Happy Jack

We went to see a blues outfit on Bleecker Street last year, a 3-piece with their own backline. They were due to be on at 10:30pm after a solo bluesman had finished playing at 10pm. It could have been billed as [i][b]'Setting Up As Performance Art'.[/b][/i] At 10:20 we were sitting directly in front of a completely empty stage, checking our watches, and thinking: "They're not going to show." Then a guy strolls out of the green room holding a snare drum, just a snare drum. Casually glances around a packed room, then puts the snare on the stage. Strolls back into the green room as another guy walks out carrying a chair, just a chair. For the next nine minutes there are just these three guys casually strolling on and off stage. At 10:29 the guitarist and bass player plug in. The drummer is still erecting his hi-hat. At 10:30 the guitarist says "1-2-3-4 ...." and they're playing. The sound is perfect, everything works, instruments are in tune, the levels are right for the room. Talking to other punters later, it's obvious that this is normal behaviour for Bleecker Street. Talking to the guitarist, it turns out that the drummer is a dep and has never played with the other two before.

I've only just seen this! Damn - I'd have liked to come along. Next year, please post a bit earlier, give me more of a chance to spot it.

[quote name='icastle' timestamp='1403612449' post='2484432'] Ours gets to the venue 30 minutes before the rest of us do and he's just about finished by then. There's nothing worse than trying to set up around a pile of half assembled scaffolding. [/quote] Agreed, but our solution is different. We set up everything except the drums, because who wants to run PA cables through a forest of drums and cymbal stands? Paul the Drums builds individual pieces elsewhere in the pub while we set up the PA, lights and backline. When we're done, he simply moves each piece into position. Think of it as parallel processing.

Am I the only person who thought this was about kilts that needed soldering?

[quote name='megallica' timestamp='1403591182' post='2484108'] I thought Guy Prat owned number 8? [/quote] No, you're confusing him with Guy Pratt. In all fairness, this one was apparently owned by Pino Palldino, whoever he may be. If we wait long enough, hopefully Paul Mackartnee will turn up ...

Obviously there will be full accountability for all this money that people are going to give them, and no risk whatsoever that it will be squandered in any way. If this was a legitimate project likely to generate any serious media interest, then surely Fox would already have selected [color=#0000ff]The Hunt For A Stolen Stock Fender Precision[/color] as one of their [i][b]Cold Case Files[/b][/i] series? This has got 'scam' written all over it. Or possibly carved into the neck with a pen-knife.

[quote name='booboo' timestamp='1403556371' post='2483944'] I'm waiting for one of you to post an ultra-positive review before I unleash the Barclaycard [/quote] I've gigged every bass I've ever owned (it's a sort of OCD thing, I just have to do it to justify buying the bass in the first place ). At £90-odd I think this may well have been the cheapest bass I've ever played but, in its own way, it was just as satisfying as the £2000 DB at the back of the tent, or the £1500 Mike Lull I played the previous night. Ultra-positive? Nah! It's a £90 uke-bass for God's sake! But value for money? Oh [b]YES[/b].

Was there a connection between the hog roast and the projectile vomiting?

Hah! Me, I was born in cross-fire hurricane. Well, Poole actually.

[URL=http://s1128.photobucket.com/user/h4ppyjack/media/Performance/Sundry/KingRalphKew35_zps595f714f.jpg.html][IMG]http://i1128.photobucket.com/albums/m496/h4ppyjack/Performance/Sundry/KingRalphKew35_zps595f714f.jpg[/IMG][/URL]

The whole rosewood/maple thing has never really impressed me much. A vibrating bass string does its vibrating between a fret and a bridge saddle. If the string comes into contact with the fretboard material then it makes a horrible buzzing noise. End of. Now if we're talking fretless basses, then it's a whole other thing of course. I've played fretted basses with fretboards made of maple, rosewood, ebony, graphite, ebanol, you name it. None of them sounded sufficiently different from each other to attract the slightest attention on a Saturday night at the Dog & Duck. I like that wild blue Hofner stuff because it's wild and it's blue. I doubt it will sound any different.

You were born in a cellar at Cambridge Circus?

http://www.hofner-guitars.com/news/news/view/label/Non-wood%20Fingerboards/

If I was Eric Clapton, I wouldn't live in Leeds.

http://www.thomann.de/gb/the_tracks_vm100_voltage_meter.htm As soon as you plug into the socket, this will tell you just how much risk you are running. If only the red LEDs light up, you're gonna struggle. I've used something similar to this for years, and it's saved me a fair amount of grief in some pubs.

[quote name='Monckyman' timestamp='1403307741' post='2481826'] Nice pics and nice waistcoat there Jack ; ) [/quote] Why thank'ee Dave, thank'ee kindly. I'm liking that look so much that I've now got another weskit on the way.

Seems to have been carefully de-badged (always a worry) and those photos are piss-poor. If it's a Lowden-era joint venture bass, then it's a bloody good-looking one and it may well play very nicely. Doubt I'd part with £800 for it, mind, especially with a "001" serial number which appears to have been written on in Biro ...

I'm now thinking Daleks carrying basses going: "[i][b]Expedite!!! Expedite!!![/b][/i]"

[quote name='codhead' timestamp='1402581133' post='2474999'] What I have figured out though is that it's because of that independence shizzle, [/quote] For me, Clive, this is still the nub of the problem. Getting the settings right on the independence shizzle is a real art form.

[quote name='Lozz196' timestamp='1403035856' post='2479151'] Well although this started out as a Precision Test, the real deal on this is the Precision pickup isn`t it. So I`m quite happy for non-Precision looking basses, so long as they`ve a Precision pickup that can be soloed/played passive. [/quote] Noooooooo!!! Tonewood alert! Tonewood alert!

But do check your weights very carefully first. The last thing you need is several dozen man-hours of work producing a bass with so much neck-dive as to be unplayable.

I'd suggest that you also check out the Gallien-Krueger MB500.

Most genre descriptions I can at least begin to get a handle on. I may struggle (mightily) to spot the difference between a hundred flavours of Heavy Metal, but I have some clue what Heavy Metal is, what Indie is, what Acid House is, and so on. But what the blankety-blank is "Alternative Rock"?

The smiley was silent ...

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Double-Bass-/181439858636?&_trksid=p2056016.l4276