T-Bay

My go to bass is a Thunderbird. Having tried a few I think mine is the perfect one - Gibson studio. It has the advantages of the decent pickups bit also benefits from a decent bridge. The three point one isn’t ideal to say the least. It’s the only one of my basses I can never imagine parting with.

What this shows more than anything is the vagueness of the term ‘set up’, unless the OP knows exactly what was and wast done then it’s impossible to know if £65 was well on the high side or a complete bargain.

Anything on big basstabs

And the pay must be really bad as he can’t even afford shoes.

I have has loads of sales on Schpock for all sorts of th8ngs from household surplus to specialist classic car/ racing parts not to mention a couple of Basses bought and sold and some bargains buying pedals. I prefer it to eBay as it’s all cash in hand face to face. No fees either. You can also just leave stuff on there until sells, i thinks it’s about 3 months before they pull it. I tend to price things lower on there than I would on eBay but think,it’s worth it due to the lack of hassle.

I have had a complete timewaster on Facebook bass sales (general not local one), asked for picture after picture or every little bit and piece on a £70 starter bass. Then guess what? Yup, nothing, then two week later a question asking if it’s still for sale and then nothing again.

I know a few guys in local classic car clubs who have been stung by the overseas bidder who will arrange collection, always paid by PayPal friends so perfectly safe*.One lost thousands and a car he had spent ten years restoring. I would rather not sell that risk it personally. *other opinions may exist

Strengths - quality kit, I work damned hard to make sure I know what I’m doing and can play everyth8ng spot on before rehearsal, I don’t get nerves particularly, I can do a bit of BV on some songs and I am the peace maker in the band and can gently bring the opposing opinions together when needed. Weaknesses - arthritis which makes some sorts of songs very tricky for my fingers to manage. Some I can get around but a couple have had to be dropped as my fingers just can’t make the shapes which is frustrating, lack,of general musically knowledge as I would love to be able to improvise much more that I can at present.

Yup that’s the one, his flame thrower guitars are in there.

This ^^^^ and there is a big difference between high quality ply and cheap as used in newer often Chinese made stuff. Quality ply is stable, strong and light.

Look up Colin Furze on YouTube, he has done a few along with a load of other cray stuff (his homemade pulse jet on a Raleigh shopper is a thing of beauty).

Nope, not a jot, not even a vague interaction with a triangle or recorder at an early age. My Dad had an amazing Tenor voice which I sadly didn’t inherit but that’s it. On the plus side I am now seen as some sort of magician/ music god for my ability to get a tune out of something.

The worst for me is when I think ‘wow, really nailing this tonight’ 99% guarantees the next minute will be crap.

We are lucky that we get a lot of support when we play and always bring 20 people, often bring 40 and have on one occasion rammed a pub so full they had to open up another room so I think we are good value at £300, or sure the same would be true at £600 lush another £200 for transport, late arrival home etc etc. Sadly I think they would either have half the bands or none at all. We still play at one for £80, we love the venue, love the Landlord and he is happy for us to try new stuff out (and gave us our first gig when he didn’t know us from Adam). The pub only holds 50 people filled to gunnels so couldn’t ask more. I appreciate people trying to make a living will consider this as unhelpful but I doubt anyone who does it for a main income ever plays that pub.

Same in the midlands, some pubs on,y pay around £100-150 and still get bands. Never heard of anyone getting the figures quoted in a pub. As said above, private functions are different.

But have you never heard of fake ID? Legal invoice? Countersigned by whom? I know a guy in the local classic car club who lost just shy of £8k to this very scam it DOES happen. Whilst it may not be common why risk being the victim of any scam? It’s not being paranoid it’s being sensible. Any fraud expert or police officer will tell you that the best scams are those that are an inch off being genuine, so much so that people end up falling for them and losing out. If it’s a £5 item then you haven’t lost much (apart from the fact that as Fleabag has correctly pointed out nice old PayPal turn it into a £20 hit) but any item worth a decent amount, no way. And yes you can get fake cash but there are ways to protect against that as well. It’s just about being careful and minimising the risks. And yes you could take PayPal to court if their terms are illegal, but you would have to have far deeper pockets than mine (and I suspect 99% of the population), that doesn’t make it right but it’s the way it is.

Possibly if you are prepared to go to small claims court, PayPal just pay out to what they decide is the injured party and no matter what hand written evidence and photos of number plates you may have they really don’t care. So sadly you will NOT be protected by PayPal in such circumstances. Selller beware in these cases.

That’s interesting, does that apply if you list it as collection only? I don’t accept PayPal for pick up only items anyway, too many people being scammed on that one as it is.

I work with kids with a range of disabilities and have two very good friends who are music therapists of many years (one our drummer but we don’t hold it against him). I have worked closely with them for two decades now and seen the potential it has to transform the lives of some of our kids for the better, if I can help give me a shout, and I am sure they would be happy to chat to you about the job- both are very enthusiastic about it not surprisingly.

And to be fair the first one probably is me if I am honest 😞

I like this one but fear our lead guitarist may take it too seriously

Surely not if the seller points out the risks and suggests the buyer is responsible IF they choose to proceed? That way you can take it or leave it. I am selling a petrol tank for a classic car at the moment and clearly stated pick up only for obvious reasons. A guy has been in touch who wants it, I initially refused as I didn’t think anyone would carry it but he is confident he knows somewhere that will and it not require packing by myself. If they turn up and won’t carry it or damage it, I don’t see that as my responsibility at all. The OPs case seems very different though and I would expect the seller to cover this. If people ask for F&F I sometimes do it for small sums but for anything larger I just add the percentage on for fees. It’s only a few pounds and gives that protection should something like this happen.

As I said in my first post........ but based on so many threads on here, should I spend the tenner on that or lottery tickets?

The great thumb question.......... There are lots of schools of thought it seems. I won’t suggest which is the best as 1, there are many ways and different ones suit different players and 2, I would probably be lynched. I used a bastardised hybrid where my thumb sits on the pickup for the E and A string and then shifts to the E string for the D and G. It’s sort of a floating thumb for the clueless. I personally don’t like a fully floating technique but only play finger style. If you get fifty responses you will probably get 49 answers! Find one that’s suits you and enjoy.

It is a shame, I have been on a while and this is the first decent lead I have seen but it’s a lot to fork out for what could end up being a quick dead end.