Nicko

They would be more like Apple if you could only play one through a Fender amp used a different jack lead to everyone else and you couldn't tune a Fender to any other make of instrument.

Push It - Salt n Pepa

I would check the neck profile and nut width and look for something similar in the Fender line. Personally I don't think US is worth the premium over Mexican - if it absolutely HAS to have a Fender sticker. I play a Squier 70s CV - I sold my US made precision because it didn't sound or play any better, but then that was the lowest prices US and the Squier is the higher end of their range. I chose the CV over a Mex Nate Mendel because it felt better although the Nate did look better, and generally I prefer RW necks.

I think the bigger issue is how have Fender, who were started on the basis of producing instruments in a cheap and innovative way, managed to promote themselves as a high end maker while having innovated almost nothing since the 50s. They maintain a premium price by continually moving the lowest end product to a cheaper location, and rebranding the previous base model at a higher price. I am not anti Fender, but we should be honest about what they are actually producing. Fender is the Ford of musical instruments - and we shouldn't think about paying Ferrari money for them

Teenagers - My Chemical Romance

Surely being a "pro" musician is like being any other person selling their time for a service. The amount of money you get depends on what services you provide and how many hours you can provide on each. There are multinational megastars, internationally renowned session musicians, jobbing session musicians, busy function bands, touring tribute bands, cruise ship staff , struggling originals bands etc. And then there's and the bloke that plays 4 pub gigs a month runs a couple of open mic sessions and teaches kids how to play three evenings a week just to keep afloat. Most of the pro musicians I've know have been the latter. I've known a few ex pros who made a bit of cash from originals bands and now have conventional careers and one guy who played sessions but now runs a music shop.

Crispin Mills is the epitome of middle class, and someone thought Kula Shaker were worth a contract.

I didn't get past the "This article is more than 8 years old" at the top of the page.

Yes it is, but being successful doesn't mean working longer it means working smarter and knowing how to switch off from work when you leave your desk (or whatever they have you chained to).

I think I've been relatively successful and retired at 52. I don't buy lots of shiny new things and the money gives me the freedom to appreciate the simple things in life. Those that say I don't need the money may be right but they don't have the choices I have, and I suspect if they were offered a big some of money wouldn't turn it down.

I was living in Harrow, and rehearsed in Sunbury when I had bandmates living in Whitton and Chertsey. When I used High Wycombe it was because we couldn't find something local to the band (Hayes, Harrow and Wembley) but it was a bit of a trek because West Star is closer to West Wycombe. More to the point one of the OP bandmates lives in Princes Risborough so High Wycombe is local(ish) to them and one lives in Farnborough so I assume they would go via the A404. I've never been in a band where we all lived in the same post code - except when I was overseas and we all lived in portacabins on the same compound.

The graph is clearly all in 1980s prices. If it isn't the house I bought in 1992 would be worth £85k x 7 for house price index x 2.3 for inflation - around £1.4 million. I started work in 1984. The graph shows that inflation over that period is 255% so my £2500 would be worth £6375 today. Using 45 working weeks the school leaver would be getting £8658 today, but that is only if they leave school and start an apprenticeship because otherwise they have to stay at school until 18.

I'm slightly confused by this notion of average salary and average house prices. I bought my first house in 1992, my second in 2002 and the one I live in now in 2012 (I don't plan to move every ten years - that just how it worked out). If I look at my first house - a sh1tty 2 bed one reception new build on a large housing development which was priced at £85k, there is no way that it is now worth 800% of £85k, in fact I saw it was on sale a year or so ago for around £350k - so around half the increase predicted by this chart. My second home increased by about 80% whereas the chart suggests it should have trebled. Similarly my current house (a pleasant 3 bed in a "posh" outer London 'burb) has increased in value by less than 100% in the last 10 years - in fact it's under offer at the moment at 160% of what I paid and that's after me spending quite a lot on replacing windows, new kitchen, bathroom, solid wood floors and so on. I can only assume that the prices have increased for slightly different reasons than simple inflation. Here are some ideas of what may have skewed the prices. People my age tended to buy properties that were virtual slums in crappy areas, and worked hard to make them into homes. In some cases those areas have also been developed to make them more attractive. The number of doer uppers seems to have dropped - probably because the BTL landlords have already bought them. Some of the crappy areas have been deliberately gentrified - think East London, Salford Quays, and virtually anywhere along a canal. People commute further than they ever have - people living in south Hertfordshire are mostly commuting to London, earning London wages and pushing up the cost of homes beyond local salary multipliers while complaining about the price of season tickets. Towns have expanded outwards, and town properties close to facilities tend to be more expensive than villages with no transport links. We went through a period of selling off social housing at a discount (both councils and housing associations). Those prices are included in the average, but were not market values, and when resold were sold at a gain far exceeding the average increase. My second home was one of those - the previous owner had bought it cheap and sold it to me at market price. A typical family home when I was growing up was a three bed - irrespective of how many kids there were. I'm one of four and we shared rooms (I did until I was 16 when my eldest brother moved out). Kids these days don't seem to do that unless the parents simply can't afford to buy a larger house. Those that can afford to buy bigger houses than we used to - more bedrooms, and an extra room for the kids to play in. On the flip side, average salaries have also been skewed by an ageing workforce - people either have to or choose to work past the old retirement age, and they earn less. Young people are more likely to go and do degrees and start work later, My starting salary when I left school was a grand total of £2500. However a school leaver now leaving and working a 40 hour week on minimum wage would earn nearly 7 times that amount - not an increase of less than 50% as predicted by the chart. However, I had a career and my wages increased rapidly - especially when I changed jobs.

Break Like the Wind - Spinal Tap

Actually, the Bank of England blames unprecedented periods of low interest rates for the stagnation in wages. House prices have risen because we aren't building enough of them and have, over a short period in the 20th century, moved from a nation of renters to a nation of homeowners.

There is nothing stopping the ordinary person joining a political party. If enough ordinary people did that perhaps the parties would begin to understand what the ordinary person wants. I should also clarify that my comment was really in response to the issue of boomers and cheap housing - and it's important to realise that the issue of house price inflation over and above wage inflation is not a recent phenomenon connected to a specific colour of government.

Well the ordinary persons voted for successive governments who have failed to address the problem so in a way they are responsible.

I never liked Airplay that much - always a pain to park and the rooms were a bit depressing. The only other places I've used local to Sunbury are: RnR in Uxbridge http://www.rnrstudios.co.uk/ was my regular space for most of my bands. West Star in High Wycombe https://shttps://www.weststarstudio.com/ but I haven't been there for probably 10 years

Let's not forget that the boomers paid for the state pensions of those who were the first beneficiaries of the welfare state. It should have been obvious that the funding model for this was based on an ever expanding workforce - and that has never really been sustainable. It's not the fault of the baby boomers - its a fault of the way the system was designed. The youth of today are now paying the pensions of the boomers, even though the boomers are relatively wealthy compared to the workforce. As post boomer* my financial plans have assumed that the whole state pension system will collapse and I'll be left to fend for myself. * Only just.

My brother in law studied Oceanography at Swansea, in the hope he would spend 6 months a year working in some paradise location and have 6 months a year off. He made sandwiches for a few years after leaving Uni, and ended up running a small textile company. He avoids eating shellfish but otherwise learnt little of use.

I'm amazed that they can charge the fees that they do. It was always an expensive option but because you could work and study it wasn't too bad - and if you did something work related you could get your employer to contribute.

Do you also whip yourself before bedtime? Respect is due. If I wore a hat I'd take it off to you.

I also did an engineering degree through the OU, got credit for my HNC which reduced the number of modules I had to do (I think 300 points after the credit). I think the only time I struggled with workload was when I did 2 x 30 point credits in the same year which seemed a lot more work than 1 x 60 in a year. To be honest I managed to do most of the learning work and exercises in my lunch hour - only working at home on assignments. My intention was to become chartered but they wanted me to do another 120 points so that didn't happen. I got my chartership later through career learning and a few selected academic courses outside of the OU. Most of the engineers I worked with came directly out of uni into a mentored development programme and the entry requirement was a Masters. I think they worked harder at Uni than I did at the OU, but they also had a great time doing it whereas the OU seems to be all work and no play. I'm not sure whether the OU goes into greater depth - most of the graduates could run rings around me in some areas - but because it's modular I found I'd taken modules in areas that traditional programmes leave out so they all knew the same stuff as each other but not the same stuff as me. I ended up doing some quite unconventional engineering roles because of that.

Alive and Kicking at the Country Club - The Associates

My careers officer at school was my mums best friend's sister and a regular visitor to our house. I still don't remember her giving one bit of advice on a relevant career. From an early age I wanted to be an architect, but when I chose my optional subjects at school (which for some reason at my school was at the end of the second year - a year earlier than most schools )I probably got them wrong. I ended up taking an engineering apprenticeship - not because I wanted to be one but because my dad was one. I did a degree part time when I was in my late 20s but most of it didn't really interest me and it was only a stepping stone to a better paid job. Although I played in the school band and played a bit of guitar music wasn't something I really imagined doing. I don't have any natural talent for it and lack the commitment needed to put the work in.