SpondonBassed

[quote name='bubinga5' timestamp='1494671693' post='3297729'] Can i be honest. Ive listened to it without a beer, and its not as good. There called beer headphones.. Erics guitar playing is annoying. I will stand by Mono's bass playing though. [/quote] Hahahahahaha! Good lad.

[quote name='stingrayPete1977' timestamp='1494851508' post='3298960'] Yes I thought they were great! [/quote] Heeheehee. Nice to see we agree on some things then Pete. I'd like to see their show live, if not actually attend one.

[quote name='ambient' timestamp='1494850060' post='3298938'] ...it saves having to have a check done with several LEAs. My cousin when she first qualified 6 or 7 years ago had to get one for each LEA that she taught through. Where she lived was on the border of 4 counties, so 4 DBS checks. [/quote] "LEA" = Law Enforcement Agency right? I am not thick but there are many "LEA"s when you look. There is another thread however where I am being made out to be thick or less than normal somehow so I'll forgive you if you think I am too.

[quote name='stingrayPete1977' timestamp='1494839649' post='3298801'] That's not true at all, £65 online through the official government site, who told you that you can't do it? [/quote] I am assuming you mean this; "The Criminal Records Bureau (CRB) is now the [b]Disclosure and Barring Service[/b] ([b]DBS[/b])" [url="https://www.gov.uk/disclosure-barring-service-check/overview"]https://www.gov.uk/d...-check/overview[/url] I was a volunteer for Sight Support in Derby where I visited a blind chap at home who was a canal enthusiast. They were both getting on in years. He was totally dependant on his wife at home due to various age related issues. I was there because he needed help cataloguing his life time collection of photos and other material while his wife needed someone trusted to stay with him while she either got some badly needed personal time or she got to catch up on her sleep. Sight Support required me to answer the questions on a CRB form. There was no fee. That was about ten years ago. Things have changed.

[quote name='owen' timestamp='1494837886' post='3298786'] I am a long time member of the MU. I believe that Unions are a good thing. It is MU negotiated fees which are paid by the media. As soon as that splinters then the fees take a complete nose dive - and this is from the companies which would have no material without the actual performers. When I have had TV companies messing me around about payments, one phone call to the Union makes the magic happen. People talk about going it alone and independance and all that - media companies love that stuff. For them that equals paying less. In Welsh TV there is even a non union and a union rate of pay. You can guess which is the lowest. This despite the production company doing their initial costings (and getting funding) using MU rates. Obviously there are all sorts of situations where the Union can be seen as ineffective, but if you have a signed Union contract for a date then things tend to go very smoothly. There is also the aspect of industry lawyers looking over any contracts offered to members. Is the MU perfect? No, nothing is. But I prefer it to no union. I do not use it often but when I do it is effective. If it does not operate in the sphere you are working in then it is obviously not effective. [/quote] That's a good answer for the pros whilst recognising that the MU is not omni-present. Cheers Owen.

[quote name='Kiwi' timestamp='1494832087' post='3298729'] They were but he's never criticised them for it. He was also shipped back and forth across the country to his grandmothers place twice because he was struggling to fit in at his school in California. In some ways, the experience with his parents gave him a fantastic grounding for being a producer, if you think about it. [/quote] Yes. That was my point really.

[quote name='Dad3353' timestamp='1494702592' post='3298039'] I might take you up on that..! Once my ops and stuff are over (end of month or so, with any luck..?), I could lift the curtain on the days and nights of a retired sedentary armchair ex-musician with time on his hands and a barrow-load of projects 'on the go' at any one time. Be afraid; be very afraid. [/quote] As long as you make sure that your y-fronts are on beneath your dressing gown when you lift that curtain I am sure we'll cope. Looking forward to you getting all that hospital faff behind you so's you can pass down the knowledge in comfort.

Impressive. Belated congratulations. I like that there are real strings with which to floss teeth immediately after cake consumption. Very well considered.

[quote name='Twigman' timestamp='1494798251' post='3298639'] ...A 500W 4ohm cab.... I emailed back telling him that if it blows up - and it's likely to - I am not responsible and does he really want the bass cab to go pop in the middle of the gig?... [/quote] There could be a legal problem with the above statement in that you imply that you might use the cab in a way that will cause damage ("if it blows up - and it's likely to") whilst saying you are not responsible. I don't think that will save you costs if there is damage. The cab will have a panel on the back with clearly printed limits of operation that the manufacturer has put there. It might even have an additional set of limitations imposed by the rental company. What ever agreement(s) you sign, the spec on the cab will be the first thing that is looked at in the event of a legal decision being made following an accident, for example. Good luck with the gigs. I hope you can get something you feel secure with.

[quote name='Si600' timestamp='1494769129' post='3298391'] I have donated the £49 from the bass raffle and Spondonbassed's kind donation to Basschat as agreed yesterday. [/quote] The credit for that must go to Andy as I said above but thanks for the mention. Looking forward to the next one.

[attachment=245279:FamilyGuy.png]

[quote name='Yank' timestamp='1494756245' post='3298290'] When I was young, there were jokes about the Polish, referred to as "Polacks", inferring that they were stupid. Years later they morphed into hair color jokes, referred to as "blonds", usually of the female persuation. Why were there no "Brit" jokes on this side of the pond? Sometimes you folks are so funny. I know in WW2 you had plenty of "Yank" jokes. "Over paid, over sexed and over here". [/quote] Sorry about that. I'll see if we can have some sent over.

[quote name='Burns-bass' timestamp='1494658076' post='3297597'] A friend of mine works with her, records her demos and stuff and apparently she's one of the nicest people out there. and apparently she keeps all her Grammies in the basement of her house. [/quote] Just for a moment I thought you were implying that she had her female grandparents locked up! Must get laser treatment for my eyes, the glasses ain't cutting it.

Any love for Ibibio Sound Machine? I had only heard them up 'till the Friday repeat of Jools' show. Not bad for saying they filled a cancellation at shortish notice. In fact I like them a lot more now. 10cc always makes me smile whoever is in the line up. Oh, and I got full Dolby D surround this time. I had probably overlooked some deeply nested menu setting before. Lovely surround capture.

It occurred to me that I had better mention because I know Andy won't. Andy flatly refused to take my petrol money in return for transporting me and my kit from my doorstep and back again. I suggested a charitable cause might benefit and to cut it all short, it went into the BassChat purse to go towards running expenses. Cheers Andy

[quote name='ivansc' timestamp='1494754269' post='3298267'] Forgot to mention that when I moved to Cambridge in 1961 the Cambridge local had a motion tabled to exclude rock and rollers from membership " because they werent proper musicians". Happily, the OTHER Syd Barrett was the chairman/president/whatever and being a very nice old guy (also an upright bass player) he vetoed it. [/quote] I suppose one of the things that meant you could call yourself a musician at that time would have been the ability to read and write score?

I think that pick guard is a nice touch for dep work. Is it a thing then that depping musicians brand their instruments according to the client? The interchangeability of the pickguard lends itself very well to that notion. If you haven't already, it might be worth looking at machine screws and threaded inserts for wear resistance. If you change them often that is.

Some good nuggets of historical background here. Thanks chaps. It's helping to clarify my thinking.

[quote name='jazzyvee' timestamp='1494679499' post='3297804'] Looks like I can make it today. I'm coming along and bringing a couple of my Alembic basses. This one an Elan 4 with all maple body two P-style pickups low pass filter Q-switch and bass and treble boost & cut switches. master volume and pan. And this one a black maple bodied Alembic Europa 5 string that has signature electronics. Two low pass filters with q switches master volume and pan. This is pretty hard for me to do as all of my friends will tell you, I never ever let anyone play my basses so if you decide you want to try it out please understand my nervousness and no belt buckles or other hardware that could damage the finish and no plectrums. [url="http://club.alembic.com/index.php?topic=7237.0"]http://club.alembic....hp?topic=7237.0[/url] Other than that, see you guys in a bit and it will be nice to put faces to basses. [/quote] Those were two of the most nicely finished basses I think I've ever seen. No wonder you had to wear orange shoes. You'd have been "upstaged" otherwise. Heeheehee. You are rightly cautious about letting others handle your basses my friend. Thanks for taking them out for us all to admire.

[quote name='NickA' timestamp='1494713488' post='3298134'] ...[color=#000000]Even got a go on one of these [url="http://www.innerviews.org/inner/tacuma/tacumaheader.jpg"]http://www.innerview...acumaheader.jpg[/url] (the Steinberger...[/color] [/quote] Gosh I wish. The one shown with Jamaaladeen Tacuma in your image looks like a composite jobbie - the L2; "The more famous Steinberger design was the L-Series bass guitar. Steinberg came up with a proprietary graphite and carbon fiber mix that comprised the main body and a face plate." [url="http://steinberger.com/history.html"]http://steinberger.com/history.html[/url] In 1979, three prototypes were "sold at The Guitarman to John Entwistle (The Who), Tony Levin (King Crimson) and Andy West (The Dregs)" Mine has a wooden neck and body. It is from the more recent production run of Spirit guitars that Steinberger procuced from 1999 on. It cost me about £260 from Digital Village (Now DV247) when they price matched the one advertised on Thomann's site at the time. I shudder to think how much the composite L series would have cost new in the eighties. Today there is a black one on EB that is over £1500 with 20 hours left in which to bid. Thanks for posting that image. I enjoyed looking it up. I might get onto Ned and see if he'll knit me a carbon monofilament version for Christmas.

[quote name='Si600' timestamp='1494695501' post='3297958'] ...and whoever made the chocolate chip biscuits... ...Thank you all once again, another one next year? [/quote] I only brought the choc chips. My house mate made them using the ALDI cookie dough packs that you find in the chiller. They're slightly better than packet biscuits because they are freshly baked. I will pass your message on. Another Bash? Pencil me in for that please. Many thanks Si and regards to everyone I met, Laters. John

Already this is looking complicated. Here are links to the bodies mentioned so far;[list] [*][url="http://www.musiciansunion.org.uk/"]http://www.musiciansunion.org.uk/[/url] - MU or Musician's Union [*][url="http://www.ism.org/"]http://www.ism.org/[/url] - ISM or Incorporated Society of Musicians [*][url="http://solt.co.uk/"]http://solt.co.uk/[/url] - SOLT or Society of London Theatre [*][url="http://www.prsformusic.com/"]http://www.prsformusic.com/[/url] - PRS. I believe it is called the Performing Rights Society although I found no words to that effect on the first skim through their home page. [*][url="http://www.ppluk.com/"]http://www.ppluk.com/[/url] - PPL. Any guesses? [/list] It appears that MCPS is a subset of PRS. Again, I couldn't easily find the words for the acronym. Helpful innit? Some further reading is required if only to find out the actual names of some of these bodies.

Another topic has reminded me of the questions; would it be wise to join the Musician's Union? What are the pros and cons? Don't get me wrong, as an amateur, it is not a requirement just yet. It would be good however to read the personal experiences of others to help me should I ever need to decide. My opinion of unions was coloured somewhat by my experience in the eighties. The semi-state company I worked for got into debate with the unions over the introduction of new technology and working practices. To cut a long story short the unions were manifold among the trades. More effort was spent on getting agreement between the fifteen or so unions as to what the latest company statement actually meant than was spent on discussing the way forward. If the company had not been part owned by the state it might well have folded. We ended up on strike because "the workers" didn't get a cut of the increased profit that more efficient working practices would have made. I left the company later for several reasons. Disgust was one of them. I wasn't disgusted with not getting a cut. It was more to do with having to strike for weeks at a crucial point in my training. It seems to me that the problem of in-fighting would not occur with the MU unless it has competitors. Should I ever (not likely) get significant employment from my hobby I may consider membership.

Cheers! I had considered not going so I could be well rested for the Eurovision Song Contest. Not. See you there, whosoever's going.

[quote name='drTStingray' timestamp='1494632274' post='3297545'] ...For those of us reminiscing with rose tinted spectacles about the OGWT, I recall that rather like Later, it had its ups and downs and sometimes it was a pile of poo whereas others it was great - once again, as with any music programme of that type, it depends on your taste as to how much you like or dislike. The Tube is another - some phenomenal stuff on there - along with some not so good. [/quote] Was OGWT broadcast live as well?