geoham

If you are only selling personal possessions under the value of £6k, there'll be no tax to pay. If over £6k, you may have to pay capital gains tax. Other than this, you'll only need to pay tax if you are selling for a profit - i.e. operating as a business. HMRC won't just tax you based on what eBay report to them, you'll need to complete a self-assessment and in pay income tax on the profit (I've grossly oversimplified this....). What eBay reporting you to HMRC does however, it puts you on their radar. If they do decide to investigate, and discover your £1,700 of sales was a couple of basses you no longer use - no problem. But, if you were for example, making custom plectrums and selling at a profit - then that income should have been declared. (Disclaimer... I am not an accountant and this is not tax advice)

What a great looking bass. No doubt you're going to have a great time gigging with it! Having spent five days with Jon in his workshop a few years ago, I know how good he is what he does and how much pride he takes in doing things properly.

I realise this is quite an old thread now... There's one thing I find useful that hasn't been mentioned - listen to the songs repeatedly. Our covers band normally add in 4-5 songs at a time. I'll pop them on to a playlist and listen during my commute, or just on in the background working from home. Sometimes I'm paying attention and listening to the bass, others it's just there to fill the silence. I find that I build up a lot of familiarity with the material, and I do a much better job of both learning my own part and keeping the band on the straight and narrow when it comes to rehearsing.

I wonder if I've ever been in a band with a unique name. I was in an originals band in the early 2000s - Underwood. We was named after Underwood Lane in Paisley, where one of the band members lived. We reconvened to start recording again during Covid and discovered that there's a Crimean band of the same name. Our stuff gets bundled together on streaming services, which is a bit annoying. There's now a local covers band calling themselves Underwood Lane too... must be something inspiring about that street! A quite funny example - I was in a covers band called Loose Cannon. I'm sure there's plenty of bands with that name. We received an angry Facebook message from an American guy complaining we played too loud in the garage next to his elderly mother... aggressively suggested we keep in down or find somewhere else to practice. I think when it comes to it, that if none of the bands have any kind of trademarks, aren't especially well known and don't cross paths, then there's nothing to stop you both working with the same name.

I recently fitted a Hipshot bass extender to my old Mexican made Jazz Bass. While it was a straight swap mechanically, the appearance was too different - chrome vs nickel, different post shape, different ferrules. I bought three Hipshot tuners to replace the remaining Fender tuners and I am happy now. About £75 to fix a cosmetic annoyance... but I had to! I'm thinking about fitting one to my self-built P Bass, which has nickel Schaller MB tuners. Could anyone who has done similar let me know how the appearance of the Schaller tuners compares to the Hipshot please? I'll be using a BT1 for this. Thanks, George

Bought drop-d tuner from Andy. Prompt, friendly responses always, and shipped the item quickly, despite the Christmas holidays. It arrived well packed and in good condition.

I wish I'd have known about this, would have been a short stroll after work. A 16 year playing this? Very well done indeed. I remember being the same age, and my bass teacher at school was always giving me jazz pieces to learn. I think it took me about 6 months to get 'Blues by Five' up to scratch for an exam - never mind playing a set of Jaco stuff to the public! I went to a production of Tommy at the Conservatoire years ago and it was really well done. I should probably keep an eye on what else they're putting on, try to support you musicians a bit. George

I was, and to an extent am in a situation like this. Mate of mine - I've been in two bands with him before - he asks if I want to join his new project. I can't commit to it, so decline. He asks me to fill in at a rehearsal, so they can at least practice the material with a bassist until they get someone. I went along and had a decent night at the rehearsal room. I get the impression from the rest of the guys that they'd been led to believe I was genuinely interested..they'd love to have me in the band etc. I suspect my friend thought I'd be swayed after playing with them They did eventually get someone, who about a year down the line is quitting and I'm being approached to 'fill in' at rehearsals and a few gigs. I wouldn't mind if that was actually the case - but I just know efforts to find a permanent player would cease if I was there. I do take it as a great compliment to my playing, but I'm happy in my current band and don't have time for two. If you are in the market for a new band, you can definitely treat this as an informal audition. Otherwise, if it's a hobbyist level band, you want to help a friend, it could be fun evening. You may also see it as a opportunity for some dep gigs, or at least to build your reputation. Otherwise - I'd question what's in it for you?

This had totally bypassed me until today… stuck a few quid in the pot. Hopefully will get to the target soon.

Exactly this! Place it somewhere similar to where punters ears are likely to be, but out of sight of punters.

Only our guitarist has a floor monitor, everyone is one IEMs. Feedback is coming from the lead vocalist’s mic, which is due to it being too close to the FOH speakers when we play in small venues. Overall mix of the band is dominated by drums. Increasing the volume of the guitar, bass and keys to match the drums means the vocals can’t keep up without feedback.

Cheers. Thankfully the singer uses in ears, so no concerns.

Worth a go, we’ll see what we can beg, borrow or steal before spending cash!

The PA is plenty powerful. 2 x 2000w Crown amps for the tops. (One would do, but means we always have a spare) Couple of active subs (aux fed). But to the point about more headroom, the amps level is generally down fairly low - venue dependant. Perhaps there’s something in putting that up and setting the mixer levels a bit lower.

This is a good idea. I’ve got a little Zoom H1 I can try and hide somewhere.