Brook_fan

Seems to me GAK acted very quickly to rectify things. Not sure it’s then fair to put up your one sided view on a public forum like this. Just my thoughts.

Firstly the background: last weekend I was scammed I bought a used Technics SLps670d CD player from someone in Bournemouth off Facebook. Paid by PayPal friends and family. Silly I know. Anyway, as he handed me the CD player in a pub car park and sped off I heard a slight rattle as I put the player in the bag I had brought. Got it home and it worked fine for several hours constant playing. Next morning it started developing an intermittent fault where it would suddenly stop playback after 6 or 7 tracks then show a ‘no disc’ error. It does this all the time now Messaging the bloke he was pretty obnoxious saying I must have knocked it and refusing any responsibility. I opened up the unit to find a tiny piece of plastic floating around. Also when having a closer look at the drive mechanism the spindle on which the cd sits looks pretty ropy and distorted. The CD also wobbles as it spins. Tried a cd lens cleaner, no joy. So, have looked into how much a new lens and transport mechanism is. About £30 to £40 on eBay. Not too bad, but am I throwing good money after bad? How easy it is to replace anyway? Tbh I’m thinking of just writing it off or selling it on eBay for parts- there is a couple of nice pioneer CD players on eBay that interest me for around the £30 to £40 mark anyway. Robbie

Many of my guitar playing friends have acrylic nails which they get done at their local nail bar. Ive always used my own natural nails, but don’t actually have them too long (not as long as a classical guitarist anyway).

Oh the irony. I sold my AER amplifier on Reverb at the weekend. Bit of a surprise as it had sat on there for a couple of months now. I accepted a lower offer, but at least this time the money seems to have come through without any significant delay. Sold it for £490 and am receiving £459.37. I still think that’s too high a commission fee. Strangely ,y they seem to have initiated payment before the buyer has got the item, but I think this time it was because I inputted the shipping info and tracking number. When I sold my guitar it was pickup, and I think that’s what created the delay because the buyer messed up telling reverb that he had actually received the guitar. Beware! Anyway roll on to this afternoon when I have just received an email to say that their selling fee is going up to 5% on 4th August 😡. Wonder how they will rate compared to eBay now? Robbie

Might be worth having a look at this new model from B&G guitars. They have two levels of guitars, the more expensive ones are hand built in Israel. They then have a far eastern version, and this bass is the newest addition. They should be orderable from The North American Guitar in the uk

No, but if any seller is anything like me I would want to factor in the fees in the selling price. My advice would be if you see anything being sold by a shop on there phone the shop direct. It may cost you the same money, but at least the shop won’t have the fees to pay. Some shops put brand new stuff up there, such as Project Music in Exeter.

I have to point out that bump fee of £73.50 was entirely my own fault, but just goes to show the problem of Reverb- my guitar had been sitting around for ages getting no new views, and so I felt a bump was the only way of getting it back up there to try and gain a bit more interest. I don’t think it was really worth that much money though , though maybe it did ultimately result in the final sale. I think the guy who eventually bought it said he had been watching it for some weeks and only went for it after I dropped the price from £2500 to £2100. But yes, I think Reverb is great for the buyer- complete protection, knowing that you can send any item back and get a complete refund, but in my experience as a seller it was frustrating and very well unpleasant trying to get my money- the buyer has to have the instrument in their hand before even the process of getting paid takes place (and as you can see, this is 5 working days). Robbie

And here is an excerpt from the transcript I had with someone from reverb when I disputed this hidden fee at the time: Daniel R.: Here is the breakdown of the fees: (07:59:07) Daniel R.: Payout Line Items Payment Amount £2,100.00GBP Payment Processing Fee (2.7% + £0.25) -£56.95GBP Selling Fee -£73.50GBP Bump Fee -£31.50GBP Shipping Label Fee £0.00GBP Payout Amount £1,938.05GBP (07:59:13) Daniel R.: Let me know in case you have any questions (08:03:07) Robbie Jessep: Ok so that payment processing fee is an entirely new one on me. (08:03:50) Robbie Jessep: I would have been better off selling through eBay to be honest. Where does it say in the contract about that fee? (08:05:26) Daniel R.: I am very sorry in case you were not aware. ebay actually has a higher payment processing fee, lots of people do not know about though (08:05:33) Daniel R.: You can see an overview of the fees here: (08:05:37) Daniel R.: https://reverb.com/page/seller-fees (08:06:35) Robbie Jessep: I think seeing as I have had so much hassle getting my money (it still hasn’t been paid into my account) that you should waive that fee. How can you justify charging that much when I still haven’t had my money? (08:10:59) Daniel R.: I am sorry for the delay (08:11:04) Daniel R.: this is just for your first sale (08:11:23) Daniel R.: and is due to security to keep your money and other user's money safe (08:11:43) Robbie Jessep: Well it will now be my last sale, and I really would like it refunded please (08:11:43) Daniel R.: we have to comply with a new European law that requires the verification of all sellers (08:12:03) Daniel R.: I checked and your money should be in your account on Thursday now (08:12:20) Daniel R.: Moving forward payment should be quicker as payout are approved as soon as an item is in transit

I think this is the disputed 'secret' fee I was referring to: https://help.reverb.com/hc/en-us/articles/360007162913-What-is-a-payment-processing-fee-and-how-are-they-assessed-

The set up fee was something to do with being able to take PayPal payments. It was a surprise to me when I was charged it.

As someone who has complained about their fees on here before, I will risk repeating myself. You must be aware of this is your first sale as there is an extra set up fee. And you will wait at least 5 days when it does eventually sell before Reverb will send you your money, It can also seem like ages before you sell your item- at least eBay the sale has a fixed time frame. I would get lots of watchers but no one actually committing to buy. Reverb seems to favour the buyer than the seller. But this is all just my bitter experience, other people will probably have had a much better experience.

JS Bach (particularly his instrumental music , such as the violin partitas, or keyboard suites), or anything by the Iranian spike fiddle player Kayhan Kalhor Robbie

I'm quite interested in trying his Rose Gold ones for my acoustic bass. I've been in contact with him and he seems like a nice guy who will make gauges to any specification you want. Just wondered if anyone had tried them as there are zero reviews on the tinternet! http://carlospavicich.com/CS/index.php?id_product=524&controller=product&id_lang=2

Has anyone on here gone from thick tapewound strings (in my case La Bella 760G) back to standard gauge strings? In which case did your nut require any further work, or even replacement? My dilemma is that I want to try my acoustic bass with Elixir Phosphor Bronze strings again, which are gauges 0.100, 0.080, 0.060 and 0.045 When I tried the la bellas I had my nut widened to take the increased guages (0.115, 0.094, 0.070, 0.060) as the strings were all about 0.014 wider than normal. Now that I would like to go back I am thinking I am going to have to have a nut remade for me. The luthier who built the bass has told me just to try it with the narrower gauges anyway. What do you think? That extra width is the size of a 1st string on an acoustic guitar, and I am thinking the strings would wobble around in the slots a bit too much. Robbie

A new piece of mine, and another addition to my 6 movement “New Forest Suite” of music inspired by the environment I am lucky to live in, all written and recorded during this lockdown. This one was inspired by some swallows I saw darting around on a walk to Buckler’s Hard about 3 or 4 weeks ago. After the tremolo section the bass kicks in. Partly improvised at first and then carefully edited and worked out, and rerecorded. Hope you like it. The bass is a Brook acoustic “Lowman”.

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