SpondonBassed

That'll be like Saturday mornings in Dublin in the eighties. We'd go and drool over the expensive instruments in a music shop on the quays on our way to the rehearsal rooms. It seemed at times as if everyone was trying to prove they were the best slapper in the house. None of this was amplified yet the noise was almost palpable.

The best place I worked was at the old British Aerospace factory in Kingston upon Thames. It's been knocked down now and all you will see is high density housing. When I was there in 1988, they had a twenty four hour canteen with main meals served in the middle of each of the three shifts. It was known far and wide for its high standards so it got used to capacity all of the time I was there, even on nights. That's made me a bit sad. We'll never see that sort of employer ever again.

Don't forget; most firms had their own in-house catering too. The food was usually better than at home. The catering staff were employees just the same as everyone else and lunchtime was a chance to catch up socially. That and the weekly queue at the pay hatch were conducive to team building and the staff bonding generally. Of course with social media, we need none of that nonsense now. During the eighties I was a gun for hire in the civil aviation industry. I'd take sub-contracts as a mechanic and later as a technical author via agencies. I got to see how many firms worked. It was in this period that large companies actively sought to sell off the catering responsibilities to contractors. One by one the canteens got populated by firms who really cared only to be paid. That and the elimination of weekly pay made the workplace seem cold. I loved the seventies. I was eight when they started. You could get away with stuff that would get you jailed these days and it was regarded as going through a phase and you could learn from it. Kids aren't allowed that now. Zero tolerance is everywhere. Yet, nothing really changes, cosmically speaking.

My mistake. I took the comment about them being upside down the wrong way. You had it sussed from the outset then.

Are you kidding??? The working lunch is a concept that has insinuated itself into lots of people's lives. It used to be for promotion hungry middle managers. It then became acceptable for anyone to eat their lunch at the workplace so that they could catch-up with increasingly tight deadlines! It's one of the reasons for the Work-Life Balance movement. I agree that smoking is not now acceptable full stop. I was a heavy smoker until my early forties. I used to have an ashtray on my desk until the late eighties. Then the anti-passive smoking movement took hold and I had to leave my desk to feed my addiction. Added up, it meant I was being paid for being away from my desk and therefore unavailable for almost an hour each day. Understandably my colleagues and associates were resentful. I eventually gave it up successfully. Personally, I never felt comfortable taking a meal break without putting down my work and going away from it. I wouldn't do it then, I don't even think about it now. I don't really see the stage being any different. It is a workspace after all.

So... it could be said that you need a darned good slapping. I think you'd be lucky to find such a niche thing taught in isolation but good luck anyway.

Wont those handles fit both ways then?

I remember a distinct change in attitudes towards me as a male. It was in my early thirties and it meant that a smile was no longer all I needed to charm the ladies. If I had kept up the band in my early twenties I might have got more, so to speak, in my thirties and possibly forties but in my fifties, I'm stuffed. I've taken up bass again but it's a bit too late. It's a good thing I've never wanted to settle and bring up children. When, finally, the only admiring looks I would get were from weirdos with dad fads, I grew out my beard and it effectively took me off the market completely. Life is much more peaceful now.

It's a bit like the Crossrail project this.

...and it isn't Tina playing the line either. Both bassists make that work for me. The tune would be nothing without that line.

Oh?

I Get by with a Little Help from my Friends! But seriously; Stairway to Heaven could be revived as a dance number if you gave it 125bpm in E flat with a funky horn section behind you. That'd make Saturday morning's musical instrument shop mosh-pit interesting for the staff again.

Being a bassist, it's no harm to enjoy a bit of slap and tickle now and again...

Yes, that is implicit to what I said.

That's the fun bit if you're pulled into a tempo that is quicker than the one you have practiced a standard at for years. If the ornamental bits are too fast you need to drop them for something simplified yet which punctuates the piece as before. Doing this on the fly was a great experience for me. One day I might even get good at it. If it's slowed down it's more difficult in some ways. For me, it gives me too much time to think and distract myself from the song. Imagine playing Michelle for years and then having to do it with Joe Cocker performing it! No. Not for me.

True. Nasty plastic mouldings can let a good build down.

I'm impressed with the copper foil lining. It looks like you've found some sheet foil. Was that self adhesive as bought or did you use a glue?

Thank you for The Music Locker. It's just up the road from me.

I'm glad you didn't go all Ringo like that 'click' quote he's known for. I am the walrus BTW and the eggman will be along shortly after he has collected all of the eggs from his flock of golden geese. It's not easy sitting on a cornflake you know. I may try Weetabix next time. I played with @PaulWarning and Wendy one night. Wendy on drums, Paul on guitar and vox, me on bass. He did advise me that it was intended as a punk performance. The BPM on The Letter was enough to make my fingertips smoke but the beat was consistent and relentless and fun. I prefer that to slowing a song down. It drags.

The car speaker idea has not been ruled out yet. I have a centre speaker in a long established 5.1 set-up. My Denon AVR X3000 does a self calibration to the room and I was quite happy with it. The intention is to have the new speakers positioned near the ceiling to take advantage of the 'Height' feature in 7.1 surround encoded blu ray films (for helicopter effects I suppose) so it's got to be a pair. They're going to be on a 180 Watt per channel (Peak) amp. The ebay examples like the one @RichardH posted are looking like good value. It would be difficult to match that with a self-build.

...and I thought it was just me! Hahahahaha

Yes. (Although I was aiming my comment at StringrayPete's comment above mine.) If anyone else but the drummer had brought it do you still think it would have gone down as well? I stand by my words. You'd get the weewee ripped out of you at any jam night if you were a drummer and if you were playing any other instrument the drummer would bottle you. 'Round here anyway.

Oakey dokey. Time to sharpen up your honing skills then. Do you sharpen stuff like chisels and saw blades by eye or do you use a set gauge? I use a dremmel with grindstone and a cutting angle gauge on chainsaw blades and other coarse saw blades but I do my chisels by eye on an oilstone and honing plate for speed.

Is he doing that for tax purposes like Hotblack Desiato? Interesting fact from the link above; 'Hotblack Desiato is the name of an estate agency in Islington.' It's good because the popular image of Estate Agents in general was of a bunch of cowboys. A squad of Space Cadets is a much better mental image for them, dontcha think?

PMd