Happy Jack

[quote name='ras52' timestamp='1415016483' post='2595591'] You beat me to it (I guess that means I'm stuck in the queue behind you.) Those of us of a certain age will recall that the going rate was 1d. Now, at yer typical railway station, it's up to 30p. Which is 72d! [/quote] For six shillings, I'd expect someone to come and hold it for me.

[quote name='Geek99' timestamp='1415011072' post='2595503'] Maybe an up to date asking price in the title should be a requirement - then people can easily filter out bands they aren't intersted in. [/quote] That will only work when sellers mention the bands famous for using this particular model.

http://youtu.be/XqBRxu21oZc

A video of the presentation I gave on Saturday to the SouthEast BassBash. Obviously it's very similar to the one I did at the South Coast Bass Bash two months ago, but this is the improved & extended 12" version.

You must really trust the handles then.

And you'd probably blow the handles off.

[quote name='bartelby' timestamp='1414659892' post='2591820'] Sorry, I wasn't aware I wasn't allowed to have a differing opinion. I'll edit my post for you shall I? [/quote] I suspect that most BCers spotted that my comment was intended to be humorous. And therefore not be taken seriously. I didn't really think it necessary to splash the smileys about, but since you ask: Enjoy!

Do with it? I'd tune it. And by the time you've finished tuning the third neck, it's time to start re-tuning the first neck.

Alternatively, Bonzodog was right in the first place and he's odd. Just saying ...

You're sure you mean "harmonics"? The Fishman Fission allows you to add an octave up, a 5th above that, and a further octave. Also to "dirty it up" with some distortion. It's not harmonics though ...

It is, but it's changed its style of music fairly radically and the clientele has not exactly changed for the better.

We probably propped up the bar together at the King's Head then, prior to visiting the ludicrous multi-shop DIY store known as Poores! I also used to treat myself to lunch at Angela's Restaurant (sadly long gone).

[quote name='FinnDave' timestamp='1414509386' post='2590012'] Was that the John Bull on Chiswick High Street? I used to play there in the early 80s. [/quote] Close ... Chiswick High Road. Sad to say, the early 80's was just after I moved up to Acton High Street and the John Bull was too far to walk. Looks like I missed you.

I've spent the vast majority of the last 40 years living in and around Chiswick. Back in the 70s the main music pub for miles (and, conveniently, my local) was the John Bull opposite Gunnersbury Station. Loads of soon-to-be-big-name bands, already-quite-big-name bands, and never-gonna-be-big-name bands played there, weekend in, weekend out. The pub was permanently packed and a serious cash cow for the operators. The backlash in the Eighties against perceived links between "John Bull" and the National Front did for the name, the anti-drink-drive campaigns in the Nineties did for the crowds, and by the Noughties the renamed "Gunnersbury" pub still had full music facilities but only put on music half a dozen times a year. Not to worry though. The music scene shifted to the other end of the High Road. In the 70s the George IV was the place you went on a Saturday night if you were looking for a knock-down, drag-'em-out punch-up. By the 90s it was where you went if you were looking for the local cattle market. So when the Gunnersbury died as a music pub the George IV was nicely placed to take up the slack and for the next 10 years it did exactly that. Meanwhile the Gunnersbury got ... ahem ... redeveloped. Quite a lot of money changed hands somewhere along the way, and what was once a big coaching-type pub with a large yard became a large ground-floor pub with a bunch of new-build houses immediately behind and a bunch of expensive flats on top of it and a bunch of serious noise-related issues attached to it. No more bands, then. But that's OK because we still had the George IV. Until they did a refurb during the summer of 2014. Apparently they spent a small fortune turning it into ... erm ... well ... much the same as it was before, only now with the acoustics totally wrecked. Walk in off the street and if there are three women talking to each other at the bar you'll need earplugs. I've never heard such an appallingly lively, cacophonous room in my life. No more bands, then. ************************* And that's just Chiswick. ************************* In the last 10 years alone, I'd say that well over half the reliable music pubs within five miles of me have gone, and not been replaced. Acton, Brentford, Chiswick, somewhere beginning with 'D', they've all seen long-standing music pubs either give up having bands or give up being pubs. I mean, I admire a good Pine Furniture Warehouse Sale as much as the next man, but frankly I'd have preferred it to remain a music pub.

[quote name='flyfisher' timestamp='1414504712' post='2589924'] In the late 80s/ early 90s, I went to loads of Clapton's Royal Albert Hall concerts and paid about £25 a ticket for front stalls, mostly within five rows of the stage. I saw he has recently announced tickets for some upcoming RAH concerts but the tickets 'start' at £95, which means being up in the 'gods'. Even allowing for inflation, I reckon that's taking the pi$$. [/quote] At the risk of appearing to be morbid, that's because the supply of Eric Clapton gigs is slowly but surely being eroded ... there are fewer of them left each year.

You should hear what he says about you ...

What are the handles like?

[quote name='flyfisher' timestamp='1414492007' post='2589711'] ... so why would the current generation bother to go to 'dingy dives' to watch a live band when there are so many other ways of accessing what they want to hear ... [/quote] Because it's always been at least as much about fashion as about the music. If you don't go to the "right" dingy dives, then you'll neither see nor be seen.

Good stuff Dan, but as soon as you click on the link you are asked to Register (with a reminder that you should "remeber" to use your registered email address). I get enough spam already ...

[quote name='blue' timestamp='1414442805' post='2589388'] I took my younger girl friend on 2 separate occasions to see some live female blues/rock acts. [/quote] Does this mean that you also have an older girlfriend, or have we been separated by a common language?

I was a bit suspicious at first, thinking this might turn out to be a 60-minute advertising puff for the new Foo Fighters album. http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b04n60j3/foo-fighters-sonic-highways-episode-1 Not a bit of it. A superb piece of documentary work ... amusing & entertaining, with some great characters. The music's not at all bad, and very little of it is actually the Foos (just in case you hate the band).

[quote name='silverfoxnik' timestamp='1414426546' post='2589164'] Spot-on Jack; Colin's going to bring it all with him.. By the way - what time do you want to do your talk on Saturday? [/quote] Every hour, on the hour, no re-admission without a valid ticket or a stamp on the back of the hand. The artiste requests no flash photography, autographs strictly by appointment. *********************** There's a certain logic to doing it earlier in the day rather than later, if only to allow those as wants to to see if it works for them during the day ...

[quote name='Clarky' timestamp='1414350835' post='2588559'] Unfortunately I am going to have to pike out. Damn shame but too much else going on. Next time :-) [/quote] There goes my 'Dave Swift' moment then ...

[quote name='SubsonicSimpleton' timestamp='1414424375' post='2589148'] The thing that fascinates me about vintage instruments is how come the supply seems to become more abundant with the passage of time. [/quote] Only to certain instruments, though. I used to know one of the better fakers in Denmark Street. His work was simply awesome. Even with him standing next to me showing how he'd aged certain bits, it still looked like a '54 Strat to me. And that's one of the biggest giveaways. He reckoned there was far more interest in any '54 Strat than in a '56 or a '58 (I have no idea why) so all of his fakes were '54 Strats. In case you're wondering, his speciality was Sonic Blue with heavy nicotine staining ...