BigRedX

[quote name='Roger2611' timestamp='1478024001' post='3166132'] In Northampton we seem to have the Charles Bradlaugh (if you can ever speak to the people that handle bookings) The Lamplighter, The King Billy (which is apparently now looking for bands outside of the heavy rock genre) and possibly the Black Prince. No point in trying the Roadmender especially if you are a local band, they never get a look in anymore! [/quote] We've played at The King Billy (and we're not at all heavy rock nor were a couple of other bands on the bill) and The Bear. Also if you are a reasonably decent Psychobilly band there is no problem getting a gig at Roadmender in one of their twice-yearly Bedlam events!

[quote name='mike257' timestamp='1478092640' post='3166670'] I know a fair few people who have had various TV placements etc through Sentric and have generally been positive about working with them. They're a legitimate operation, just got to decide if its right for you. Ultimately, if your recorded material isn't slick, professional sounding, broadcast quality stuff, you aren't going to get a great deal of sync placements etc so probably not worth it. If it does tick those boxes, you've got no upfront cost to get involved with Sentric (other publishers are available) so not got much to lose from it. [/quote] IME it's not just about the quality of the recording and the performance but just as much about the genre of the music. We put assigned 4 tracks to Sentric on the recommendation of several other bands who also had good experiences with them. There was nothing technically wrong with either the recording or the performance. It was simply that the music was not what Sentric's customers were looking for. We might have had a bit more luck if we had been able to supply instrumental versions as well as the full songs - it transpired later when we asked the other bands about what of theirs had been used that it was only the instrumentals. There may be no "up-front" costs to get involved, but unless the style of music you supply is fairly easy on the ears and you have instrumental mixes available, my experience is that you are not going to get a lot of interest. In the mean time Sentric take 20% of all the performance royalties that these songs might be getting from your own gigging and promotional efforts. Also IME it took a long time for Sentric to remove their interest from the songs in question, even after we had terminated our agreement with them.

[quote name='Sonic_Groove' timestamp='1478090466' post='3166642'] Does a longer scale length make the same gauge strings feel tighter or looser??? Thanks Brendan [/quote] [quote name='BassBus' timestamp='1478091128' post='3166650'] Tighter. That's why a lot of manufacturers use a 35" or more scale on fivers or sixers to tighten up the B. [/quote] Only if the strings are exactly the same (except for the length) i.e. they are made by the same manufacturer from the same materials with exactly the same type of construction, and the way that the basses are strung with regards to break angles over the bridge and nut, and the length of non-speaking string behind the witness points is identical between basses. Otherwise compliance factors also come in to play which can completely change how stiff the strings are.

[quote name='hiram.k.hackenbacker' timestamp='1478003024' post='3165859'] Am I missing something or does the Electric Wood website make no mention of nut width and other spec? [/quote] I would have thought that with each instrument being individually made the specifications can be whatever you want (within reason). Certainly that's the case for other luthiers. When I had my Sei bass made, the first question Martin asked me after we had picked the basic shape was what nut width, string spacing at the bridge and neck profile did I want.

As others have said, here in the UK you don't need to do anything for your song(s) to be copyrighted. In order to work out what's best for you; what do you do with your songs currently and what would you like to do with your songs in the future? Do you play them live reasonably regularly? If so join the PRS now! You collect the performance royalties for playing your own songs live. For most small venues it's not a lot - only £6.00 split between all the songs played at the gig, but if you are the only band playing, all that £6 goes to you; plus the system relies on PRS members reporting the song usage and IME very few bands who do not have proper publishing deals do this. Therefore even on a multi-band gig night there is a good chance that you will be the only band reporting your song usage and therefore you'll get all of the £6.00 available. For bigger gigs and festivals the performance royalty rate can be a lot higher. It takes about 5 minutes to fill in the on-line form after each gig, but the rewards IMO are worthwhile. Make sure that all the writer members of your band - in your case it looks like just you and the singer - join the PRS. Anyone who is credited as being a writer of any of the songs you register with the PRS will get a percentage of the royalties (although you can decide what that percentage will be). If one of the writers is not a PRS member their share goes into an "unclaimed" pot which is distributed between all the PRS members with the split decided by overall royalty earnings - so essentially people like Bono and Elton John could be getting your PRS money. Join now! Are your EP and album releases going to be physical CDs and/or vinyl as well as downloads? And are you putting them out yourselves? If so join the PPL as a record label now! (You and the rest of your band should also join the PPL as musician members too.) This will allow you to assign ISRC codes to your recordings which (for CD copies at least) will make it easier for your radio play to be logged and therefore more likely that you will get your performance royalties from radio play. Are you getting your CDs professionally produced? If so make sure that the IRSC codes are embedded in the tracks when whoever is mastering the recordings produces the DDP file that will be used to make the CD. If you are burning CDRs yourself use a CD writing program that will allow you to add the codes. Radio play - especially in the UK is well worth pursuing. Airtime on BBC local radio is worth between 10p and 15p per minute of song time depending on the potential audience size. Once you get onto national radio this goes up significantly. Looking my most recent PRS figures 6 Music time is worth about £5.25 per minute of song played! Radio 1 is a lot more... More reasons to join the PRS now! Joining fees vary depending on when you join AFAICS it's £100 at the moment. I'm sure it was only £50 at some point in the last couple of years and it has been free in the past or the fee has been deferred and then collected from your initial royalty payments. As you can see, if you are gigging regularly and get some radio play it is very easy to make back your going fee(s) in the first year of membership. Plus you continue to get performance royalties so long as your songs are being performed. I still get a few pounds worth of royalties each year from songs I recorded back in the 80s that are getting played on the radio somewhere in Japan! Finally Sentric Music... As someone who has had some of their songs "published" by Sentric Music. I have mixed feeling about them. Firstly I wouldn't consider them an alternative to joining a royalty collection agency like the PRS, but treat them instead as a publisher. If at some point in the future you decide that you no longer want to "publish" your songs through Sentric Music (as I believe you can) then although your songs are still registered with the PRS you won't have any way of receiving any performance royalties that they may be earning without then becoming a PRS member first. Also IME Sentric Music can be very slow in informing PRS that they are no longer the publisher and therefore they can still be collecting performance royalties from your songs well after you have terminated your agreement with them. Also AFAICS (and from my personal experience) Sentric Music don't actively promote your songs in the way that a traditional publisher (who would mostly likely have several thousands of pounds invested in you as a writer and be taking considerably more than 20% as their share of the performance royalties). What they do is have a catalogue of songs and music that is available to TV and film producers to browse and use if they find something that they think will be suitable. From my experience Sentric are with considering if: 1. Your songs are fairly mainstream 2. You can also supply instrumental only mixes of each song (most of the TV and film placement is as background music where lyrics might well get in the way of dialogue or the overall "mood" of the scene) 3. You have no artistic objections as to how and where your music is used The other thing that is worth remembering is that if you assign a song to Sentric Music they will take 20% of ALL your performance royalties, not just the ones that arise from the songs being in their catalogue. Bear that in mind if you are gigging regularly, getting your songs played on the radio, but still haven't had anything placed in a film or TV program. HTH

In Nottingham you've missed: The Chameleon, Jam Café, The Contemporary, Rough Trade, and there's plenty of other places that have put bands on in the recent past and will probably do so again, even if it's not a regular occurrence.

From a Trace Elliot manual: [quote]PRE SHAPE 1 is the classic TRACE ELLIOT EQ as found on Series 6 units the SMX and the SM range of amplifiers, it adds a boost at both the low end (50Hz) and the high end (2 to 5kHz) of the frequency spectrum as well as a cut at mid frequencies (400Hz). PRE SHAPE 2 is more rock orientated equalisation providing a wider bandwidth boost at low frequencies, less of a mid cut and a slight boost at higher frequencies. This is a less extreme EQ than PRE SHAPE 1.[/quote] So both will give a version of the "smiley face" EQ with the second version being less extreme.

[quote name='funkgod' timestamp='1475576914' post='3146993'] and.. "Musical instrument hard cases and suitcases when used as external packaging" so a flight case is not insured which is the best packing you can get? [/quote] What they are not insuring is any damage to the flightcase if it is the outer layer of the packaging. All you need to do is wrap the case in cardboard and you are good.

Song every time. Unless the bass part is prominent in the mix I rarely pay it any more particular attention than I would any other part of the song. TBH if I notice it, then it's normally because I think there is something wrong with the part.

[quote name='artisan' timestamp='1477933874' post='3165376'] well GAK are ordering me a replacement bass direct from Yamaha,i got them to supply a 5 string at the price of a 4 string,so hopefully all should be sorted in a few days. bloody stressful carry on for a cheap bass though. [/quote] Have you got a time-frame for when you will be getting your replacement bass?

[quote name='ivansc' timestamp='1477925607' post='3165295'] BigRedX: LIsten to the Jet Harris/Tony |Meehan recording "Diamonds" and tell me the trem isnt useful. A guitarist friend has an original old one that he bought and restrung with guitar strings back in the sixties. He now refers to it as "my pension" but I think he might be optimistic as to its value. [/quote] I will do. All I'm saying is that with the LaBella strings fitted on my Bass VI, I'm going to need to seriously build up my right arm muscles in order to be able to work the vibrato to enough of an extent for me to hear the pitch of the strings change...

You don't need to fake the newspaper at all. Just replace that part of the original photo with a new photo of a more recent issue of the newspaper.

Phone them up and ask to speak to the manager. It's all too easy to be off-hand when replying to an email. And decide exactly what you want from GAK before making the call. Are you after a replacement bass, do you want some money off if you keep this one, or do you want to send the bass back and get your money back (including the Saturday delivery excess)? Decide first and stick to what you want when you make the call.

[quote name='stingrayPete1977' timestamp='1477907205' post='3165104'] Which would be fraud and not the OPs intention or problem. [/quote] I was just trying to point out that I doubt most insurance companies would attract too much value to a photograph like that because it is so trivial to fake.

Yes and no. I take care of my basses and do my best to ensure that they don't get damaged, but unless you keep them mounted in glass display cabinets and never play them, then the odd ding and dent is inevitable. And if they get too battered, then that is what all the great refinishing services are there for.

[quote name='Quilly' timestamp='1477746020' post='3164221'] I bought the Japanese 2 pickup version (curiously called a jaguar) it has a 28.5" neck with bass strings. To be honest I wasn't impressed with the tone from it as a bass. I restrung it with baritone guitar strings and it sounded really interesting. Like a spaghetti western guitar. I sold it on eventually. It was a bit of an oddity in my opinion and I just couldn't find a use for it. If I wanted a 6string bass I'd go out ant a proper one. This is neither here nor there. [/quote] That particular model is actually marketed as a Baritone guitar rather than a Bass VI, and with a 28½" scale length it is far more suited to being strung with baritone strings and tuned B-B even if it did appear to have been originally sold with heavier gauge Bass VI strings and tuned E-E. Also IME the middle pickup of the Bass VI is essential for getting the most usable tones out of it. It's not surprising that you were disappointed with it.

[quote name='pete.young' timestamp='1477905430' post='3165082'] Regarding photos, take a picture of you holding the instrument in one hand and a copy of today's newspaper in the other. That proves you owned it on a certain date. [/quote] Which anyone with even a small amount of Photoshop skills will be able to replace with a more recent copy of the paper at a later date...

Try Mobineko

[quote name='ahpook' timestamp='1477645874' post='3163505'] I checked last night and I've got a set of D'addario XL156 on mine (0.084 - .0.24), and it actually plays better than I remember. It needs some TLC electrically and the action's quite high.....but maybe I should try and wrestle it into shape again. [/quote] Those strings IIRC are the same gauge as the Fender ones that come fitted to the Squier VM Bass VI. Changing these to the LaBellas (0.095 - 0.026) makes a massive difference especially to the overall balance between strings and the sound and feel low E and A strings. However you might run out of room for intonation on the low E (I didn't - but only just) and need to upgrade to a Staytrem bridge to fix this.

[quote name='ahpook' timestamp='1477561076' post='3162935'] I fitted Mustang bridges to my VI, which improved things...I wonder whether I should try the Staytrem ? [/quote] AFAICS the Staytrem bridge is an improvement if you need more intonation adjustment after fitting the LaBella Strings or if you are finding that the bridge rocks back and forth on the height adjustment supports when you are playing (although this can also be cured by finding metal tubing with the appropriate inside and outside diameters and fitting them over the supports).

Having used it for a while now, I think that for me the biggest draw-back is the narrow guitar-style neck. Even with guitar gauge strings I think I'd find the neck a little too narrow. It's very much in 70s Stratocaster territory, and I'm far more comfortable with Gibson or 80s "super-strat" type neck width. I was lucky enough to have a go on a Shergold Marathon 6-string bass in the 80s and that had a far more sensible neck in terms of width and string spacing for an instrument like this. Also Schecter do a [url=http://www.schecterguitars.com/international/guitars/robert-smith-ultracure-vi-detail]Robert Smith Signature Bass VI[/url] which has a slightly wider 42mm nut, so that might be worth checking out.

Nothing wrong with knowing what you want from a prospective band member. I've lost count of the number of musicians I've had to turn down for band positions over the years because they didn't have the right image and in every case because they didn't have the right image they also didn't have a good enough knowledge (if any at all) of the style(s) of music the band was playing.

It sounds completely different. A on the 12th fret of the A string is far fuller and more rounded than A on the 2nd fret of the G string. Sometimes you need one. Sometimes you need the other.

That Baritone Jazzmaster looks interesting. The scale length is right for it to be usable as a Bass VI. However you'd need to try them side by side to see which one you prefer the sound of since the pickups and electronics are very different. At the moment my favourite pickup combinations on the Bass VI use the middle pickup in conjunction with either the bridge or the neck pickup. Also the Jazzmaster doesn't have the strangle switch which IMO is essential if you are intending to use it in a band with either another "conventional" bass player or a synth player that covers the bass end too.

Write a script before you start filming and use it. No one wants to hear lots of ums... and errs... Don't be afraid to edit your video afterwards to remove all the superfluous bits, and fix anything that didn't go to plan with a retake.