molan

[quote name='silddx' post='1016344' date='Nov 8 2010, 01:44 PM']I'll be honest, apart from seeing my hero Scott playing bass to Zappa again, the whole experience left me cold. I thought it was all very competent, but I felt empty inside. Great to see Scott though, all I could do was see him, I couldn't hear him because the sound was so poor near the front. The Q&A on Sunday with Scott and Jeff was interesting, but woefully short at 1 hour.[/quote] Funnily enough the first thing I noticed about Scot T was how different his sound was. I was about half way back and on his side of the stage. If I remember rightly he was playing with a pick on the first song and it was really cutting through the mix. Didn't sound the same on the other numbers though, not sure if that was a change in his playing style for those or whether the sound man had turned him down! I agree about the 'competent but cold' summation - that's kinda how I felt (and explains why I just kept wishing it was FZ himself up there!).

So what did people think? I thought the Boosh were mildly amusing for about 5 minutes and then I could happily have lived without them! ZPZ was a lot more 'structured' than when I've seen them before - obviously helped by playing all of Apostrophe I quite enjoyed it & Dweezil is a fine guitarist but I seeing big Frank up on the video screen just made me wish it was him in person. I saw him live a couple of times and he brought so much presence to the stage that Dweezil doesn't really have. Enjoyed seeing Scott Thunes, looks totally different but moves exactly the same & still throws some cool shapes, lol. Surprisingly high 'twat' ratio in the audience near me. A fight nearly broke out at one point, lot of people really pissed wandering around & one git who was insistent on shouting out lines from the Apostrophe album just before they were actually sung live to show off how well he knew the album. Eventually someone gave him a good talking to to shut him up

[quote name='bubinga5' post='1011514' date='Nov 3 2010, 11:50 PM']right to the wire....GAS control at its best...the beast can be tamed...erm...for now maybe B?[/quote] My finger was hovering over the key for the last $50 with about 25 seconds to go and I was tantalisingly close to hitting the "finalise" bid button! The flamed eucalyptus Monarch arrived today though (which is destined for BassGear in Harrogate soon) and the final payment on the Yin Yang also cleared today so that really was enough Fodera love for one day

[quote name='bubinga5' post='1011506' date='Nov 3 2010, 11:39 PM']I did spot something on TB about a Fodera winging its way to you Barrie?[/quote] Ah, that one is something a bit different, lol. However there is a 6 month old Yin Yang, that's been played for less than an hour, with my name on it somewhere in California I thought about buying the Bona one as a replacement for my '86 Monarch but I prefer the Zebrano wood top on mine and I I've also really got into PJ pickup configuration since owning the '86 and Bona's has lateral humbucking J's. I was within $50 of the final sale price and the other bidder had obviously hit his max bid so I was literally about £35 away from owning it but I simply decided that, at least for today, enough was enough. . .

You have no idea how close to buying that bass I was tonight. . .

I have tickets too - going with a singer friend of mine. We've seen Dweezil a few times - to be honest I think the show is a bit up and down at times. Saw him about 3 years ago & he was brilliant and then the year after it all got a bit too self indulgent and I got a little bored half way through. Didn't go last time out but I heard it was a lot better again so here's hoping this will be a good 'un

Nice one el dooderini I've not seen Bass Musician before but am now also subscribed!

I had a look at that StewMac site - a veritable treasure trove of stuff there! One thing I thought was a bit expensive/not that important was the long straight edge they offer in the basic setup kit? It's $50 for a standard 18th long one!

Standard charges would be circa 20% so only about £28. However you might need a receipt to prove it's only worth that much. Without a receipt they will try to determine a retail value. Of course you could take a punt at strolling through customs and not declaring it but, if stopped, then you could get hit with a fine. I did a quick look for you and found a basic black Milestone up for sale at £119 new : [url="http://www.petercooksguitars.co.uk/catalog/peavey-milestone-black-bass-p-458.html"]http://www.petercooksguitars.co.uk/catalog...bass-p-458.html[/url] Using this as a base you might be able to claim you paid a fair bit less in Mexico

Thanks guys, I found this on another forum that was taken from an official claim: [i]"All goods (new and second hand) returned after being repaired from outside the European Community may be liable to Customs Duty and VAT even though you have paid customs charges on the initial import. If the exporter charges you for the repair, customs duty is calculated on the charge made for the repair, plus any inward freight and insurance charges made for the return of the repaired goods. When faulty goods are repaired free of charge under a guarantee or warranty, or because of manufacturing defect, you can claim total relief from import duty and VAT. You must provide evidence to support the claim for example a guarantee or warranty document advising that the repair was free of charge. Customs charges had been calculated on the declared value of US$350 and postage US$25. If you would like us to further investigate these charges would you please forward to this address the items indicated below:- · The ORIGINAL Red and White Customs Charge Label. (You may have to cut this off the box) · The ORIGINAL Customs declaration. (Which should be attached to the side of the parcel.) · Can you please confirm the value of the repair to the item including all shipping and postage costs i.e. an invoice/receipt. This should clearly detail all items contained in this parcel. If a nil cost can you please confirm this direct from the sender. · Some evidence of the re-exportation of the goods e.g. a certificate of posting completed and franked at the Post Office or an invoice from an alternative carrier. · Please confirm where and when the item was purchased. · Please provide a purchase receipt if no longer held confirm that you no longer have a purchase receipt."[/i]

I've got an option to get some work done on something in the USA which, for lots of obscure reasons, actually works out cheaper than getting it done over here. However I'm nervous that I might get hit for customs and import duties when it comes back into the country? The US supplier said it would be clearly marked as "return from warranty repair" and thought that this would mean it wouldn't get taxed. Anyone been through this before?

[quote name='Happy Jack' post='1007039' date='Oct 31 2010, 09:53 AM']hoping to make it to the Comedy gig.[/quote] Is that a reference to all of Clarky's gigs?

[quote name='waynepunkdude' post='1005391' date='Oct 29 2010, 04:19 PM']Hehe, ass.[/quote] Lol, if it's a fine piece of ass then maybe it's worth the extra £150 after all

I think it's a tough call and does depend on how much you want the ass and if it's still a good price. Blatant short term profiteering is generally 'frowned' on here but it's obviously down to each individual buyer/seller. I'd sugest that unless it was a super bargain in the first place then it's not going to fetch an additional £150 in the open market if it goes back up for sale. . .

That Fodera he's playing is up for sale on US EBay at the moment as well!

Haven't seen this one before but it's a few years old so may have been posted before. Loving some of Bona's work on this!

[quote name='Bass_Guardian' post='1001631' date='Oct 26 2010, 08:00 PM']Just watchin vic on youtube again and i came across a bass battle thingy. What bass is anthony wellington using. It sounds amazing and looks stunning. [url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Na2vXJXmGwQ"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Na2vXJXmGwQ[/url][/quote] That'll be another Fodera then This is an Imperial - Phil has a stunning one in stock at the moment: The build quality on this one is amazing - I particularly like the neck joint from the rear. . .

[quote name='Born 2B Mild' post='1001876' date='Oct 26 2010, 11:05 PM']This seems on topic, so I hope you don't mind me sharing this here. I got this pic a few hours a go. Jason at Fodera took a pic of this very same bass being played by the very same Victor. And yes it's on its way to Blighty right now ...guess where! [/quote] That's the baby in question - it was kinda funny to see VW playing it, putting it back on the stand and then re-appearing to try it out again a few minutes later. He really didn't want to put it down On the artist endorsement thing - I was chatting to one luthier (I was asked not to broadcast this publicly so I'll keep names to myself) who had a 'name' player after one of his basses. The player wasn't up there in the stratospheric Wooten league but was someone I'd heard of and, potentially, quite influential. The builder offered him 5% off the price of a completed bass and told me he might stretch to 10% so he wouldn't have to lug it home with him after the show. The player seemed pretty happy with the 5% deal but I don't know if he actually bought it or not ( I did spot it had gone from the stand later in the day though).

[quote name='waynepunkdude' post='1001691' date='Oct 26 2010, 07:39 PM']Really interesting post, cheers Barrie. I'd love to see Wooten with a P bass and an Ampeg having a go at some Punk, I really mean that it'd be fun to see what he'd do.[/quote] I know I've been harping on a bit about my weekend surrounded by bass people but it really did open my eyes to a lot of things and people's beliefs about music, the 'biz, and just playing bass in general. I have to admit I was quite surprised when VW was the 'house' player for the live Bootsy session. He held a groove really well and was seriously funky without over-playing once. I agree it would be cool to see him have a go at some heavy duty punk - I have a sneaking suspicion he might just nail it Speaking of which - Billy Sheehan seemed to play quite a diverse range of stuff. I couldn't believe it when he launched into a full on version of Return of the Giant Hogweed by Genesis as a demonstration of some early tapping technique, lol.

[quote name='waynepunkdude' post='1001634' date='Oct 26 2010, 07:01 PM']I know this is a little crude, but how much do people like VW earn? I mean they are big in bass player circles and even then it's a small proportion of bass players who will want to hear a bass soloist.[/quote] Having spent most of the weekend in the company of a lot of very well respected bass players and luthiers I got the over-riding impression that none of them really had any kind of 'serious' money. Obviously they are not going to be strolling around with dollar signs on their backs but there was a consistent theme of people doing it simply because they loved it. Bootsy was a great case in point, didn't get paid much at all for a vast swathe of his work with James Brown & Parliament/Funkadelic. He said he never expected to be paid by JB at all and he thought at the time that he should have been paying him just to be in the same room I guess Daryl Jones may have been the only high roller in the building given his Rolling Stones work but even then all the stories from the Stones camp seem to be that Mick n Keef take the vast majority of the cash. Contrary to a lot of people's opinions over here the big name US luthiers are a long way from rolling around in cash as well. I wasn't exactly 'interviewing' them but I did ask a few how well the business paid and they looked at me like I was a complete loon most of the time. One of the biggest names told me that his company had never made a profit in its entire existence - he took a 'basic' wage to keep his family ticking over but he loved his work so much that he could never envisage doing anything else for a living.

[quote name='Chris2112' post='1001610' date='Oct 26 2010, 06:48 PM']However, Stanley Clarke did get a free Alembic Stanley Clarke bass as as gift after buying Alembic basses for 30 years![/quote] Shame he didn't use it when I saw him last week - left it on the side of the stage with the LED's glowing but didn't go near it once According to last month's Bass Player - On Vic's new album he plays mostly his Fodera Yin Yang & tenor basses, but also used: His original Monarch and NYC 5 string fretted plus an NYC fretless, A spellbinder Piccolo (a present from Stanley C), an old Italian 5/8 size upright, the Compito fretless5, a Ribbecke Gafling acoustic, Taylor fretless ABG & some 'tiny' bass made by Marleaux