young' timestamp='1370808087' post='2105889'] I just pick up my spare bass. [/quote] I do not possess the cat-like reflexes and physical dexterity required to execute that manoeuvre mid song. I salute you. I do find that I can flick a switch that fast, so that is my coping mechanism.

[quote name='pete.young' timestamp='1370690530' post='2104404'] (though why you'd want the passive I don't know) [/quote] Safety net in case the batteries start dying on you mid-song/gig. Quicker than changing the battery especially if a screwdriver is involved. Yes, one should be keeping on top of the battery situation, but one is only human after all.

Surely it's the fault of the idiots concerned? Where has personal responsibility gone?