neepheid

Has anyone asked what kind of strap is being used? You know, before the rush to mod this, and mod that...

No worries! And I agree - I highly doubt they'll pay much attention to it, but I just wanted to make the point to them.

They've already sent me a label for that. I'm not being charged for return postage - I'm talking about my time, fuel and packing materials that it will take to make this return happen. Basically, I'm being an officious d!ck, but it's to make a point.

You know something, this has effed me off to the point where I've dashed off another email to tell them I will be invoicing them for my time, mileage and cost of packing materials. Their packing advice - https://www.thomann.co.uk/faq_question_how_do_i_pack_my_return_consignment.html - has the nerve to lecture me about using bubble wrap etc, yet they employed not one shred of the stuff when they sent it to me! Coupled with the line in their returns email "we will not accept liability for damages due to insufficient packaging" - excuse me? You expect me to place it back in the hands of the very folk who damaged it in the first place, but I'm screwed if something goes wrong? RIght then. It's hypocritical BS, and it's left a sour taste in my mouth. I'm sure they won't pay the invoice (I worked it out, it'll be around £30 all told), but it's symbolic and I'm making the point that they are leaning on the goodwill of their customers when stuff goes wrong. I think it's kinda their fault in the first place - if they had packaged the bass to the same standards as they're expecting me to, it would have probably arrived safely. None of this would have happened and we could have had a lovely, ordinary NBD thread.

FYI I have blocked off the weekend of 11th/12th October 2025 in the band calendars in anticpation of next year's bash being hopefully around the same time next year. Gutted I missed it this year, so am doing all I can to ensure I will be available.

Save the (approximate) date for next year!

FFS, I just bought a set last week.

Show's over. They've offered me £25 off to keep it and apparently that's a maximum. That is unacceptable to me and I can't be arsed arguing with them any more, so I'll just be returning it. Enjoy your paperwork, guys.

Don't worry, we're extracting the michael out of them, not you.

You feckin savage!

Aye, rub it in why don't you?

I think any which way you want to do it, be it rail humbucker or split side by side single coils will be fine.

Damn hasn't been a swear word since I was at school!

Doric, min.

That reminds me - one of the few high points from Friday night was a table of lads in the second half chanting "Sunty, sunty, gie's a tune, sunty gie's a tune" (for the sassenachs - "sunty" is a NE Scottish colloquial pronounciation of "santa" as in Santa Claus)

And a video of me on my walkabout... 20241012 Wilsons Walkabout.mp4

I am bloody buzzing still after last night's gig - what a difference compared to Friday night's debacle. Played with Nine Lives at Wilsons in Aberdeen. Where to start? There were people there for a start, a decent crowd and they were up for a good night out. Loads of dancers, some decent singalongs, hearty chants of "ANGUS!" during the intro to "Whole Lotta Rosie", you could say this gig had it all. Even the ar$ehole who got thrown out by the bouncer couldn't dampen my spirits. He was a total weapons grade idiot - came up to the singer and grabbed the mic to shout out to his mates - I mean it's never funny but OK, do it once, have your fun then p!ss off, but he got drunker and drunker and ended up doing it three times. The third time, I stepped in and rapped his knuckles to try and get his hand off the mic, then as he relinquished his grip and stepped back he stepped on one of the guitarists pedals, to which the guitarist obviously objected, to which the guy started to square up to the guitarist, but by that time the bouncer was there and got him out of there. Of course, the knobber fought against his removal and ended up brawling with the bouncer, knocking over an older lady in the process. We had to stop the music while she was checked over. Being wireless, I went over and enquired as to her wellbeing. I heard she ended up with a lump on her head, they got some ice on it but apparently she said she'd rather just have more alcohol. What a trooper! Anyhoo, doofus ejected from the pub, we continued the gig, and it went great right up to the end. I got up to no good being wireless and went for a walkabout round the whole pub Fantastic night, despite someone's worst efforts to spoil it, and it's like Friday night never happened. Now for a well deserved weekend off next week, then another Fri/Sat the weekend after. Rock 'n' roll! It was Sire night on the gear front - played my D5 then my Z7 into the usual Markbass tone cubes.

Have good one, folks! Sorry I can't be with you, but if it's any consolation, last night's gig was fantastic. Maybe next year!

Eh?

Now I am starting to regret my choices. Sorry to all you folks who suffer, I did not consider the insensitivity of using your condition to make a light hearted point.

FWIW, I like the Dimension, and my favourite one is the Modern Player one with the passive triple coil pickup and 5 way rotary instead of a tone control - my kind of bonkers!

Everyone ends up playing a Fender P. It is as inevitable as arthritis. I know some of you are doing your best to push back against your ultimate fate, but you will succumb, or die young.

Pile o' sh!te last night. Played with Nine Lives last night at the Balaclava in Fraserburgh. First half was dire - about 10 folk in the bar and absolutely none of them gave a flying f hole if we were there or not - in fact they would have prefered we weren't there as they got one of the bar staff to come over and tell us that we were a bit loud and they couldn't talk at the bar - cheeky bar stewards! I was quite hacked off by that, angry enough that at half time I postulated to the rest of the band that we offer to end it now and take half pay. The drummer sorta half agreed with me but the other two wanted to carry on and see if things improve. Thankfully, some extra folk came in during the break who were actually up for a boogie and improved things immeasurably and I ended up having an OK night, but it was very much a case of the second half cancelling out the first. Hey ho, got paid, packed up, went home. Gear - Squier Affinity Jaguar H then Yamaha BB1200 into the usual Markbass tone cubes.

Thomann (non) update - they're still chewing it over and it's been passed over to their technical department for their 2c on the matter. I really hope I get to keep it now - wanna see what the LPB looks like with the dark fingerboard but daren't do the swap until this has all been resolved.

They're all like that - the only ones which aren't are the lower rings of the concentrics. Not a fan. I swapped mine out for some chrome John Easts.