tauzero

I've paid to play at a festival that I was involved in organising. Many years ago, the musicians in Tamworth decided that an annual free rock festival would be a good idea. We managed to get some things for free but not everything. We also charged stallholders. In the end, the 20 or so bands involved paid something like a fiver a head to play. We kept that model running for about ten years. It was always very popular, always oversubscribed. However, this was a rather exceptional situation, and I wouldn't advocate pay to play in more usual circumstances. I have mixed feelings on playing for nothing - I did it last night and I'm sure I'll do it again, but I don't want to make a habit of it.

[quote name='eude' post='813297' date='Apr 21 2010, 01:06 AM']the Musicman Bongo was a collaboration with BMW as far as I recall[/quote] Not with Armitage Shanks? I'm interested in seeing what the final products look like. It can't be easy finding a shape which isn't similar to someone else's shape, given that the instrument also has to sit reasonable well-balanced on a strap and be sufficiently conventional as not to drive potential buyers away.

Peavey Grind, and probably the Schecter Stiletto Studio-5 (based on the feel of other Schecter necks).

Have a look at the Peavey Grind too. £349 for the 5-string from GAK.

Just bought a Yamaha G-50 off Owen. All went well, I'm very pleased. He posted it to me well packed.

Count me interested. And I have a rather more manageable cab than last time...

[url="http://www.partysounds.co.uk"]Partysounds[/url] is another website worth looking at for adverts. I think that three of my last four bands were through there. What amp you'll need depends on the band. I could happily use a Gallien Kruger 200MB or a Hartke 120W combo with my old covers band, doing pop-rock and cod reggae on the social club circuit, but I'm using a 4x10 and 500W amp for the rock bands I'm with now. I was able to transport the GK and a headless Westone on the back of a motorcycle. I suspect that you'll find that most rock musicians your age will be looking doing originals music, so your surmise about working with older people is probably spot on.

[quote name='Wil' post='814490' date='Apr 21 2010, 11:45 PM']Yeah, but it's a bass, not a used car - using that logic, pre CBS Fenders would be going for a tenner on ebay.[/quote] Using that logic, 1963 E-types would be going for a tenner on ebay.

[quote name='Happy Jack' post='810842' date='Apr 18 2010, 10:20 PM']Or even keep it and play it. [/quote] No, that would be a bad mistake. They are truly dreadful instruments. I do wish I'd bought the one I was offered for £75 some years ago though, it would have helped with my pension. However, I was buying a bass to play, and after trying it out I bought the Baldwin he was selling as well.

[quote name='Jerry_B' post='798363' date='Apr 7 2010, 09:21 AM']I'm a bit perplexed by the idea that once you hit 40, only covers bands can be something to look forward to or be part of, with an originals band being less likely. Why so?[/quote] Because by that time, all the crap originals musicians have realised (consciously or not) that they are crap and have given it up, so 97.3% of originals bands disappear. Fortunately, at the age of 52, I've managed to join an originals band (and increase the average age significantly). Not that I dislike playing covers, I just get a bit of an extra kick from that additional level of creativity.

[quote name='Doddy' post='791449' date='Mar 31 2010, 02:41 AM']Like I said,there are alot of players who put their thumb over the neck when they play,and you cannot do this on a singlecut. I have had people play mine and struggle in the upper register because they tend to grip the neck with their thumb over the top. So when I said that it facilitates good technique,I am saying that you basically have to use a 'correct' hand position up the neck as you cannot physically reach your thumb over the top. If you have your technique together,it's not a problem,but for some people it is.[/quote] I found that when I played one at the Northampton bass bash, I had problems not in playing in the upper register but in getting there, as I move my thumb slightly round the neck when moving up a fair number of frets so my hand doesn't fall off. I wouldn't like to be forced to adopt any particular position though. I still haven't seen a singlecut that wouldn't be improved by being a doublecut, except the Status Streamline, which would be improved by getting rid of its fat arse so it looks like a Steinberger.

[quote name='Jase' post='775884' date='Mar 16 2010, 01:00 AM']Shame, Strats are quite sexy [/quote] Did Hitler play one?

Isn't the creation of the auction the invitation to treat, then the final bid is presumably the offer, and the acceptance of the money by the seller the acceptance? Hence as the seller hasn't accepted the money, it's not a contract as it hasn't been through the three stages. Or am I missing something - does the invoicing constitute acceptance, as that's by ebay presumably as an agent of the seller?

I'm not sure that there is a contract. It's a complex area. You could have a search on the newsgroup uk.people.consumers.ebay and also have a look at [url="http://www.out-law.com/page-394"]a legal explanation (sort of) of purchase contracts.[/url] By the time you've worked something out, you could have bought the components and made one...

Is it just me that thinks it's hideous then?

[quote name='warwickhunt' post='751322' date='Feb 19 2010, 08:04 PM']There was a documented case on this forum during the latter part of last year with a dispute over a basses authenticity; eBay found in the buyer's favour (a registered BCer) and refunded him the money... he also kept the bass with no recriminations from eBay or PayPal![/quote] Can't remember if I said at the time that I suspect that it's to do with the actual transaction mechanisms of Paypal. I have no actual evidence or legal knowledge to back this up, but I suspect that what happens is that Paypal buys the item from the seller and then sells it to you, sticking in its markup on the way. This would satisfactorily answer the case where the buyer finished up with both the refund and the dodgy bass - Paylap sent him back his money, don't want the hassle of taking back and storing a dodgy bass so don't bother, but they also get their money back from the seller on the basis of wrongly described goods which is somewhere buried deep in their T&Cs.

I've been looking for a hard case for my Ashbory - I'm not a great one for soft bags, and also Fender seem to have taken the measurements for the gig bag from the old Guild bags, which didn't have to cater for tuners that stick out horizontally and increase the instrument length. A violin case looked as if it might do the job but was just too short. Other cases were too small, too big or hideously expensive. I finally found the right one - a shotgun case, from Treeline Products: [url="http://www.treelineproductsuk.co.uk/80690/info.php?p=10&pno=0&pid=1436900&cat=&ack=9&search=&sought="]Shotgun case[/url] It's £54 on their site but it was rather less expensive than that through their ebay shop - £47 delivered.

I'm going to try to get there but as I'm returning from Wales that morning I'm not sure that I will. I had a little play on mcgraham's fretted 5 at Nottingham and thought it was superb.

[quote name='Conan' post='688426' date='Dec 18 2009, 03:09 PM']Within the cab itself, presumably the speakers can be wired up either in series or in parallel? If so, what are the relative benefits of each? And one assumes that the info plate on the back of the box will inform the user of how the speakers have been wired if this is important?[/quote] The benefits of parallel wiring: If one of the driver goes open circuit for some reason, the other one will still work. Um, that's about it. There's probably cost benefits as well. 8 ohm drivers are the most common and therefore cheapest, 4 ohm and 16 ohm drivers are also available. This means it's easy to get a 4 ohm 2x10 or 2x12, or an 8 ohm 4x10 using the cheapest versions of the drivers.

[quote name='endorka' post='758269' date='Feb 26 2010, 02:55 PM']That's interesting re: the WAV-4 , and I certainly don't doubt your experience, but mine has been different - perhaps it depends on the amplifier one uses? I used mine mostly with an Eden Wt330, and it sounded fat as beejeesus, but it has a 1 megohm input impedance, designed for acoustic instruments, so that would explain that. Perhaps amps with a lower input impedance are those requiring the preamp?[/quote] Yes, that's right. A high impedance input is fine - it's also not terribly common, input impedances tend to be in the tens of k rather than megs.

[quote name='BigBeatNut' post='737114' date='Feb 6 2010, 12:45 PM']It's worth noting that the Palatinos are not lightweights. Given that they're 'hollow' the weight will come as a bit of a surprise. Surprised it's not mentioned more, which might perhaps mean I'm the only one who had that issue.[/quote] You're not the only one - it's why I sold the Palatino and bought a WAV-4. I currently have the WAV-4 and a 5-string Ergo, and either of those should suit the OP's purposes. The WAV-4 does need some sort of buffering pre-amp though, otherwise it sounds really thin.