Happy Jack

I don't normally wax lyrical about tortoiseshell pickguards, but for this sort of quality and impact I'm prepared to make an exception.

It's not just basses, of course. If your lock-up has power, you could do much worse than to invest in some insulation and then use a greenhouse heater or similar, and keep temperature & humidity within reasonable bands.

[quote name='cytania' timestamp='1393716468' post='2383761'] What's with the Deadhead bass? More knobs than can possibly of use and then a bridge anchor that is made from dribbled solder... [/quote] It's known as "Alembic build quality" actually.

[quote name='BetaFunk' timestamp='1393697920' post='2383524'] That clip doesn't do them justice. Here's Jenny and Babe Ruth at probably their finest. [media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UyPKee16zdY[/media] [/quote] That's the finest Hammond sound ever to be produced on a grand piano ...

There's never a Clutterbuck when you need one ...

Hmmmmm. Sounds suspiciously like the incidental music for a 70s American cop show. I kept expecting the name Lalo Schifrin to waft across the screen ...

[quote name='Grangur' timestamp='1393655984' post='2382999'] You must play some real posh areas if the easiest ready cash for the landlord to grab from the till is 4 £50 notes. [/quote] Bwahahaha!!! The areas we are most frequently paid with £50 notes are those where there's the greatest need for money laundering. In posh areas, people buy their Pinot Grigio with credit cards, dontcherknow. The place that has given us by far the most £50 notes was a big, empty Irish pub in a large, well-known Irish area of London. There was never any possible legal explanation for why a pub which never had more than a dozen punters in it could possibly have five shiny new £50 notes in the till every Saturday night ...

Really annoyed that I can't make this one ... going to The Nutcracker Suite at Richmond Theatre instead. You don't do any Tchaikovsky do you?

[color=#666666][font=verdana, arial, sans-serif][size=3]Experienced rhythm section fancies getting back into laid-back, groove-style music ... think Booker T, Wilson Pickett, Eddie Floyd, The Meters, maybe some Motown, maybe some Northern Soul. [/size][/font][/color] [color=#666666][font=verdana, arial, sans-serif][size=3]We both love this stuff because we're old enough to remember it from first time around. We want to play it properly, not "have a go at it". [/size][/font][/color] [color=#666666][font=verdana, arial, sans-serif][size=3]We're aiming for a 4-piece band, maybe plus a singer if necessary, but this sort of music has to be built around the [/size][/font][/color][color=#ff0000][font=verdana, arial, sans-serif][size=3][u][b]keyboard player[/b][/u][/size][/font][/color][color=#666666][font=verdana, arial, sans-serif][size=3] so that's where we're starting. [/size][/font][/color] [color=#666666][font=verdana, arial, sans-serif][size=3]What we're looking for is someone who can achieve a decent Hammond sound and a decent piano sound, preferably without needing a team of roadies to move his/her kit. This is less-is-more music so knowing when to hold back is essential. Gigging experience would obviously be very helpful, but not absolutely essential - we all have to start somewhere. [/size][/font][/color] [color=#666666][font=verdana, arial, sans-serif][size=3]We have all the kit a band needs (except a keyboard!), our own transport, and our own rehearsal space in Acton. Neither of us drags a huge ego around. Both of us play in other bands but we have no problems avoiding diary clashes. [/size][/font][/color] [color=#666666][font=verdana, arial, sans-serif][size=3]Please note that this will not be a hobby band or an excuse to get together at rehearsals and have a few beers. We're both gigging musicians and we'd be looking to get paid gigs by this summer.[/size][/font][/color]

Everything? No ... There's no DI out, no built-in tuner, there must have been room for an AX7 somewhere if only they'd looked, and it has no flick switches at all ... got to have those flick switches. Failing which, there's always room for some more knobs: [URL=http://s1128.photobucket.com/user/h4ppyjack/media/Just%20Stuff/Music%20and%20Musicians/WallOfSoundGuildAlembic.jpg.html][IMG]http://i1128.photobucket.com/albums/m496/h4ppyjack/Just%20Stuff/Music%20and%20Musicians/WallOfSoundGuildAlembic.jpg[/IMG][/URL]

Depends whether or not you can get by all days on Oranges ...

In the future, all bands will be paid in Bitcoins ...

Then you need this: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/WAFERDALE-PROFESSIONAL-MICROPHONE-/301104440523?pt=UK_Music_Instruments_Microphones_MJ&hash=item461b3924cb

The only real use I ever found for mine was when I needed to sound "different" for some reason, usually only for a short time. The best example was when a functions band I was in wanted to do Mercy by Duffy. The first four bars are played by an instrument with a lot of "sproing" about it. Might be keys/synth, might be a heavily-effected guitar or bass. I played that riff on bass through an envelope filter. It sounded nothing at all like the original but no one noticed or cared ... what mattered was that it sounded different.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ha914XeQtKU&feature=youtu.be

[quote name='Lozz196' timestamp='1393511820' post='2381242'] The main thing is the feel of the note ... [/quote] This one feels fine. Even if you handle it and then handle a genuine £10 and a genuine £20, you'd not immediately say "Now hold on just a minute!". It might be different if you could handle it and then handle a genuine £50, but I wouldn't bet on it.

[quote name='KiOgon' timestamp='1393432240' post='2380259'] As a matter of interest - I don't think it's been mentioned - how did it get proved a fake? [/quote] Someone tried to spend it in a shop and it was spotted by the shop-keeper. On close inspection:[list] [*]The reflective strip was wider than it should be; [*]There was no hologram thingy; [*]The letters spelling "Fifty Pounds" were not slightly embossed; [*]The watermarked portrait of the Queen appeared to have been drawn by a 12-year-old; [*]The watermarked "50" contained numbers of different sizes; [*]The paper was not linen-based and was easily torn. [/list] Listed out like that, it sounds as if it should have been easily spotted, right? Not so. The manager had a bad cold and left halfway through the last set, thrusting a bundle of rolled-up banknotes into Bluejay's hand (@ Discreet: if you say [u][i][b]one word[/b][/i][/u] I'm coming round to see you ). Our first sight of the money was therefore at about 12:30am following the breakdown after the gig, we were all knackered, and it was not a particularly well-lit pub. And besides, the dodgy note was given to MacDaddy. Besides which, I've tried it out on a number of people in broad daylight with the very fact of the question itself dropping a pretty broad hint. No one has yet spotted anything. Until I tell them it's a fake, whereupon it's all: "[color=#0000ff]Y'know, I [i][b]thought [/b][/i]it felt funny / looked a bit strange / didn't seem right[/color]".

[quote name='KiOgon' timestamp='1393433161' post='2380283'] IIRC rubbing the note on a sheet of white paper - if any red ink comes off onto the paper it's a wrong'n *apparently*! [/quote] Close ... but no cigar. The ink on a genuine £50 note never dries completely. If you rub one with a piece of white tissue paper, it's [i][b]supposed [/b][/i]to stain!

[quote name='chris_b' timestamp='1393497153' post='2380929'] I think a white bass needs something to make it stand out. [/quote] Mine has me ...

[quote name='SpaceChick' timestamp='1393489296' post='2380791'] Here are my top tips: Don't drink until after you've played Expect the first few songs to be played faster through nerves If you have an active bass take an extra battery! Have spare leads, at some point you will need them (usually for guitarists ) And most importantly...... HAVE FUN and report back afterwards!! [/quote] +1 Above all, keep it simple. In [i][b]every [/b][/i]respect. Take the bare minimum kit that you will need (plus spares to be left in the boot of the car as appropriate). Use exactly the rig that you rehearse with, play exactly the way you play at rehearsals, etc. etc. Just don't introduce any new complications or distractions and you'll be fine.

Don't be ridiculous! The green tip on the pickup selector switch is entirely wrong for that colour scheme.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Electric-Guitars-Hard-Case-will-fit-4-6-and-12-String-Guitars-/301104140139?pt=UK_Musical_Instruments_Guitars_CV&hash=item461b348f6b

Well, the band talked it through after rehearsal last night. We've decided to take the hit and move on. We re-divi'd up the money but now based on £150 instead of £200. I've ended up holding on to the fake. I've just gone out and bought a perspex picture frame, a couple of screw-eyes, and some picture wire. By our next gig (this Saturday) the fake £50 will be hanging from one of our PA poles. When we get paid at the end of the evening, if there are any £50 notes in there I'll point to the fake and say: [i][b]Sorry chum, that's why we don't take them[/b][/i].

[quote name='chris_b' timestamp='1393423295' post='2380036'] Everyone should know about the others, and accept that you are in more than 1 band. You will have a "main" band. There has to be a pecking order. First in the diary gets it unless another gig comes in with a long enough lead time to get the dep involved. Make sure you have good deps on hand. Always make sure you're better than the deps. Gigs always top trump rehearsals. What rehearsals? [/quote] Not being as good as Chris (or as much in demand), I'd love to apply his advice but don't get the opportunity. My sig lists four bands, but only the Dogs is a regular weekend gig (roughly twice a month usually, bit more than that at the moment). Dani Molino and Karena Kelly are singer-songwriters for whom I play DB at very occasional mid-week gigs in trendy places like Hoxton (ee lad, I remember when all this were slums). King Ralph only really plays the day-time festivals during the summer, Greenford Festival, Hanwell Carnival, etc. Translation = My four bands don't really occupy the same space, so they never clash. As to rehearsals, certainly with the Dogs they form an essential part of my social life.

I'm thinking you'd want to be using flats on that ...