molan

My wife is working on a team that's booking a band for a big corporate event at the end of Feb. They've been given a shortlist of just 1 band from the agency running the bulk of the event and, having seen some of their material, I wasn't desperately impressed I'm not going to name names here just in case someone knows them! Anyway - she's interested in looking at alternatives so I thought I'd ask if anyone here wants to put themselves forward or recommend someone they think are really good. This is for a pretty high end, top dollar, corporate event - they've already booked a very expensive DJ to play after the band. Style of music isn't fixed but they will be looking for a fairly wide potential range of songs and some real showmanship as well. As an example the band they are currently looking at are an 11 piece with horn etc. Venue will be just outside and west of London. I'd love to try and point this the way of a fellow BC'er so hit me up if you fancy it Probably best to send details by PM

[quote name='Mykesbass' timestamp='1327440364' post='1511351'] Slightly off topic but to get the ball rolling, I refereed an Under 13's rugby match under the watchful eye of Dean Richards whose son was playing. Don't think I've had anyone in a music setting though. [/quote] On the football topic - I once played in a charity match at Barnet FC and Ray Clemence, their manager at the time, turned up and decided to take over the running of our team as we were losing. I had the misfortune of playing at right wing back and was supposed to hurtle up and down the wing right past him. Now, I've been to a lot of football matches and I've never heard anyone quite as foul-mouthed as him & much of it was directed at me & the right winger as we were closest to him on the pitch. Luckily I scored a goal (direct from a free kick - boom!) which meant we drew but he still bollocked us like crazy when we came off the pitch - I've never played since In music the only ones I can think of are Emma Bunton & Carole Decker from T'Pau. Interestingly, later on in the evening, I had to exchange most of my clothing with Emma B & pretend to be her on stage, but that's a whole other story. . .

I know a luthier that charges approx £3K minimum for one of his instruments - he's forced to live on the premises of his workshop because, even at that price, he can't afford to live anywhere else. His instruments are works of art. Last report I saw said that Chinese average labour rates in the manufacturing business were 88p an hour (that's £6.60 a day if they were lucky enough to only work a 7.5 hour day!). My luthier friend will never be able to compete with this kind of pricing. My solicitor is currently charging me £360 an hour (that £2,700 a day). He's got years of experience and is one of the very best in his field in the country. He could charge less but why would he want to? As far as I'm concerned he's worth every penny because I am currently in desperate need of his services. Yes it 'hurts' me every month when his bill arrives but I always pay it immediately because I want to retain his services - a rare commodity. I've met a lot of luthiers & instrument retailers, not one of them appears to have any sort of significant money to their name - why on earth should they try to reduce their prices to compete with overseas manufacturers who can use £6 a day labour & nice big machines to cut their basses for them? Using your argument I am also seriously unethical - my company charges me out at £1,500 a day (that's a lot more than what they pay me of course). Should I should therefore go freelance & sell myself at minimum wage to be ethically correct? Of course this would mean I'd have to sell my house & maybe live in a caravan somewhere but at least my morals would be ethical. . .

[quote name='geoffbassist' timestamp='1327331116' post='1509407'] ...actually I loved the fodera walnut 5 that just sold from bass gear! I can't even begin to consider Fodera gas. My life's hard enough already :-) [/quote] That was a seriously nice example - the guy who bought it is very much going to use it as his main gigging bass, and he plays a LOT! I must admit that I've met a few Fodera owners and every one of them seems to use their bass as a gigging tool and not a 'hang on the wall' bass. My old '86 Monarch is certainly my first call bass for gigs, rehearsals etc.

Excellent work - looking forward to seeing this

[quote name='visog' timestamp='1327264817' post='1508624'] Wow! Great looking bass but we can't really hear what it sounds like from the vid with all the background noise. Having seen MG with Gary Husband's band and heard his (previous) Fodera live I can say that it sounds wonderful but then you've got to factor into it his amazing technique. The price is an issue though... It is ridiculous: for a third of this price, you could have a UK custom-made uber-bass to your own specs including the string spacing, mid-scale, ramp and high-C stringing! [/quote] I'm sure there will be some better sound clips available soon I guess UK price will work out at about £7K - £1,350 of that is shipping, VAT & import duties though

It was Matt Steele on keys but the highlight for me was the Hit Horns - absolutely outstanding. The core band, essentially Jamiroquai without JK, were as tight as a vert tight thing indeed and Paul Turner was in top form and sat just perfectly in the mix (as did everyone after the first couple of numbers). They played a cracking version of Rick James' "Give it to me Baby" with the horns note perfect on those super fast fills. Really good funking gig all round!

[quote name='Mr. Foxen' timestamp='1327171138' post='1507440'] It is down to the treble being directional. Point speakers at his ears instead of knees and it sorts out. [/quote] I found an easier solution - I pointed him at the door & told him never to come back

I played in a band with a guitarist who had an old Fender Twin 2x12. Always complained he couldn't hear himself on stage yet I saw people in the middle of the hall physically wincing when he hit a particularly agressive chord - that combo just had such a long 'throw' but little volume right up close. I had a similar thing with a Trace 4x10 once, not much up on stage but deafening at the back of the room.

I see from the NAMM coverage that Fodera have released their latest model in the new 'Standard' line after the Yin Yang Monarch 4 and the Emperor 5. The next model is a Matt Garrison Signature Imperial 5 with 33" scale and 17.5" bridge spacing. Body is walnut with a box elder burl top, three-piece hard rock maple neck, pau ferro fingerboard & Mother-of-Pearl inlays. Fodera/Duncan dual coil pickups and Fodera/Pope custom shop three-band preamp, ebony ramp, 26 frets, & a drop tuner. I think these would usually be strung E to C so would be really cool for higher end chordal and fast jazzy work Matt playing one at NAMM: [media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o-rIVGjhNF0[/media] and a whole 12 minute vid about the decision to make it here: [media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4sD0maOkxeQ[/media] They are only making 30 of these in the first batch and have already sold about 20 of them at $8,750 each! I got a message from Phil at BassGear this morning to say he's ordered one for the UK, really looking forward to seeing this, should be here somewhere in the second half of the year. He's also got two Yin Yangs (the last one sold in under 24 hours!) and a pair of Emperor 5 Standards coming in!

[quote name='essexbasscat' timestamp='1327142680' post='1506845'] And you're looking after a shop full of basses ? Danger danger danger !!!! [/quote] That's where the Ritter Cora came from Luckily my 'shift' is over now!

[quote name='risingson' timestamp='1327105534' post='1506640'] It's my birthday in April [/quote] Looks like this is going to be the first one to arrive - its with UPS already

Ok, so I'm cheating a little here, it's more like two full incomings and two half ones - does that allow me three in total? As a couple of people here know I've been signed off work for a while and have too much time on my hands. This has allowed me to rationalise my amps and cabs and also to sell the odd bass or two. Unfortunately this released enough cash to buy some more again! If I get questioned too seriously I'll just say it's all down to the drugs I'm on I'll start at the top in the money stakes - 1963 Fender Jazz, refinished in, the original colour, Seafoam Green,everything else 100% original and has a lovely tort guard and dark rosewood neck - . Looks like a beauty and from a guy who knows his vintage Fenders. Alleva Coppolo RA4 in nitro Candy Apple Red with maple board, blocks and binding. This is Jimmy Coppolo's take on an early '70's Fender Jazz. Made for a personal friend of Jimmy's and a guy I know quite well too. Has an amazing ear for a good bass but who's mostly playing 5's these days. Should be a cracker. Then onto the two 'half incoming' babies: I recently bought the very funky Herbie Flowers '59 Jazz replica that Wes Finn built. I really like this bass a lot, looks great, build quality is excellent and sounds really nice. However it's currently sporting a, slightly modified, Fender '62RI neck. Wes offered to build me a custom neck with a lovely piece of dark Brazilian board, clay dots etc and relic'd to match the body. Should really finish this off perfectly. Leaving me with that modified '62RI neck. . . So I've now bought a new, nitro finished Olympic White Fender '62 RI body with tort guard, fender vintage pickups and stack knobs. Wes is supplying some mild relic tuners and the rest of the missing hardware and I might get a mild relic job on the body to get everything matching. So there you go - effectively four new basses sorted in a very short period (and a Ritter Cora purchased before Xmas). The GAS gauntlet has been been firmly laid down for 2012 and there's still a week of January to go

I don't know who's on keys this year, he's certainly played with them in the past

I'm off to see the wonderful Dotfunk on Saturday at the Jazz Cafe - featuring Paul Turner on bass plus other members o the Jamiroquai band, Paul's band Shuffler, Incognito and the Brand New Heavies - should be awesome! Very excited Anyone else going?

Just tweeted by Phil Nixon of BassGear who's at NAMM - go to the Apple App store & the HT6 iPhone app tuner is completely free instead of $4.99. I don't find it as easy to use as the TC Electronics Polytune but it's free so worth a try! More details here: http://blog.livedesignonline.com/briefingroom/2012/01/18/harmans-hardwire-ht6-fasttunetuner-app-turns-an-ipod-iphone-or-ipad-into-a-polyphonic-tuner/

Just realised I've never left any feedback for Mark & we've traded a few things back & forth. Always great to deal with - top man all round

Primus at the RAH - sounds somehow 'wrong' to me, lol

Totally agree with everything above The other great thing about a Squier is that it'll hold value really well - precisely because it is THE perfect starter bass (as well as being a quality instrument in its own right). I'd really work on amp & pickup settings and then maybe think about pedals & stuff. Well worth checking out the used section here for stuff like this. Will save you a packet on new prices and means that if you don't like something you can usually re-coup your money back again here on BC.