meterman

What’s the asking price? They’re worth having if the price is right. I’ve owned two different ones, a Stage model (the one on four legs) and a Suitcase model (the one that sits on it’s own cab, with the panning tremolo) and they were both fabulous instruments to have, can fully recommend owning one 👍 Plus, with a very minimal toolkit you can tune the tines yourself easily, balance the pickups, adjust the action, etc. They’re pretty solid.

I actually wanted to do this because there’d be room for it, but the streets here are about 6ft wide and getting crane access over someone else’s house to drop a container into the barn would be some kind of miracle. Or cheese fever dream 😂 Although if I could get a container in 4 pieces, I could get it welded and then do the conversion work afterwards. Would still have to get permission to get hooked up to the utilities. Unfortunately, where we live it’s the equivalent of a ‘listed buildings’ area, so all the work would have to be done by council approved contractors. Getting our house roof fixed took 14 months, the bureaucracy here is off the scale. Not ruling anything out though.

Oh Douglas, I’d love it if it was possible 🙏 But without the barn roof being redone (there’s currently massive holes where the rain gets in, which is rare but it happens) and the roof and 1st floor timbers completely being replaced (they’re held up by acro props) I don’t think it would be a goer. I’m already looking at having the roof and timbers removed and buttressing the walls just to prevent the likelihood of the place collapsing, as it shares the manger wall with the house next door to it. If it went, the insurance might cover it but there’s never any guarantees. Also, solar is a no-go as we live in a ‘heritage zone’ and we’ve been point blank refused solar panels on our house roof as it is : ( If I can think of a workable solution I’ll gladly give you a shout. You legend, thank you. 👍

My wife slipped over in the kitchen earlier this year and broke her shoulder. The yowl when she hit the stone floor was incredible, like Yoko Ono on steroids or something! I hope you recover soon, best of luck with the healing process 👍

Thank you for your advice, I really appreciate it 🙏 Ideally, I would convert my barn. It's across the street and so it would be the easiest commute! Sadly, the roof needs replacing, a lot the timbers need replacing, and I'd have to knock out the original manger and get the floor levelled with concrete. None of which I have any experience of. And I'd need to have an electric supply fitted over there. If you saw the place you'd be surprised it's still standing. It's more wreck than barn, converting it would cost more than my house is worth. I've owned a couple of studios in the past but they were already established studios. I just had to move my gear in and start working. But that's not an option round here. FWIW, I don't have any amps louder than 5w and if I pick my times carefully I can get away with recording live drums in the house. I'm not a John Bonham style player. But I still don't like doing it because I know village folks can hear me. And being a forrin in a remote French village... well, you don't really want to pi$$ these locals off. They all have guns, for starters 😯 I don't want to be the "Straw Dogs" newcomer, especially after what happened to the Romanian family that moved here and (briefly) set up a drugs factory in their house. That didn't end well at all. 'Harrowing' is probably the word I'd use to describe their ejection from the village. Locals got rid of them before the gendarmerie had a chance to get involved. Having done TV work and made many records out of the corner of the spare bedroom, I know I can operate in a small space if I have to. But you're right, and I agree - a rethink is in order. Back to the drawing board 👍

Yes, thank you - I vaguely recall your place - although it was late at night when we arrived and very early morning when we left - but I do remember that there wasn’t much in the way of neighbours round yours, is that correct? Our place is in the centre of a tiny village, it’s surrounded by vineyards and there’s no shops, bars, or anything. The house is in an 1840’s mostly stone terrace rue with only 8 houses which open out onto a square with elderly folks in their chateaus. But because the area is so quiet (except at grape harvesting time) any external sounds like passing horses, chapel bells, the occasional tractor, etc, really stand out. And because of the chimney going up through the attic all those sounds sound like they’re in the room next door when you’re up there. It’s the only place in the house where you can hear external sounds really clearly. So playing loud stuff in an untreated space up there is out of the question. I generally don’t play loud, and record mostly at low volume but I’m more concerned about external sounds getting picked up by mics than me making a racket. The loudest live thing I might record is congas or occasionally live drums, but I don’t want to be that guy in the village that upsets everyone else with the noise of them. I couldn’t get away with no soundproofing at all. The attic has a pitched roof that slopes sharply towards the front street (you can’t stand up by the windows, theres not enough headroom) so whatever I build will have a sloping ceiling. But it will definitely need to be as soundproof as I can get, and have a live room and control room all in one due to space constraints. Might read up on the ‘Sound On Sound’ articles and see if a local chippy might be up for doing the stud walling. 👍

By the way, if anyone in the South West corner of France has a Cumbia band, or is starting one, and needs a bassist or percussionist, get in touch cause I’m yer man. Have guiro, will travel 👍

I love Cumbia music so I listen to a lot of accordion. One of my favourite live bands when I lived in the UK was Malphino. A lot of folks might find their shtick a little too mannered but they can really put on a brilliant show. Mind, I love Cumbia from all countries so I’m definitely biased : ) I tried playing an accordion for the first time recently. I can get by on a lot of different instruments so I thought accordion would be a similar deal. How wrong I was! 😂 It’s without doubt the hardest instrument I’ve ever had a try of. Anyone that can play one to concert or studio standard has my full respect. Wepa!

Like the title says, I'm facing the age old dilemma of building a room within a room. I've been my wife's primary carer for a couple of years now, and so far I've been able to get away with having a makeshift studio in a corner of a spare bedroom. While it has been successful enough to date, we're now looking at having to have extra nurses and possibly live-in help. So the spare bedroom's going to be taken. But because we've got a decent sized pair of (albeit slightly scruffy) attic rooms I've been thinking about building a small-ish, but workable, room within a room up there. Problem is - I've never done anything like this before. Aaarrrgghhh! Where to start? What to buy? What to avoid? Has anyone here ever done this, or have any tips beyond the obvious floating floor? I'm curious to hear anyone's stories of self built studios in their own home. Like quiet ventilation systems or what kind of soundproof isolation to use? If it's any help I've got neighbours on both sides but they don't use their attics. But I am concerned about frequency transmission or vibration transmission. Even though I'm not super loud when I record, it's still a concern. Interior acoustic treatment I can handle. But building a studio structure from scratch is totally new to me. Anyone done this or something similar? Please let me know 🙏 Thank you. I appreciate any of your time and input.

In terms of age I'm not too far behind you (55) and have had a few lean periods but sometimes you just need to take a break and refocus on what you want to achieve. Last year I got a commission to write some instrumental music for a documentary on climate change. And I'm not kidding, it absolutely stumped me. But I recorded 14 pieces of music and they used five so it worked out alright but talk about leaving your comfort zone! Do you ever write away from an instrument and then later refine what you've written once you're sat down with a guitar or at a piano or something? That's a good way of shaking up old habits and can put you in a different headspace. Or write on an unfamiliar instrument? That's another good way of breaking out of a routine way of doing things. Put your feet up for a couple of weeks. It'll come back, you'll see. 👍

I was wondering about the JD mini jazz as well. They're about 125 euros new over here. Only thing is, I'd have to buy one online before trying it to find out if it's any good. They do look good though 👍

Thank you! 🙏 I'm generally not into modding instruments beyond adding a tugbar or changing strings but I'll see about the bridge. Pickups, pots, etc, are beyond me as my soldering skills are abysmal plus my hands aren't steady enough to do a clean job. But swapping out a bridge, I reckon I could do that. Will post pics if / when my mate brings the bass 'round my house.

Quick question for the short scale community, of which I belong to. The humble Squier Bronco. A friend has offered me his kids old, unused Bronco bass for a very cheap price, and I might take him up on the offer. But, it’s one of the 2010’’s era ones with the Musicmaster style bridge. I know plenty folks here have owned these, so what I needed to know is: can you swap out the Musicmaster bridge for a regular BBOT one, ie P or Jazz style, or is there a difference in the string spacing at the bridge that makes changing it out difficult? I can live with the Musicmaster style bridge aesthetically, just not sure about the intonation though? Never owned a Bronco, but for 60 euros I’m tempted to give it a try. If anyone here has done the bridge swap on one of these, let me know. Thank you folks 🙏

Yes, different pickups. The 1970s original Musicmaster basses had a Stratocaster guitar pickup in them, whereas the late 90s Squier reissue had a decent 4-pole single coil bass pickup. I’ve had La Bella flats on both the originals and the reissues and they sound great.

Actually I wish Poly Styrene was still alive, her singing voice would have worked with the Pistols behind her.

I remember buying the “Rock And Roll Swindle” single on 7” when it came out, with the American Express picture sleeve, and although I knew the band had split (and PiL were at least a year into their career by then) the fact that John Lydon wasn’t singing on it didn’t bother me, I just liked the record. Not as much as “Public Image” but enough to spend some pocket money on it. I’ve met Frank Carter a few times when he was in Gallows (one of my mates did guitar tech for them) and I thought he was a really nice, thoughtful, actually fairly quietly spoken individual. And he could certainly give it some! But I’m not sure he’d be my first choice to stand in for John Lydon. I’d prefer to see the Pistols have an all-star band, where various singers come on and do a turn for each different song. Maybe Iggy, Siouxsie, or Spizz or Steve Ignorant and some of the old guard could do some, and some newer faces could do some too. My personal choice would have been Malcolm Owen from The Ruts, but that’s not possible, sadly.

Other folks on here will no doubt have better explanations of this than me, but in my case, the first album I had out with a band was in 1993. It got radio play at the time and a couple of tracks were used on TV shows. I received PRS royalties at the time and still do now, albeit much less. Unfortunately the label we were signed to turned out to be wrong’uns and to date, we have never received a penny in sales, despite owning our own masters, and challenging them in court (they went bankrupt to avoid paying any of their artists). So if someone wants to play a track from that album on the radio or use it for a tv sync or whatever, they have to pay us - PRS will collect the fees whether we ask them to or not. If, 30 years on, someone wants to use one of my old songs they can pay me for it, or choose to use some other music. Maybe royalty-free perhaps? Songwriting royalties just work like that. If I was a brickie, or a carpet fitter, or an astronomer then it would be a different story. Their one-off work from 30 years ago is done. But royalties are what they are, and I’m glad of them.

Oddly enough I still get PRS payments for 30+ year old records I co-wrote and played on. For things from the 1990s I don’t receive loadsamoney for what I did but when it comes in it’s usually enough for a night out or something. Not U2 or G’n’R level obviously, but it’s a nice little bonus when it happens. I have a ‘no streaming platforms’ clause in any contract I sign now, so rely on brokering licensing deals in foreign territories and receiving boxes of free stock from labels. That just about keeps things ticking over financially. Streaming has done büggér all for me in the past, either for royalties or exposure, so I don’t get involved with it now. For discovering new music there’s always the Bandcamp recommendations which you can tailor by genre (and if someone buys any of my releases from there I can have a look at what else they’ve bought - that’s been really good) and online websites (Outsideleft from Birmingham is a good one, Ban Ban Ton Ton from Japan is another, but there’s so many out there). Plus I find new music almost every day on Instagram. Otherwise, Radio Nova from Paris, or Soho Radio or NTS from the UK are good for contemporary things. I might not like all of it but at least I’m getting to hear it and I don’t have to sign up for anything to hear it. Not knocking anyone that chooses streaming as their way of listening to music at all, everything’s valid IMO.

Both No Tom, and Vintage & Rare buy from an auction company called Gardiner Houlgate https://www.gardinerhoulgate.co.uk/departments/6/Guitars and then whack the prices up on whatever they buy. You’ll find some really nice things there, but the prices... oof! Don’t know about Charlie Chandler nowadays, I haven’t visited his place for some time, but New Kings Road Guitars often had cool gear in. I’d always stop by there if I was anywhere near the area. To the OP: There’s a load of places in the North East and North West, I’ll ask my pals who’s worth a trip. 👍

Reverb fees only add up to around 10% of the asking price, which you easily can factor in by setting a price that incorporates this. Also, the low-ball bids? There's a function that allows you to automatically disable them, either by percentage or completely disable them. Having (briefly) worked on Denmark Street, I can say - without naming names - that certain independent stores will have no qualms about putting a 100% markup on your instrument, or more. I've personally seen a 300% markup put on a vintage Gibson SG that didn't even reach the shop floor, as the store had a 'wants list' book, with customers names and phone numbers in it ready for when a particular vintage item comes into the store. The SG sold within 24 hours to a 'friend' of the store owner. I use the term friend very loosely - the guy thought the store owner was his pal, but the store owner would fleece him regularly and laugh about it behind his back. I remember one customer asking me how come his vintage Tele Bass had a price tag on it that was close to 3 times his agreed commission price. What do you say? "The owner is simply a greedy b'stard"? After chatting amicably with the customer, and explaining that I was earning minimum wage anyway, and that prices were outside my remit, he took his bass elsewhere. Anyhow, that's by the by. Whatever the OP wants to do with his gear is his business. But lugging them to the UK? I wouldn't 😂

Depending on what the instruments are, and their worth, or collectibility etc, wouldn’t Reverb be worth a go from Denmark? If I was still living in the UK then selling on commission through a shop or right here on BC would be my main options. But from outside the UK, I couldn’t be bothered with the hassle of selling there tbh. Just sold a couple of pedals on Reverb today. All I have to do now is wait for the courier to collect them and that’s it done. No schlepping on planes, trains or automobiles. No hotels. Just uploading a few decent pics to a website and write a quick description, set my price, and job done. Easy. When I start putting some of my more expensive or rare items on Reverb, I’ll have a clearer picture of it goes. But so far, so good 👍

Little update - I can say for sure that having my music related stuff posted on a dedicated Instagram page linked to a Bandcamp page has been quite good financially for me over the last 10 months. An album I made at the end of last year sold all the CD, then all the vinyl on pre-order and it’s now on its third vinyl pressing. Sales-wise I’m never going to trouble Beyonce or Dua Lipa or any of them lot, but having the Instagram page linked to Bandcamp has made my music earn enough for me to live off so far this year. FB and all the rest might work better for other folks but I definitely wouldn’t discount Instagram as a social media platform to promote your stuff, whether it be music, art, small business, etc. Or biscuits 🤤

I remember the hype surrounding this album at the time, and the crazy purchase price paid for it by Martin Shkreli. It seemed to be more of an ‘art world’ kind of thing than a regular album, possibly because none of the tracks have appeared elsewhere, to my knowledge at least. Always wanted to hear it though. There’s loads of ‘one-off’ releases in existence already, many of which haven’t made it into the digital realm in any form. But because this is a super rare Wu-Tang Clan album it garners more press coverage than it otherwise might.

This is brilliant! The only reason I suspect I used to get a slightly higher fee is because often I’d be doubling on lead guitar and keys (plus BV’s, maybe percussion if needed, etc) which meant an artist or band leader could go out as a four piece instead of having to hire an fifth player, thus saving two lots of session fees, or an extra hotel room or extra plane ticket, so I could ask for a bit of extra dough. Didn’t always get it, but if you’re doing ‘double bubble’ there’d be a good chance of slightly better pay. Plus, most of my touring post-2000 was done in Europe where you’d be paid more anyway. Session players in the UK shouldn’t still be on £150 a night in the UK if there’s artist management and crew involved. I don’t think it’s worth it if you’re having to learn two or three hours of repertoire, absolutely note for note as on the records, just for a one-nighter or maybe a pair of gigs at an 02 or somewhere. But plenty still do it.