Beedster

I have two, one fretted and one fretless, both bitsas, both very nice, I’ll post some pics at the weekend 👍

Never take me too seriously 👌

100% this ^ I’d go so far as to say that with the possible exception of a refret I’d not let a tech near any of my basses. Every time a tech has ‘setup’ a bass for me I’ve had to reset it, the worse example being the guy who installed a new nut on a fretless with explicit instructions to replicate the exact depths of each slot of the nut that had broken, but who set it up to be almost unplayable below the third position the slots were so far off the board. ‘That’s how most people have it’ said he in his jaunty workmanlike tone…..

Fender QC strikes again 😆

By the way, that's pretty impressive even by courier standards, but having arrived at its intended destination within a reasonable period of time still has some way to go to beat Parcel Monkey and my lost then found then lost agin then living on a pig farm in Suffolk Mesa Boogie cab

Check with the courier first, cling film gets stuck in the sorting machines used by some firms. About 2 years back I sent a box protected in bin bags (neatly done) ands Interparcel charged me £30 fee for manual handling. When I told them to do one they pointed out that a) it's clearly written in their T&Cs and 2) they still had the package Funnily enough I literally just told the same story to a guy here who sent me a package covered in cling film and warned him to watch out for the invoice!

Thanks @Woodinblack re the above more than one of your fellow mods were/are aware 👍

It's a journey that I'm glad I've also come to the end of Lawrie 👍 (PS interesting point about dealers not wanting to buy back instruments they previoulsy sold......)

It's probably important that I make it clear that I have no hard evidence that I was being scammed, and it ended without acrimony. But it certainly felt like I was being scammed at the time (and that was also the view of few others I was keeping in the loop). It's quite possible that the appraisal of the bass given to the member in question was genuine if, as it transpired ill-informed, and that the member was acting in good faith. However the fact that it happened twice, plus the multiple BC IDs, tend to push my thinking in the opposite direction. Vintage Fenders are a big money business, there's a lot of emotions around the buying and ownership of them, so it's bound to attract some sharks

One of the least pleasant experiences I've had on BC was selling a '60s Precision to a 'member' (I use the inverted commas because he was 100% a dealer and anyway was technically 'members' plural as he had multiple Basschat IDs and was clever about doing it) in around 2008/9. He came back a few weeks after the sale and said he'd had the instrument independently verified as not original or authentic. Quite a lot of money had changed hands and this was a pretty anxiety-inducing thing, especially as I no longer had the money which had gone into a mortgage deposit. I'm a trusting person (less so now sadly, in part due to the guy in question), so my first worry was 'Shit, I've been sold a dud, didn't do my homework, and am possibly going to be left several thousand out of pocket'. Having said that, two guys on here had looked at all the evidence and had given it the all clear. The buyer sent me what appeared to be a professional appraisal of the instrument and indicated that he was expecting a significant cash refund, interestingly not a reversal of the deal, IIRC I had told him I was only selling the bass to put money into the mortgage so he kinda had me over a barrel. I said I would go back to the original seller who, to his credit, went straight to business and produced not only a lot of documentary evidence relating to past ownership but also cast significant empirical doubt on the detail of the 'professional appraisal' I had a PM from a long standing member a year or so later suggesting the same guy had done something similar. I messaged the mods about it. I also messaged the 'member/s' and told him/them I was wise to his multiple IDs and wondered why he would do it as it shouts 'dodgy'. I didn't mention the fact that he appeared to be trying to scam members by using dubious facts about instruments, I should have done, and I certainly would now. Is he still a member here? I'd be surprised if not, although I imagine with different usernames

Interestingly when I open the cabin doors and windows the humidity in the room increases. Might just be the weather yesterday and today, and we are also in a natural dip in the middle of a lot of trees and farmland. But I assume air moving around the cabin constantly is probably more important that the minute to minute humidity of that air?

I get that mate, and I doubt there was any trouble that night, but when a landlord suggests you leave in that situation, you leave 👍

We were booked to play at a pub opposite a cricket ground on a Friday night a few years back. For reasons on which I'm still unclear - although partly because I could walk to the venue - I decided to take my Breedlove Fretless rather than my double bass, which turned out to be a wise move. We got close to the pub and there seemed to be a lot of lads and a few girls from a certain 1970s/80s youth culture milling around, very short hair, Doc Martens, rolled up jeans, Harringtons, Fred Perry shirts........ Anyway, got to the pub and it was rammed full with members of said culture. We started setting up and sound checking and it was clear that the volumes/speed of booze being put away, plus the contrast between us and the band this lot had come to see later night, might lead from some mild sarcasm to a bit worse. To his credit the landlord paid us in full and said "Get out while you still can lads, we'll be out of booze soon anyway.....'. We were genuinely relieved, but I would not have wanted to navigate a double bass out of there But I do remember feeling genuinely quite scared, streets full of skinheads was a little too close to my childhood for comfort, even if most of them were in their 40's

Can I infer from the above that if I’m using a heater - which frankly as I’m sitting at a screen for hours at a time I prefer to do - I should use a dehumidifier at the same time to compensate?

And pretty much everyone else, hell of a career for a guy who started out as a metal guitarist 👍

Thanks, that's good to know, and frankly I wasn't worried until the cabin showed the same levels as the garage, which I know can be very damp (cardboard boxes start to fall apart etc). I've got a monitor in each at present to check wether identical readings were just random chance (i.e., good day in the garage). I've picked up hifi forums that much above 60% doesn't do speaker cones or electrics a whole lot of good, hence my concern.

Many thanks mate, fair point re small cracks, but I think you're right about the build of the roof itself. I've been looking at some potential solutions, one of which is a vent as you suggest, although thre's not a lot of room. At present the lining tacks the angle of the roof, I might put a flat ceiling in which would allow for proper ventilation I suspect

Thanks Rosie, I have a timber roof covered on the outside with the usual garden-style roof felt, and on the inside classic loft-style insulation and plasterboard lining. I'm wondering also if moisture is being trapped between roof and lining and therefore keeping the humidity high, and if so, what might be the solutions. I'd prefer to build a new interior, even a new roof, to provide good humidity than use dehumidifiers 24/7. I wonder whether i need ro have some form of ventilation in the walls as do houses?

Folks I need some experience on this. I have a garage that if I leave for example a book in the pages start to wave pretty quickly, it even feels quite humid in there. I have a sealed cabin which is my office and to all intents control room in which I run two small consumer dehumidifies, and in which i keep some instruments and electrical gear. Books seems fine in there, no wavy pages. Recently one of the ceiling panels in the cabin came down and the insultaion above it felt damp to me. There's no sign of any leak in the roof, in fact the felt is in really good condition. I bought a couple of humidity to check however and both spaces, garage AND. cabin, are showing up pretty much the same, mid-60s, which was a bit of a shock. I've moved the meters around to check they're sensitive and they seem to be, for example showing higher temperature and lower humidity (consistently around 50) in the house. I've had no signs of humidity being a problem in the cabin but I'm now a little worried given what I keep and there and use it for. Do I need to be, and if so what's the solution. I can get a bigger dehumidifier, and I keep some of the gear in airtight SKB cases which should be fine (according to their blurb anyway). Suggestions welcome.

Yep, but isn't it good to know what sound you want and how to get it/keep it, I know quite a few musicians who struggle with both sides of the equation 👍

Must admit I came very close to buying the Alcoa, problem with the Pfretzschner I had for a while was that it was so much smaller than my other bass, the Alcoa might have fit the bill a little more 👍

But fixed it for you anyway Jack 😃

All very good points mate, I play first and foremost for my own pleasure, and will also be recording some self-penned double bass jazzy stuff next year, otherwise you're bang on with the points above. Having said that we also rehearse unamplified as a band. But yes, on gigs I find it a problem, hence my failed experiment with Spiros and a Krivo last week 👍