Dr.Dave

[quote name='The Dark Lord' timestamp='1334572196' post='1617667'] Good comment. I am acutely aware that musicians who "don't need the money" should not go around charging very low rates - as if we all did that, we would harm the income potential of those who do need the money or who did it for a living. That's part of the reason that I asked the question in the first place. [/quote] That's a very responsible attitude - one that Dr B has always gone by. Don't ever apologise for putting a fair financial value on your time and skills. As to your original question - I think basing your price for parties at around £80-100 each plus travel expenses is very fair. When you think about it you probably couldn't go to HSS and hire the value of the gear you'll be bringing in for £200 let alone someone to operate it !! If you go through an agent - let him know what your minimum is taking into consideration his fee and the distance within which he'll be touting for gigs for you. It's then his role - and in his interests - to get more.

I strap my old Precision on and I grow instantly to a height of 7 ft. We go onto the stage and say to each other ' here we go again' like we have done for 33 years. Whatever it is that makes it special it's got nothing to do with materials and measurements etc etc. I'm not that interested in tone - all I want is a basic sound that's pleasing to my ears without having to mess about with knobs and switches. Tone's subjective anyway.

[quote name='bluejay' timestamp='1334237955' post='1613017'] Sigh. No size 6 and even the smallest size is too big for me to take in properly... [/quote] These folks should be able to help ! [url="http://www.britishlard.co.uk/"]http://www.britishlard.co.uk/[/url]

Fag burn's deliberate - about the least cool thing I can think of. Otherwise - oldish Fender possibly for a good price but looks a bit boring.

a google of the ebay usernam reveals - [url="http://www.shukerguitars.co.uk/jeremymeek.htm"]http://www.shukerguitars.co.uk/jeremymeek.htm[/url] The sheffield/derbyshire thing. Guessing but Jon's premises used to be in one but he then moved a few miles to the other. Can't blame him either.

I didn't like pop music at all - thought they were all a bunch of lightweight pretty boys - then I saw Slade on the telly - loud , ugly , dressed stupid - and thouht 'that'll do me' ! I set out to be an entertainer - I chose bass because I didn't know any other bass players and thought I could carve my own niche , but I really just wanted something to do with my hands while I was singing.

Ever seen those rockabilly slap double bass guys hands?? Now they are a mess. I wouldn't do it.

I like gig bags and it's very rare my hard cases get used. I'd avoid having too many pockets because the temptation is to over fill them. I'd also check the zips - bloody things are the bane of my life. Many gig bags I've tried - including Fender ones - get stuck because the bag lining sticks in the zip teeth.

That sorry f**k from U2. I can't bare to type his so called 'name'. Honestly , joking aside , I find the man a disgusting piss take of human kind. A horrible , horrible cnut. The day I hear of his demise will be a fine day indeed.

[quote name='seashell' timestamp='1332851876' post='1593917'] Also, I would rather like to see Dr Dave's lot. Sounds as if they might be out of the same mould as Dik Guru and should be a bit of a laugh. As long as it doesn't get me into a feminist frenzy! [/quote] Course we wouldn't , love. You just sit your pretty self down the front and we'll get you a nice half of lager and black. A Doc B/Dik Guru double header sounds fun - should think we can get just about everyone tutting in disgust between us !

It'd just be for the 54. The staggered pup on my 'normal' Precision is perfect for me as a thumb rest. On the 54 my thumb gets comfy on the pup but then sort of slides off after a bit leaving me half hitting the odd quiet sounding note.

I'm tempted. Wondering whether to fashion something that would sit further back over the Pup than KiOgons. If I stepped the bottom it would fot half over the pickguard and half not which is where I'd want it. Then I could epoxy it to the pickguard alone to try it out without having to drill holes. I suppose then if it was doing a job for me I could get Guy to make me a proper craftsman made job - they look a good product.

[quote name='KiOgon' timestamp='1332194116' post='1584753'] Here's one of Guy's single screw Maple T/R on my '51P [/quote] Do you use it?? I presume you do otherwise it would be in the way. I have a 54P single coil but I seem to be able to play it wth my thumb on the pup some of the time and floating around the rest of the time. Other folk pick it up and they can't get on that way at all. The one that goes on my 73P went in the bin years ago - just got in the way. I think they look really good and it's totally none of my business what other folk do but my mind set wouldn't let me have one on for that reason alone

To be honest - I usually find that when I have boomy issues they vanish when the room fills up !! Not that I bother much with 'proper' soundchecks so long as my vocals don't feed back. I know where all the knobs go to give me the (very simple) sound I want and I'll maybe tweak the bass or treble a touch in an iffy room. I expect the williams are used to hearing what music sounds like in that particular room so why worry. Maybe , as musicians , we easily get lost in the pursuit of - what we consider to be - a great sound. A great sound is down to personal taste anyway so I'd rather get an easy , useable sound and concentrate on my playing. I never have problems with sound engineers at bigger gigs. I tell them I'm a doddle - in fact our band's a doddle - I won't give them any grief . I'm easy to get on with and I make a point of thanking them for their help. I also tell them that if they prat me about I won't pay them or ever use them again. Seems fair. Sound engineers are important - but they are there to assist me , not the other way round. So long as we all understand each others place in the food chain - no problems. The PA firms that know us breath a sigh of relief when we appear because they know we won't act up like a lot of bands do. Once or twice I've had 'your bass is too loud' to which my reply has been 'come over here and try to turn it down then ...... make my day'.

[quote name='PaulWarning' timestamp='1332768498' post='1592773'] Why, do you stop w***ing when you get to 50? [/quote] I didn't start til I was 50 !! Why is it iffy to be singing teenage kicks in middle age?? I don't get that. Most songs are stories - stories are recollections about events in the past. You don't stop telling a tale about something that happened to you at school or in your 20's when you get to 50 so why wouldn't you sing about them with the same gusto? Middle aged people have memories of all of their lives - everyone remembers teenage kicks - if you want to sing about them at 50 , plenty of 50 year olds - and other ages too - will want to listen. At least it's something you know about. Makes me laugh to hear some pillock bawling out 'Sweet Home Chicago' in a Northern boozer and he's never been further west than Blackpool.

[quote name='paul torch' timestamp='1332766915' post='1592731'] A band member of mine once refused to play a cover of the Rutles Goose Step Mama. Obviously a very tongue in cheek song to me. [/quote] I bet he's a riot at parties.

[quote name='markstuk' timestamp='1332764810' post='1592684'] I presume if we intro any of the songs as "this is our post-modern ironic take on this" we'd get away with it... ? [/quote] I reckon that if the williams I play to need me to explain that to them they should have stayed at home in their yurt knitting themselves a dreamcatcher. There is a type of humour in English pubs - and especially English music pubs - that is an absolute national treasure , despite all the toss rod PC cowardly wimps of this world throwing all they can to stop it. I like that type of humour - I shall champion it at every opportunity and continue to get paid for doing so.

[quote name='seashell' timestamp='1332761205' post='1592594'] Nobody's mentioned 'Aqualung' yet! But I guess that's not usually done by yer average covers band! [/quote] I always think a stange case is the Uncle Ernie bit from Tommy. Obviously fiddling about with a disabled kid is fine as long as it's under the umbrella of Keith Moon's OTT comedic portrayal. Then you look at the more recent hot water the Who's main writer got into - then you read that he asked John Entwhistle to write Uncle Ernies song because he ...er.... didn't think he could do that a good a job.........yes , that's it.....

[quote name='JTUK' timestamp='1332759473' post='1592546'] Messin' with the kid... can't even get any further than the title..!!! So that is quite a few blues bands sets ripped to shreds [/quote] We did that for ages and made a paedo gag about it !! Political correctness in a pub band !!!!!!!! Whatever next. It will not happen while there's breath in my boidy I can promise you that!!

[quote name='seashell' timestamp='1332755123' post='1592438'] .. interesting discussion around all those songs about under age girls. And yet as far as I know it's still OK to do 'Delilah' and 'Hey Joe'. Which are both about murdering someone. Come to think of it, I'd love to see a band that did Delilah [b]and [/b]Hey Joe. Could make for a varied evening's entertainment! [/quote] You're always welcome !!! We dropped Delilah a while back but we dig it out from time to time - our Hey Joe with a reggae ending has been going forever. That - the Gary Glitter - the poor taste Amy Winehouse tribute ('other dead smackheads are available ') - the Sweet Home Alabama but let's not mention burning crosses - Jesus just left Chicago with the altered lyrics about bestiality has your average Christian heading for the door - Michael Jackson gags - Whitney gags etc etc etc Dr Blue - Guaranteed to mildly upset everyone for our general amusement - long may it continue !!

We do Gary Glitter's 'leader of the gang'. It's still a new addition to the set but it's going down storm. I'd have thought if the 'general gig going public' were going to get upset by it they'd have told us by now. We also do a bit of Amy Winehouse - doesn't mean we're supportive of substance abuse. How many of us do Phil Spector stuff? Doesn't mean we're fans of murderers.

[quote name='Beedster' timestamp='1332615692' post='1590807'] Fender Precision and pretty much anything to be honest [/quote] I'll change that slightly to - Feder Precision and pretty much anything that doesn't break down.

Just back from a regular pub gig that was elevated to ledgend as Derek - a big friend of our band - had his 50th birthday do there. We had him on stage , all wearing Derek masks , presented him with an honorary 'doctorate' making him the fourth member of the band etc. We even had his mum up singing. Brilliant night and a pleasure to be involved in his party. Home now - coffee , crunchy nut cornflakes , and watching catch up TV - the thing about John Bishop's Paris to London trek. What an enormous pair that guy has. I've never seen a man so knackered. I keep thinking Walliams has made a monster with his channel swim. One day some celeb will push it too far and drop dead. I thought Mr Bishop might halfway across the channel - just totally gone.

[quote name='stoatsbrother' timestamp='1332488530' post='1588926'] What dedicated bass pedals would you recommend as a start down the road of excessive on stage wiring? Or should bass players stand at the back, not move, and play cleanly and discretely.... [/quote] Not sure about your 'either/or'. I've never stood at the back and I never will - Nobody ever forgets seeing me - BUT ...never used a pedal in my life. One more thing to trip over , one more thing to go wrong , one more thing to blame when you don't play well. I expect your son already has a tuner of some kind. He may well have compression or overdrive facilities on his amp already. Compression can be a useful thing , especially with playing styles like slap , so a good gift choice would be compression. 2nd choice is.......... give him the hundred quid to go see loads of gigging players in action. He'll learn a lot more than he will from a silly pedal. Further down the list of things to do/have to be a better player - maybe about 200th - would be a decent chorus pedal.

Whatever it is - gold plated Mesa et al - if it breaks down halfway through the first set it's worth exactly f*** all to me. Give me cheap and reliable over expensive and tempremental any day of the week.