skankdelvar

[quote name='Hamster' post='759021' date='Feb 27 2010, 12:20 PM']I quite like the idea of having a template based for sale post - although I don't think it should be enforced, just encouraged.[/quote] Exactly. I'm not much for changing forum rules to compel people to publish [i]any[/i] personal details simply to avoid a minor inconvenience to other members. As for paranoid? Maybe. Or maybe not. FWIW, there this guy I know, who's posted pics of his (£60,000) collection of les pauls, es-335's etc on a guitar site, with a link to his own website. His forum profile shows he lives in x-town. But he's ex-directory and there's no address on his site so he think's he's safe. A quick who-is search on his domain name shows a full street address in x-town. The location on the forum helps me to confirm it's his home address, not his hosting company. Ah, there it is on streetmap. A careful scrutiny of the front of his house shows no sign of a burglar alarm box. And he's posted on the guitar site that he's off to Majorca with the missus and kids next week. Remember, we're not the only ones who read this forum. There's a balance to be struck between security concerns, however excessive, and ease of purchase. Hamster's got it right - education not compulsion.

I appreciate that failure to show item location from the outset may cause members some inconvenience and even cost them the effort of a PM. But I can equally understand that others of a nervous disposition might shy away from giving their location out to all and sundry, given the interweb's reputation for scamming, stalking and false identities. It might be bloody annoying, but it's also understandable, particularly if you're a newbie surrounded by a bunch of gruff blokes giving it large on core tone and how they'd like to lamp their frontman. It's fairly easy to establish where someone is - just ask them. So I oppose the motion, on the grounds that making it compulsory will probably cause some people not to post their gear for sale, hence reducing all our opportunities.

[quote name='OldGit' post='757877' date='Feb 26 2010, 08:58 AM']You could consider Palms 112:5 - "It is well with the man who deals generously and lends. " However I'd be tempted to quote Proverbs 2:22 - "the borrower is the slave of the lender" and ask if they'd like to be my slave.[/quote] Well, if we're going all quotational, like: [i]"Neither a borrower nor a lender be; for loan oft loseth both itself and friend"[/i] - Wm. Spokeshave, the Bad of Avon

[quote name='mep' post='757522' date='Feb 25 2010, 08:13 PM']Love the term 'Gearstalker'![/quote] Gearstalker hat:

[quote name='Marvin' post='757302' date='Feb 25 2010, 05:06 PM']I've tried this approach but on occasion failed miserably. [/quote] Here's How: [list=1] [*]Move along side wall of venue until level with the front of the stage. Turn through 90 degrees [*]Raise your hand and wave, as if to someone across the room [*]Proceed smartly across the front of the stage, continuing to wave. [*]Keep your head pointed forwards at all times while [i]swivelling your eyes [/i]to track the gear. Moving your head is the mark of the hobbyist. [*]If someone on stage notices you, ignore them. If challenged, produce a card bearing the following words: [/list] [font="Courier New"]"I cannot speak. Barbary pirates cut out my tongue. Can I have a go on your bass, mate?"[/font]

Orange. :wub:

[quote name='Doddy' post='757087' date='Feb 25 2010, 02:11 PM']I just take a good quick look as I walk past the 'stage'.[/quote] Ah, yes, my favoured approach. The old 'Gear-Cruise'. Subtle, yet entirely effective.

[quote name='Musicman69' post='755714' date='Feb 24 2010, 01:03 AM']Found this ad online[/quote] I'd kill for that rig. No, really.

[quote name='Musicman69' post='755465' date='Feb 23 2010, 08:45 PM']So.. it has laxative powers also? [/quote] You mean you never saw the old Fender ad?

Useful info here, if you haven't already found it: [url="http://www.ampwares.com/amp.asp?id=26"]http://www.ampwares.com/amp.asp?id=26[/url] From the specs, sounds like a 1964. The year after JFK died, the year of Beatlemania in the US and five years before Neil Armstrong set foot on the moon. If you show it to guitarists of a certain age, make sure they've got a change of strides to hand, cos they'll poop themselves. Google '6G6B bassman' and you'll find loads of info. Really glad you've got such a nice amp to hand - almost as good as finding it in an attic . Now all you've got to do is get yourself a matching 2x12 chambered cab and you're laughing.

[quote name='TimR' post='755098' date='Feb 23 2010, 03:31 PM']You could buy a £5k bass, do 30 £100 gigs with it. Sell it for £2k and will have broken even, and had good use out of an expensive bass and someone would have a top expensive bass for less than half price. Put your own numbers in and see if you can justify it.[/quote] Okey-doke! [list=1] [*]I buy a £100 beater bass, do 100 x £100 gigs with it and give it away free to a croup-ridden Dickensian orphan called Pip who goes on to become the finest bassist of his generation. [*]I buy a used Gus bass for £2k and I'm £8k up on the deal. [*]I buy a Harley for £8k and ride off to the local cafe with my Gus on my back, like the entirely total dude that I am. [*]At the back of the cafe I find Cheryl Cole, sobbing into her mug of Ovaltine. She spies my Harley and my Gus. An exchange of pleasantries follows and she's back to my gaff to assuage her distress. [*]On the way home I phone Mrs Skank and tell her there's a sale on at John Lewis in High Wycombe. The coast is clear for an afternoon of unbridled pleasure. [*]Leaving the entirely satisfied Miss Cole asleep on the kitchen table, I place a call to The Sun newspaper and sell my story for £25,000. [/list] Do it my way and everyone's a winner!

Hi blackjack and welcome There is a thriving BC community in your region, of whom wateroftyne and the bassdoc are just two of a cast of stellar good chaps. I'm sure you'll be making some new friends very shortly. Hope you enjoy the forum.

A couple of years ago I was at band practice and went outside for a crafty drag. I returned to find the drummer playing my bass, a cretinous, moon-faced grin pasted to the front of his egregiously mis-shapen head, as if to say "Look at what I'm doing! I can't keep time, learn songs or maintain civil punctuality but I [i]can play bass[/i]." His ghastly girlfriend was present so I forebore to comment, but a noticeable 'atmosphere' ensued. I later shopped him to the FSA for certain professional financial irregularities of which he had he bragged. My arm is long and my vengeance is total.

[quote name='Bill Fitzmaurice' post='754382' date='Feb 22 2010, 09:08 PM']Not quite. Amps of that era had no direct chassis connection to ground, as they used a two-wire connection to the mains. To provide noise filtering they connected the chassis to the ground wire via a capacitor. The problem lay in knowing which of the two wires was connected to hot and which was ground, as the plugs and outlets were not polarized. The ground switch toggled the connection through the cap from one wire to the other. When you powered the amp up you listened for noise and switched the ground switch to the quieter position. Of course when in the wrong position the chassis was connected to the hot wire, but since it was via a cap in the .1uF range it didn't get a full 60 Hz signal, just the higher harmonics. If you touched the chassis or anything connected to it, like your bass, and something that was grounded, like a mic, you'd get a benign but unmistakable reminder of why one should not play an instrument whilst bathing. The ground lift switch on modern gear lifts the ground from the signal direct out, not the chassis to mains ground. If converted to UK power it should have a 3 wire connection, grounding the chassis and eliminating the ground switch. Unfortunately that would lop a few hundred quid off its value to a collector.[/quote] I assume you would nevertheless agree that having it checked is a prudent course of action.

[quote name='Musicman69' post='754280' date='Feb 22 2010, 07:42 PM']Dont think Ive ever touched that switch as I dont know what it does! Why is it there.. Different power sources maybe?[/quote] A ground lift disengages the amps electrical earth. Sounds dangerous. It is. Why do it? [quote]if you have two pieces of equipment in a sound system connected to earth through their respective mains cables, it can cause an 'earth loop', sometimes called a 'ground loop' or 'hum loop'. This in turn causes a 50 Hz or 60 Hz hum[/quote] So, if you're running two connected mains items, you disconnect one item's - (which in this case would be your amp) - electrical earth and it stops the hum. Basically, it's what they did in the US years ago to make it convenient. Total no-no these days in the UK. See, it's fine if the [i]other[/i] mains-powered item is earthed. But if you haven't got that other earthed item, your amp may eventually earth through you, rendering you dead as arseholes. Taking the ground-lift switch out of the circuit will enhance your safety no end. And it's a 2 minute job for an amp tech. Had it done on a number of occasions. Now it may be the case that someone already had this ground lift switch sorted before you bought the amp. But it's worth getting it checked before you fire the amp up again.

Ground Lift Switch = Death.

Assuming the logo and handle haven't been replaced with later variants, that looks like a 1964 6G6-A / B. Very desirable. If you're using it, make sure the ground lift switch has been isolated. And if you've got a matching cab, you're sitting on a little gold mine. Not that money's everything - that's just a lovely old amp. Swoon. :wub:

[quote name='leftybassman392' post='754105' date='Feb 22 2010, 05:39 PM']Slow day at the office? [/quote] Self-employed. Or, more accurately, self-unemployed.

No good will come of this. I predict fat fees for m'learned friends.

[quote name='GreeneKing' post='753902' date='Feb 22 2010, 03:03 PM']I agree but can't see anything Existential about valuing a Fender because it's seen better days [/quote] Absolutely. An existentialist would probably view such a practice as delusional and thus detrimental to the development of one's personal authenticity.

[quote name='Marvin' post='753458' date='Feb 22 2010, 06:09 AM']Live and let live is akin to continually sitting on that fence, which becomes ultimately very painful.[/quote] A debate is like a fine chocolate truffle which requires both sugar and salt. 'Live and let live' is the sugar. The robustness with which one advances one's position is the salt. Too much of either and it is a poor truffle. Personally, I incline towards tolerance with an almost psychopathic obsession. Next year's Nobel peace prize [i]will[/i] be mine and I don't care who I have to kill to get it.

[quote name='silddx' post='753683' date='Feb 22 2010, 12:24 PM']I'm interested in the psychosocial motivation and behaviour of people buying and selling vintage Fenders. Well I am today anyway.[/quote] I apologise in advance for the length of this post. The value is in inverse proportion to the volume. The widespread, though not universal, belief in the inherent superiority of vintage guitars encompasses a number of separate though complementary assertions. Broadly, these are that they play, sound and look better than their modern counterparts. The descriptor of 'cool' is often applied to them. The important point is that these are qualities which are judged subjectively by the individual and can be neither proved or disproved. The only truth upon which we all might agree is that vintage instruments are, by some measure, older than contemporary instruments. Yet the term 'vintage' is less descriptive of an instrument's age than an assertion that the instrument possesses certain desirable qualities absent from other instruments. These qualities are derived not only from the manufacturer who produced it but, through some osmotic process, the culture which pertained at the time of production. Who among us has not sniffed an old guitar and not instantly visualised some fuzzy yet emblematic image of a bygone period? Many in modern society believe themselves to be faced with a contracting horizon and a flattening of distinctive local or national culture. Many see modern life as lacking a quality which may be embodied in certain historic practices or artefacts. These might include antiques, allotment gardening, classic cars, collectables, old musical genres. When people contrast these examples of 'the old ways' with modern life, they often attribute an 'authenticity' or truthfulness to them which stands in stark contrast to 'value-free' contemporary artefacts and culture. This belief is, of course, nothing new. In the UK, shape was first given to the concept by Victorians such as William Morris and Cecil Sharp, who attributed an 'authenticity' to furniture, tools and folk song which they believed to be wholly absent from the age of 'The Machine'. Heidegger pronounced upon authenticity. Existentialism is all about authenticity in a personal sense. Japanese culture venerates authenticity. And, of course, where there is desire there is money to be made. The heritage industry (National Trust, English Heritage, Wm Shakespeare Walking Tours of Stratford Upon Avon), Antiques fairs, retro clothing manufacturers, forgers, Fender Roadworn instruments; the examples are countless and ubiquitous. 'Authentic' sells. The qualities attributed to vintage instruments may have a basis in fact. But the belief is supported by a far wider ranging desire for authenticity. In this respect, vintage basses are simply a tiny corner of a broader social phenomenon. To me, the most interesting aspect is the inconsistency of application. As Bloodaxe rightly noted: If it's a Fender, it's 'mojo'. If it's any other manufacturer, it's just damage.

"Would [i]I[/i] spend £5k on a Gus bass?" No. My most expensive bass cost me £250 in 1985. But that's just me. "Would [i]you[/i] spend £5k on a Gus Bass" - entirely your choice, my old sausage. Whatever floats your cookie and suits your wallet. "Is a pricey Gus worth it?" BigRedX is probably the only one here qualified to answer. And by comparison to the price multiple between a base model BMW and a Bugatti, the Gus seems a total bargain.

As you rightly note, things can get very iffy if you turn the wick up. Feasible at [i]very[/i] low volumes, but not at the levels of output one would need to get over a drummer. IIRC much of the bass on Nirvana's Nevermind went through a JBL-loaded Fender Twin. But that was in the studio and a long time ago.

[quote name='bumnote' post='750388' date='Feb 18 2010, 11:48 PM']Clear nail varnish will work and is breakable if you want to make further adjustments.[/quote] Truth. No need for a new bridge; simply approach a lady - your hulking 18 stone neighbour's wife, perhaps - and ask her for a quick dab.