BassTractor

Sending someone to another shop can be an integral part of building up one's own name too, innit. Sales theories differ there, but I like it, have always done it, and claim I've seen the reward when people either come back or send their friends and neighbours. Of course the shop must fit the concept. I doubt the "One Quid" store on the corner will survive long by sending customers to other "Below £1.01 But More Than £0.99" stores. Not saying the weird opinionated guy without doubt has that perspective, but he very well may have.

I'm not sure of this interpretation, but I interpret some comments here as stating the man in the OP lacks musicality. Whatever the negatives of the vid on the OP might be, I think there is absolutely no lack of musicality in this man. He may be misguided, but imho does have a very clear picture of the musical depths that are his aim, even though he doesn't completely get there. I don't like the vid, but kudos where kudos are due.

[quote name='BILL POSTERS' timestamp='1378111678' post='2195765'] He was probably using a Rabbit. [/quote] Keep your facts straight, man. Nobody said there was a male in that gentleman's fine art movie. Oh, and stop reminding me of old Sonic Youth cover art! To the OP: Why use a whole silly thread when you could've just PM'd Fran directly?

Hey Frosty, Welcome! Here's what you do. Preemptively strike by proactively buying her ... not a banjo, but a ukulele (or howzat spelt). Not just any ukulele, but a Kala U-Bass or similar. However, do not tell her it's a U-Bass. To her, it's just a ukulele, you hear? That is all. You'll thank me later. BTW, I too was bass virgin at 55. You'll be OK. Enjoy! best, bert

Hey Bob, Welcome to the Helpful And Grumpy Community! 150 quid, eh? Yup, it was nicked. Nicked by you. Twas a steal. Congrats! As to the amp, if it is like the B-15 in control panel design, there's hardly any need for a manual. For starters, and this can change depending on exactly how the amp was designed and built: - Keep the Master volume down when plugging in or unplugging. - Use Low and High after taste, and shape the essence of the tone character with Low Mid and High Mid. Some people will disagree, but they're just being grumpy. - Lows is what takes current and cone excursion. If you hear any bad sounds, turn the Low down. Hope this was grumpy enough. Enjoy the forum! best, bert

Hey Bob (?), Welcome! Don't mind Discreet. He's always pissed. You've almost caught up with me. Near 50 years of playing here, of which roughly 10 professionally, so it's not too different. Enjoy your stay, and don't be like an Englishman in New York (as in: a stranger). best, bert

Buon giorno, Enrico, Benvenuti à BC! (That's probably wrong, but at leat I tried.) Thanks for the nice read. Enjoy your time here! best, bert

Hey Freddy, Welcome and all that, but you're in a lot of trouble! Before you know it, GAS wil rear its ugly head, and you'll be discussing whether a £2,000 [s]head[/s] amplifier! is good enough. I think it's best to send around the hat right away. Enjoy! best, bert

[quote name='Jah Wibble' timestamp='1377947729' post='2193924'] sorry for any confusion! [/quote] No problem, mate. I may be at least as guilty as you. Happily, this stuff is easily found out about. I understand forum fatigue. It's human, and it's all good. (Then again, I'm on webfora way too much, inbetween work tasks, so I could remedy it by just working with my bizniz a bit more.) [quote name='Raggy' timestamp='1377957109' post='2194070'] I have noticed if you ask a question you don't usually get the one liner you do in other music shops, you get a full conversation from someone who is very knowledgeable and enthusiastic. It's quite refreshing. [/quote] Hahaha! He IS quite like me then, as assumed. Teachin' 'n' preachin'. It might even be that he too would earn on having some staff to administer his time with customers. Here, we work like that, and it takes away a lot of stress and annoyance for both parties. It also guarantees that every customer gets his coffee and all the standard answers before being channeled to the second line - either before or after a trial run with the gear, depending on needs and circumstances.

[quote name='discreet' timestamp='1377948629' post='2193942'] Let's be fair, you were ruined before you joined the forum. [size=4] [/size] [/quote] Hey! Didn't mean it in a psychological way, and you knew that! Didn't [b]need[/b] BC to buy too much gear, but it surely helped a lot - especially with finding exactly the right too much gear. Like these Lags. Had completely forgotten about them. Now they're forever burnt in my ... wha' were we talking about again?

[quote name='Jah Wibble' timestamp='1377903240' post='2193579'] Man, you've got to be able to see, you can't do that to people and expect a positive response?? Really?? [/quote] Must admit I'm not sure whether you refer to Mark's treating you or my treating you. If it's Mark, then I agree, and have always agreed that his laughing is not to be wished for, and I don't expect you to give him a positive response after having been laughed at. It's just that, in the case I do get where he's coming from, I do see that laughing can be liberating, and may be the response that saves the day for him. If it's me, then I'm sorry. From experience I know that when I try to be precise, and try to put stuff to words in a good way, that I can come across like a dick. I don't mean to, and don't feel like a dick - but then again maybe all dicks don't feel like dicks, and I'm just one of them. I don't know.

[quote name='Jah Wibble' timestamp='1377903923' post='2193589'] You know what. This is ludicrous. Spend your money wherever you want, I'm not gonna argue about whether someone's acted like a di*k when I spoke to them or not. [/quote] I'm sorry to see your taking it this way. We may have been talking past each other all the time then.

LAG! Hadn't heard about them for a long time, and now twice on one day. They're just talked positively about on the Dutch bass forum as well. You guys ruin me and my wallet!

Wow!!! What a Fan.Tas.Tic answer, mate. It's the power of BC again. Thank you very much indeed! Thanks for the link, and that's a good offer indeed. Reason I asked about this bass was an offer on a Walnut Satin one locally, at a mere 150 quid. New! Sadly, it or they went out the door within the hour. I'll have a look at session.de. That it's a fairly ''physical'' bass to play sounds OK to me. It seems like one of those basses where it's a joy to press out overtones near the bridge whilst digging in, whilst filtering some treble again. Mind you: these are noob remarks. As to "banal", seeing as the Norwegian word for this is "banal", I gues that I can guess what you mean. You're crazy. Thanks for those links to your sketches. You put the GB35 on my list of stuff to buy. Now if I can just sell my Fodera ... No, this did not answer my question. It gave me soooo much more, like very much insight and pleasure. Thanks, mate! Have a great week-end! best, bert

[quote name='Jah Wibble' timestamp='1377889738' post='2193378'] Well no you're wrong. When I phoned back up I'd said to him had you not laughed at me I would have probably bought it from his store so..... [/quote] Yes, but my being right or wrong in your case is not the point. It's about the statistical value of a customer who asks to price match. My point is to try and present one of the alternative ways of looking at these things - one that might be able to explain where he may come from. [quote name='Jah Wibble' timestamp='1377889738' post='2193378'] The general jist I'm getting from you is "you don't own a shop so you dont know what people can be like" - Your right I don't, but this thread is about what it's like from the otherside if the counter. [/quote] I certainly did not try to express that you don't know what people can be like as a result of your not owning a shop. However, I fear I've already repeated myself too much, so I won't try to express again what I think I've already expressed. This thread, btw, is about what we write in it. Some customers complained. I tried to present a possible explanation of one of the cases, as well as an alternative way of looking at it. You seem to not accept that way of looking, which is your perogative.

[quote name='Jah Wibble' timestamp='1377884006' post='2193268'] Well I was pretty straight up and polite about it to begin with. I generally go on the custom or treat people how you'd like to be treated. I really wasn't asking for anything crazy (even though I was treated as if I was) If he'd politely said he couldn't of done anything, perhaps I might have had a better view of the store for the future? Like I said I would like to support independent stores ....but not if you get that kind of assistance. [/quote] You're still only seeing this from one single perspective. Your being polite does not take away years of his experience with questions about price matching. My guess is most of them have been polite. But do these customers understand and appreciate what sets shops like this apart from the rest? My take: No, some groups of customers don't, as long as they ask professional independent stores to price match, and complain on webfora when they've burnt their noses. Ideally, of course he should've been friendly and service minded. However, I assume a certain history here, and one that I can heavily relate to. My own being an understanding, polite and friendly seller is really a form of raping myself, and it is damaging my self image. Maybe if I'd laughed more, I'd be a happier person. To some degree I envy him this ability. "that kind of assistance" was not at the root of the problem. It was the result. You did not ask him to price match first after he'd laughed, now did you? So your "support independent stores" becomes worthless. You did not want to support the professional independent store. You wanted the professional independent store to price match. Enough said.

Technically, if the top horn does indeed make for a stronger, stiffer area longer up the neck, then it's obvious this changes overtone make-up and overtone decay. Question is how, and that question can only be answered by enormous amounts of trial, and hardly by calculation, as each bass is an individual, and most are made of wood, making it virtually impossible to calculate through this. Visually, I think the resentment certainly has to do with how we're programmed, and comes from those single cuts where the body no longer resembles a trad guitar, as the top horn part goes so far up the neck. Too much wood, I'd guess.

I have one experience with Bass Direct only, from a single telephone conversation, and in my mind, Mark was stellar during that. On the basis of that experience, plus what has been written about them on here, I've decided that my next amp is gonna be bought there, just to support their way of doing bizniz. As to the laughing bit, from my perspective as an owner of a similar importer/shop biz, I'd guess his experience is that [b]virtually no[/b] customers who ask about price matching ever buy anything at any rate. IME, being friendly, polite and nice about it doesn't help one iota. Explaining the difference between different types of shops doesn't help one iota. Using one's professionality to help them to a good choice doesn't help one iota. They will just not buy. They seem to think they steal from themselves if they buy from a better shop, and that better shops are thieves. In fact, experience tells me they will often go online to complain about prices even after they've been given the royal treatment. If you had called me asking about price matching, you would've gotten a polite and friendly answer, and I'd use time on you in the vain hope that you would turn around, but afterwards I'd realise I'm only hurting myself this way, and that I really should have laughed. Laughing is liberating.

Nuno, how's the Cort GB-35 working out for you? best, bert

[quote name='uncle psychosis' timestamp='1377853341' post='2192675'] Simples [/quote] But at any rate, it's threads like this that make me grateful that BC exists.

Hey Rob, Welcome! Lovely intro you wrote. You know all the answers, so I won't repeat them, but just say I started at age 55, two tears ago... Enjoy! best, bert

I shake my head in disbelief. Some blokes have some fun together with the instrument that we all love, and that gives reason for a thread with this content?

It's mostly in the eyes, like it always was, but now, and new to me, I allow myself to take one look at the person before deciding. People that I know have borrowed my gear for years on end, and I've borrowed theirs for years, with no problems at all. Right now, others have four basses and four amps/cabs of mine. No problem. Others OTOH have given reason to annoyance, like people not even bothering to honour what we'd agreed on earlier, like writing down some specific, delicate settings, taking the volume down before unplugging, no beers on Hammonds - that sort of thing. As indicated, these days, I allow myself the use of the word "No".

That's not even a question! Steinberger of course. No peers, no competition, no nothing.

[quote name='steve-bbb' timestamp='1377716119' post='2190845'] FFS no chris squire yet!!! tsk tsk tsk [/quote] That's because everyone is thinking of the 2014 Yes Tour, and Chris Squire going: "We'll be playing the whole of Relayer next, and it will be a very special performance, with me on the Jim Ryan Relayer Bass. [b]Yes[/b] is proud to support people with health issues! Right, Jon?"