ped

Hi everyone, What an awesome day Ihad today - really nice to put a few more faces to screen names and I got to play lots of basses through lots of amplifiers and listen to some super talented people talking about what they do best. Massive thanks to all involved, for setting it up, for coming along, and for making it such a great day. Here are some pics taken on my camera. I didn't take many as I was so busy chatting to people and listening to the seminars! Add your pics here! Cheers ped

[quote name='MB1' post='621906' date='Oct 9 2009, 06:36 PM']MB1. ....So they are a Gents Outfitters!.......obviously not much of a Music Shop!....."Doesn't Suit you Sir!" You should be able to take this stuff back to your nearest Dawsons and get a refund there....[/quote] There isn't one very near Oxford I don't think - though it might be worth the trip so I can brick some windows! ped

Earlier Dawsons sent me this: Hi Chris, Just a quick update to let you know where we are at. The blemished bass guitar has turned up at our office and the new one is still on order. We're hoping it will turn up early next week so as soon as it enters our warehouse I'll notify you and send it on its way. Regards, Having no idea what they were on about I replied to find they had sent the email to the 'Wrong Chris' Then I was sent this: "I believe you spoke to my colleague on Wednesday as I wasn't in, and now today its his turn not to be in. Did you discuss the options with him? I phoned up Roland, and apparently they have never sold this bass pickup kit (or at least not for a long time) hence why they kept sending through the wrong item. I have told our technical department so it should be off the system very soon and I can only apologise for not seeing this sooner (I would have expected our purchasing department to have spotted this but it must have been overlooked). It is unfortunately company policy not to give a refund until the item is back in our office which I hope you can understand so if you could let me know where we are at with regards to sorting out a collection for yourself then we can refund you as soon as possible." To which I replied: "Sorry alex but that is unacceptable. I have had six weeks wasted by Dawsons and I won't be sending either of the items back until I have a full refund. With the mail strikes at the moment I don't want to wait another few weeks until I get my money back. You might nit be aware that I own the biggest bass guitar forum in Europe www.basschat.co.uk and our thousands of readers will be very interested in how I am treated in this matter" And then my phone rang. Some bloke who said he simply wouldn't refund me until they had the stuff back. It's 'company policy' which I thought a little short sighted when they have wasted so much of my time and been utterly useless. I have always had to phone them, they don't check things before sending them on, etc. So now I am stuck with the choice of sending them back myself, risking Royal Fail strikes and general incompetence or they can send TNT to pick them up as long as I can waste a day waiting for them which is impossible. I mean - I understand the policy, totally, but when the f*** up is as long winded and completely-not-my-fault as this one, surely there should be some flexibility? No offer of any sort of compensation from them, not that I would risk accepting something (it could turn out to be anything), and a generally pretty rigid and non customer centric approach to the whole matter. Make of this what you will - this is just my experience. Perhaps they are amazing most of the time, but I won't be going anywhere near them again. ped

Useless. They don't answer email either and I have been rather busy during their opening hours so haven't been able to call them yet. I will do so tomorrow and see if they are enjoying this publicity as a fairly useless mail order company.

So much for that - several weeks later and a new parcel - the GUITAR VERSION AGAIN!!! I have asked for a full refund. in the meantime I have two guitar GK3 kits which I can hold onto until the refund arrives. Cheers Dawsons/Roland, 6 weeks wasted.

Cos I suck ass

[quote name='iamapirate' post='615827' date='Oct 3 2009, 04:32 PM']If I were you I wouldn't. they've got an A4 page with your face on it and 'WANTED - dead or alive' below it. You walk in there and you're a dead man. haah[/quote] Well I don't know if they read my post and were on high alert but I went in today with a lady and they said hello, asked if I needed any help and were all quite friendly! I didn't play anything though - if I had they would have rightly sent me straight out. ped

I am in London this weekend so I might pop in today 'undercover' and see what happens.... Cheers ped

Actually, thinking about it, I MIGHT have dropped the D to D flat for that one tune. Can't remember!

Hi mate - meant to comment on your vids and choice tunes... both great! The first is tuned DADG (always is), the fretless is also tuned DADG and the fretted 5 is BEADG(all flat) Cheers pedro

Pretty sure many of you will have seen this but it's still the only video I have

Any bass is a sum of its parts and the scale length is just one variable among many which may or may not have a small effect as part of the total recipe, so I would say it is hard to say definitively unless you have two identical basses with different scale lengths. I have had 35ers with bad B strings, 36" with fantastic top end, 34" with great all round playability and even played a 33" with a superb B, so it it all varies. Sorry, there is no real answer!! ped

[quote name='Hamster' post='611097' date='Sep 28 2009, 06:25 PM']Just bring lots of gear and lots of cash (no cheques or credit cards!) and pay on the door [/quote] And bring some earplugs and a good book (use these during my Vbass demo)

It's probably that Wispa Gold.

Just to say that the Basschat 10% cut of the profit will go to a charity called the Blue Cross, an animal re homing centre based in Burford. [url="http://www.bluecross.org.uk/web/site/home/home.asp"]http://www.bluecross.org.uk/web/site/home/home.asp[/url] Cheers ped

[quote name='Musky' post='609071' date='Sep 26 2009, 10:09 AM']I wouldn't worry about that at all - everyone has been in the exact same position when they start out. In fact some of us are still in that position after 30 years. Besides, I'm sure plenty of people would be happy to give you some tips and pointers.[/quote] Well said. I am doing a 'demo' at the bash and probably a lot crapper than you are, so get stuck in!