Happy Jack

Once finished, will this tend to tarnish?

[quote name='borisbrain' timestamp='1384173785' post='2273469'] Some of our venues have had more managers than Chelsea over the last five years. I'd imagine the smoking ban and cheap off-licence booze haven't been very helpful either. [/quote] True, all true, and also add in the fact that drink-driving became (with astonishing speed) social suicide about 20 years ago, that the Courts have been steadily more and more prepared to act on complaints about noise, that cable TV and the Internet have taken over many people's lives, and that we're at the tail-end (I hope) of the worst recession in living memory. There is no purpose in saying that the death of pubs is caused by X, or Y, or Z. It's caused by society doing what it does, which is constantly changing. The pubs which will survive will be those which either change with the times (e.g. gastropubs) or which find a genuine function to fulfil in the community.

[quote name='chris_b' timestamp='1384168749' post='2273380'] In my experience the good creative people don't despise other creative people. [/quote] But in my experience, the creative people (good, bad, and indifferent) have an absolute, unchallengeable right to despise people who play covers. Apparently we're not really musicians, you see.

As a result of punting for gigs, I've been spending WAY more time in pubs recently than I ever used to. In the last three months alone I have spent time in at least 50 different pubs. This is mainly in West and Southwest London, but out as far as Slough and Farnham. One sweeping generalisation that I'm happy to make is that the most successful pubs I've seen have been [i][b]either [/b][/i]cheap cheap cheap (and often filled with the "wrong" sort of people) [i][b]or [/b][/i]genuine community centres (and usually offering far more than beer and darts). Pubs which have tried to buy an audience with just a weekly band, or karaoke, or a poker night, and missed the significance of being a "public house" have tended to be the ones to fail. I've actually put a bit of effort into trying to understand the business model of a pub paying £250 for a covers band on a Saturday night - turns out that it's almost always a loss leader, the music night is actually being subsidised by other, more profitable evenings when there's no band.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EvZ6L9wjsnY

That Streamliner 600 is SO tempting at £399 ... but I already have an Orange Bass Terror which doesn't get used enough. Step [i][b]back [/b][/i]from that website, keep your hands in plain sight, make no sudden moves.

[quote name='tauzero' timestamp='1383914425' post='2270715'] You should read Ben Goldacre's book "Bad Science". In fact, everybody should. [/quote] Damned right! An excellent book, both very funny and deeply scary. At least two or three times every year, there will be another scandal reported that reminds me of Goldacre's findings.

Get some rests - you look tired.

[quote name='White Cloud' timestamp='1383907607' post='2270585'] Also without wishing to start a fight - you have contradicted yourself here. [/quote] [size=4][color=#000000][font=sans-serif]Psychotics are consistently inconsistent. The essence of sanity is to be inconsistently inconsistent.[/font][/color][/size]

Not looking to start a fight about this, but my experience of graphite necks is that they sound like ... erm ... bass necks. I have Fender Precisions hanging next to a Status Artist GP and when you play them back to back there's no obvious change in tone. Not to my tired old ears anyway. The attractions are that they have a noticeably more punchy sound (especially on a Precision) and they never, ever move so you don't need to adjust your set-up as the seasons change.

On balance, he should probably have put the 810 under it instead ...

[quote name='drTStingray' timestamp='1383833764' post='2269748'] Ironically this was just the sort of thing Jaco allegedly liberated bass players from. [/quote] In that case, can I have my shackles back?

Wunjo is indeed independent, and Brian is a really nice guy - happy to see him doing well. Macari's are also independent, still owned by the Macari family (3rd generation, and cousins now rather than brothers). Until last Wednesday Chris Bryant Music (on the corner of Charing Cross Road) was also independent. Then Chris [i][b]allegedly [/b][/i]came in overnight and [i][b]allegedly [/b][/i]removed all the stock and [i][b]allegedly [/b][/i]left unpaid rent / wages / bills everywhere. Really, really sad. I've known Chris for years and he's a lovely guy. To [i][b]allegedly[/b][/i] pull something like this, he must have been in a very bad place.

[quote name='owen' timestamp='1383823015' post='2269506'] Thanks for the tip on Crinson guitars HJ, another relic builder to stalk [/quote] Oooh ... guess what I found? [url="http://basschat.co.uk/topic/129227-crinson-telebass/"]http://basschat.co.uk/topic/129227-crinson-telebass/[/url]

[quote name='discreet' timestamp='1383824055' post='2269537'] Mine was around £8,750 in 1979. [/quote] That's a couple of grand better than I was doing, but then I was pretty young in those days ... you must have been pre-aged or something.

[quote name='lowdown' timestamp='1383822651' post='2269495'] One other thing, airing problems on tinternet ain't a good idea, I know a Guitarist who got canned for it. [/quote] All sympathy to the OP, and I can only assume he has way more patience and tolerance than me ( ) but this ^ is something we can all forget too easily.

My choice would be a Shure Beta SM57 but you'll get plenty of alternatives being suggested, many of them by people who know WAY more than me.

[quote name='molan' timestamp='1383822205' post='2269485'] ... so i got a job in an ad agency ... [/quote] I spent that period at Lonsdales, and at French Gold Abbott.

[quote name='molan' timestamp='1383820653' post='2269457'] My annual salary at the time was £2,500 - even in those days that wasn't really enough to live on but at least I was working and really enjoyed my job [/quote] Strewth! That was slave labour rates at the time ... were you a school-leaver or something?

I had a non-relic'd Bravewood P-bass and it was absolutely delightful, shouldn't have sold it. There are some customer service issues out there. The best relic'd P-bass I ever had was a Crinson ... you might want to check him out too.

[url="http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Orfeus-Hebros-bass-guitar-very-rare-/290929620724?pt=UK_Musical_Instruments_Guitars_CV&hash=item43bcc1b6f4"]http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Orfeus-Hebros-bass-guitar-very-rare-/290929620724?pt=UK_Musical_Instruments_Guitars_CV&hash=item43bcc1b6f4[/url]

Fascinating ... fret-ends on [i][b]both [/b][/i]sides of the fingerboard.

This is the 1963 Selmer Catalogue: http://s1128.photobucket.com/user/h4ppyjack/library/Other%20music%20related/Selmer%20Catalogue%201963

[URL=http://s1128.photobucket.com/user/h4ppyjack/media/Other%20music%20related/Selmer%20Catalogue%201963/scan0011-1.jpg.html][IMG]http://i1128.photobucket.com/albums/m496/h4ppyjack/Other%20music%20related/Selmer%20Catalogue%201963/scan0011-1.jpg[/IMG][/URL]