FinnDave

Having worked with copyright (pictures rather than music, but...) I can only agree with BRX, the whole thing is a minefield ready to trap the unwary and some sort of legitimate legal advice is the only sort worth having. MU or PRS should be able to assist.

Just buy the B string that goes with the set you have and move them all one position along the fretboard. Worked for me!

When I tried that I just moved the E to D strings one place across and added a .125 for the B. Worked fine, but found I preferred DGCF (yet another set of strings!). Now back to EADG as no current project needs anything lower.

PRS, maybe?

I turned 60 a week ago. I've played over 40 gigs this year, sometimes two in an evening and I'd do more more if I could get them. I'm hoping for a busier year in 2018!

Quite honestly, if I needed to go that low again, I'd restring as BEAD. I had a bass tuned that way earlier this year for a specific project which has now ended, and all of my basses are tuned EADG again. I see the extended low end as of more use than keeping the high notes on the G string.

Based on that sample, I'd say they would be a valuable resource for most people on here.

So, what did you get?

Was one of three deps in a four piece band playing in a large pub in Reading last night. Completely unrehearsed and not even a set list, just songs and keys called and busked on the spot. Went surprisingly well, good low pressure gig, paid on the spot, good crowd and back home soon after midnight which wasn't bad for a 35 mile post gig drive. Looks like more in the pipeline as well. Played the sunburst/rosewood/tort Precision I got from Josh on here last week, wonderful bottom end that was shaking the stage. I think it's promoted to 'favourite bass' after its first gig with me!

Yep, and they all get gigged regularly. I am planning to use my latest acquisition for tonight's gig.

I've somehow gone from one Precision (and a couple of Jazz basses) a year or so ago to five precisions, one Jazz and a couple of other makes. I can't even use the 'different colour' excuse as three of my Precisions are sunburst!

Exactly, all the songs my band plays are originals, but most of them aren't our originals.

Posts and interacts with people like me.

No longer with the band but active on Facebook.

They really haven't changed much over the years, people come and go but Brocky is still at the helm, and with a new young bass player they sound more like they used to than they have for years. Fifty years and counting!

I very rarely buy any music these days, just listen to stuff on iTunes, but I made an exception for 'Hawkwind at the Roundhouse', a boxed set of two CDs and a DVD of the complete gig last May. Watched most of it last night and it certainly brought back some memories, as I was one of the happy throng in the audience that night.

I don't really listen to lyrics much, my ears focus on the engine room of bass and drums driving it all along, but some of Kevin Ayer's words to manage to slip through and lodge themselves in my brain. I particularly like this from his song 'Lady Rachel': "Now she's safe from the darkness, she's safe from its clutch Now nothing can harm her, at least not very much" In fact, a lot of Kevin Ayer's material is like that, how about the line: "This is a song from the bottom of a well, I didn't move here, I just fell" and from the same song: "Things don't happen, they just occur".

You're in good company, I don't think Lemmy had ever played a bass until he started playing with Hawkwind, and he didn't do too bad!

There used to be a very active music scene around West London when I lived there in the 80s, and I expect there still is. Have fun!

Yes, but playing at much places implies regular attendance, and that is sufficient to scare off the insurers. But honestly, mate, I have no axe to grind at all, just trying to help people avoid finding themselves without cover based on my own experience and that of my wife who works in the insurance industry. I'll bow out of this conversation now with the observation that if in doubt, talk to your insurance broker. If you feel that talking to them about it somehow allows them to rip you off (and I like paying for insurance no more than anyone else does!) then you might want to consider changing to a broker you feel you can trust.

As I understand it, it is being in a place offering musical entertainment, and the factors associated with that (drunkenness, high spirits, etc) that constitute the risk, not the remuneration or otherwise that one receives. Again, as I understand it, if they ask you if there are any other things that need to be considered when taking out the vehicle insurance and you fail to mention that you sometimes play at live music venues, which may or may not involve travelling at unusual times, to venues which attract people likely to become intoxicated or generally excited, then they can consider the cover void. I'm not on their side, far from it, just hate to think of fellow musos becoming victims of the sharp, but within the law, practises of the insurance industry.

The problem is that the insurer doesn't really care how you describe your musical activity, if they consider playing in public (even unpaid) to be an undeclared fact relevant to your claim, then they will fight tooth and nail to avoid having to pay out. Remember, they are looking for an excuse not to pay out, always!

This, with bells on. I reckon for every three people working in insurance, two of them are there to try to find a way to wriggle out of paying up when you claim. I can't really hide what I do from my insurers as my wife works for them, but having spoken to them at length about exactly this issue, not telling them about something relevant when taking out or renewing a policy can leave you uninsured in the unfortunate event of you having to make a claim. I pay something in the region of £120 a year extra for my car insurance for 'business use' which in my case is defined as playing music in return for payment. I also have separate insurance cover for my bass equipment as they cannot cover it under my house insurance once it is classified as 'being used for professional purposes'. Again non-disclosure can result in your insure being decried null and void. My wife just asked me to stress that if we had a fire or burglary and my instruments were only covered by the household insurance, not only would I not receive any compensation for the loss of my bass gear, but the entire policy could be cancelled, so we would receive nothing for any losses incurred. Likewise, if you use your car to take amps, cabs, basses etc. to and from gigs, in the event of a claim being made, if that hadn't been declared then they may well not compensate you for any of the loss. If a third party is injured and you are effectively uninsured, you are in pretty deep trouble!

My band plays mostly covers (mainly blues standards) but never play them the same as the original, in fact we make a point of not listening to the original (other than whoever thinks it is worth us trying). We also rarely play anything the same way twice. It's fun, creative, keeps us on our toes and awake. We also get plenty of bookings (40 plus this year, and that is up until the end of November when we stopped taking gigs as our guitarist has gone home for Christmas (he comes from St. Helena in the south atlantic)

I've got two Barefaced cabs, didn't get any shoes with them.