tauzero

Why do people want to buy instruments that make it look as though they don't give a f*** about them?

Pretty good. I get asked to accompany people at open mic nights, and a couple of them get the odd gig here and there and ask me to go and play with them there (so it's not just because I happen to be in the right place at the right time). Would like to be doing some original work though.

Titanium is also used for F1 wheelnuts, and it's quite astonishing when you feel the weight of one of those. If you look at the article, it's rather vague about the wound strings, and says that the plain strings are overwound with titanium. It mentions about reducing string breakage but it's unclear how that happens. Titanium is about half the density of steel, so if I've got my visualisations of what needs to be multiplied by what right, the diameter of the string would have to be double the diameter of a steel string for a string of the same tension. Aluminium falls between steel and Ti, but for some reason there is no market for aluminium strings.

[url="http://shop.cafepress.com/design/22771043"]Bassist T-shirt[/url] in full-fat. Which was nice.

Have been a member for some years, but very rarely read it and almost never post there. I did find them stunningly unhelpful on the subject of EUBs - plenty of opinions and advice about various facets flying around, but when a few people posted about their actions and how high they had them set, and I asked how they measured the height of their action, no response whatsoever. Surely it's not that difficult a question to answer.

[quote name='Galilee' post='362152' date='Dec 23 2008, 05:02 PM']Cheat! I should throw an open B in here.[/quote] I have a Tennessee 15-string. Which of the open Bs should I play?

2 basses, 21.24% 3 basses, 20.80% 4 basses, 14.16% So logically 9 basses = 56.2%, so I'm in the majority. I shall see if Mrs Zero is convinced.

Fenders. Gibsons. Singlecuts. I don't want to dislike them, I'd like to like them, but they just look wrong to me. Warwick Streamers. The top horn makes them look as if they've got a semi. Alembics. Have big fat arses. Wals. Statuses with headstocks.

[quote name='Leowasright' post='355290' date='Dec 15 2008, 07:25 PM']Most of this surely proves Leo got it most right in 1960 with the Jazz.[/quote] No, it proves that dementia sets in early for bassists.

Stringbuster, Thomann, and UK DJ Supplies for me. No problems. The stuff I've had from Digital Village I've picked up from their shop in Brum as it was a 15 minute walk from my old office.

I do agree that it's a job of work and therefore I don't assume that I can bring the family along. This particular club, the rest of the year, allows children in to the downstairs room but not upstairs where the band plays. I expected them to be a little more liberal on NYE, rather than making it more strict. We've played at other places on NYE where they've gone completely child-friendly.

[quote name='OldGit' post='361391' date='Dec 22 2008, 08:53 PM']Behringer a-b switcher with different levels for each channel It's terrible design, changing the battery is very awkward, the mains lead falls out and the jacks have to be very well seated to work consistantly... but it was cheap.[/quote] It actually doesn't have different levels for each channel if you're going two As to one B - the level control 1 does the level exactly the same to both channels. If you're going one A to two Bs then the level controls affect each channel separately. Mine has started getting hissy when using it with a mains adaptor so has been retired. Will be using a homebrew one when I've found my hookup wire and soldered it all up.

[quote name='Absolute-beginner' post='361303' date='Dec 22 2008, 07:06 PM']Blimey, how does that work???[/quote] It's the same as playing Appalachian dulcimer, or, for that matter, keyboards.

I think allowing myself just over a year to learn that tapping version of "Jingle Bells" may be faintly optimistic, but we'll see. Cheers Alun.

[quote name='AM1' post='361091' date='Dec 22 2008, 03:34 PM']So my choice is spend coin doing the reconfig job on my right handed bass, spend coin on a left hander or go and see Harold Shipman and hope he doesn't try and finish me off![/quote] I'd suggest the last. I am a bit biased though, my mother never killed anyone in 20 years or so of being a GP and I've had mainly good experiences of the NHS. If it's a major problem for you (as it appears from the content of your posts), could you get someone to go with you for support?

[quote name='Lfalex v1.1' post='360867' date='Dec 22 2008, 12:31 PM']Alternatively, the headstock may prove to be a useful tool to keep a rowdy frontman in check...[/quote] The jab to the ear is more effective than the clout round the back of the head, and with a headless you can get a bit more travel to get more momentum into it. Plus, doing it accidentally because you have a headstock may be fun but it reduces the deterrent effect as they acclimatise to it.

We've just found out that the venue I'm gigging at on New Years Eve won't allow children anywhere in the building at all that night. That's any age of child - no-one under 18 allowed. So Minus Zero, at 13, can't attend, therefore Mrs Zero also can't attend, so I'll be seeing the New Year in without her. The minor consolation is getting about £250, but this is one NYE gig I don't want to do again. And I'll be packing up and f***ing off just as soon as I can after midnight. The stupid thing is that it's a social club that we're playing at. Anti-social club might be a better name for it. The WMCs and social clubs round Brum really seem to have some sort of death wish, they're largely child-hostile, which means that they won't pull in anything like the numbers that they could. Blame the lack of numbers on the smoking ban, blame it on the credit crunch, don't blame it on the idiot decisions of a bunch of geriatric twats, aka The Committee.

[quote name='Deep Thought' post='360790' date='Dec 22 2008, 11:04 AM']From working in sales in the past, you can never tell who's got the money-the scruffiest little gits are frequently rolling in it. Somebody told me car salesmen are taught to look at your watch as a way of sizing up your financial status-so wear your diamond-encrusted gold Rolex when shopping for cars if you want to be taken seriously.[/quote] It's not just the financial status of whoever's playing the instrument - looking at the gear that the local teenage bands have, I'd say that quite a few of them have parents who are willing to stump up a bit of cash to help their kids get decent kit. The kid who goes into the shop today for a bit of a shred may be the one the shop owner wants to come back next weekend with a parent or two in tow. Word of mouth is also a powerful tool - I suspect that [s]Musical Exchanges[/s] [s]Sound Control[/s] Reverb Sounds in Brum has made one or two sales through me mentioning something that they have in here or on another forum, and they made one sale to me because someone on alt.guitar.bass mentioned them having the Crate Powerblocks in for £50. Plus good or bad experiences get relayed, to an ever-increasing audience as more people join web forums and the like, and that will have an effect on clientele. Personally, I can't think of a bad experience that I've had in a music shop, and I've used almost all the Birmingham ones.

[quote name='ARGH' post='359078' date='Dec 19 2008, 07:23 PM']I can beat a singer and never lose tuning...Tis a great day of joy.[/quote] It also means that the only times you'll stick the end in the singer's ear will be deliberate.

[quote name='steve-soar' post='359937' date='Dec 20 2008, 10:31 PM']I am a shop, I am an island. (line 12)[/quote] And a shop feels no pain.

[quote name='planethead' post='358993' date='Dec 19 2008, 05:30 PM']..if you kept any of those Hayman 40/40 parts and want to get rid of em... I'm interested![/quote] I sold the bass nearly 30 years ago...

It just shows that it is easier to ask for forgiveness than to seek permission. I do tend to go for permission these days though, as Mrs Zero began getting tired of getting emails that started "How much do you love me?"

That's really nice, that is. It's almost tempting to buy a cheap P to do something similar to.

I went to the Fender Soundhouse a few times in my two and a half terms at the Royal Veterinary College in Caaaaaamden Tahn (75-76). That was just around the time they had the fire and Hayman went out of business, hence me picking up all the necessary parts for a Hayman 40/40 (I did want to build a twin-neck but something I picked from the stack of parts didn't fit properly and I had to take it back).

Not obscure but unusual as a cover - "Music" by John Miles. Used to do "Fireball XL5" with one band (which was actually a white soul originals band, it was just one of those things that happens sometimes), have suggested we do it with the current one.