ivansc

Might be worth looking for one of the USA Reissue P's. I bought mine about 2 years ago complete with the proper case for under a grand

[quote name='Steve Browning' timestamp='1494492299' post='3296398'] One slightly off-piste suggestion would be to try and get yourselves over to Europe. Much better experience, you get paid, fed and watered and people want to be entertained. They don't stand with their arms folded and dare you to impress them. [/quote] Agreed, but you WILL be having to declare your income and pay tax and the local equivalent of NHI if you are doing anything more than the odd one-off. And after UK has Brexited, who the hell knows? My (self-employed) retirement scheme is centred around a couple of houses I renovated in France and I am decidedly nervous about where I will stand post Brexit.

Reality check from the Old Git. Players from my generation, famous or not, almost ALL would have started off on a guitar. I sort of did - first gig was as a banjp player - but already owned a guiitar. So the premise of this thread falls down completely unless you split it into "Pre" and "post" bass GUITARS becoming popular and generally available. Since the availability of bass guitars in the UK was really limited unless imported privately up to and including the early sixties, you can see why. You damn kids - don`t know you`re born! When I were a lad, all we had was a bedpost and some baling twine. Cut yer hands to ribbons, nobody could hear you.... and we LOVED IT! Carry on quibbling....

Dern. Been buying their bass strings for decades - nothing received here either.

And a silly one that gets overlooked. If this is an "older" machine, it could be as simple as dust cat or dog hair carpet fluff etc blocking the ventilating fan outlet. Put you hand against the exhaust vent and see if there is air coming out as usual ands that it isnt scaldingly hot. Common fault on older laptops, especially Sony.

So - this is a band or a trained octopus?

Lost my virginity last night. Only three songs as a "guest" playing for a guest act! Scary as hell even after my 60 odd years of playing regular bass and guitar. Hope nobody recorded it - I am sure my intonation was awful. Yay! Cant wait for the next one. But my hands are a bit sore this morning.

I have a Bassix Jaza - the smallest full scale length EUB Alan ever made. Fits in the gig bag for my Danelectro baritone guitar! I had the pleasure of hearing it being played by a proper double bassist last night and was knocked out with how good it sounded in the hands of a capable player, which I am not yet. Unfortunately he did say he isnt going to be making these in the newly reborn Bassix series, so it looks like the second hand market is our best bet. P.S. IF you decide to go this rout and can find a SMALL KK at a fair price, I would be up for a swap if it helps. Doesn't really matter to me what I learn on so long a it isn't a Stagg. Still got a sore thumb from the one I had briefly!

At least we know now where some of the necks made for Rickenfaker thru-necks ended up!

Fenders came stock from the factory with a smaller (hidden) block of black semi rigid foam glued to the inside of the ashtray. I always kept mine on, but I was playing tape wounds with a pick.

I fdind myself at age 72 9/10 (grin) having to decide where to go next. The singer in my main gig of many years died very recently after fighting cancer for a couple of years. Only 3 of us left, plus our pal Tony who has been covering on keys and some vocals whilst singer was ill. We have one gig left in the book in September and I rather suspect none of us has the energy or "wanna" to try and keep the band going. So I already have a few dep jobs lined up, some friends have volunteered themselves as "ny" band & booked me a gig with them in July. Also have NYE booked. So my question is with all these odds and ends plus a little teahing on the side, is this going to be enough to satisfy my gig itch? After an embarrassingly long time of gigging very regularly, I hate to drop iut, but....

[quote name='Spike Vincent' timestamp='1493932922' post='3292023'] [attachment=244644:post-9862-1296135181.jpg] Now you can play Guess how old I am. [/quote] Didnt know he made lefty versions of that! I spent some time working at PACE:MM when they were involved with the scorpion/steer era Burns'es. Interesting chap, was Jim.

A440 appears to have a fuller sound and some reverb added. Cynical old me....

Blotto. Pub band. Years later there was a slightly more well known Blotto in the US. Same with my earlier band in the early seventies, Chameleon. My current drummer wins the prize though - Iron Maiden. If you look on THE Iron Maiden site you will see a link to a charity LP by The Bolton Iron Maiden. Bruce & Co contacted Paul (my drummer) and this was a "negotiated settlement" for the use of the name, apparently. Happily the charity record raises around 20k a year for (among others) Cancer Research UK.

(grin) My ultimate classic was an old Watkins Dominator I bought. "new" style square black cabinet but with the electronics from the previous model, the triangular fronted one. It had been similarly butchered at some stage but in this case it was because whichever monkey built it originally had mounted the components on the WRONG SIDE of the paxolin board!!! Took a better set of eyes than mine to realise this was what had happened - I gave up after (unsurprisingly) not being able to find a circuit diagram and board layout that matched it! Pete Towers and The Amp Doctor to the rescue!

Just that these days there are an awful lot more frogs to kiss before ya find the Prince.... The sad thing with all those solo youtubers is that since the majority DONT play with others, preferring a "pro" backing track, they are never going to be actual musicians. What they will be is (insert instrument name here) players. Now they may well be virtuoso (insert instrument name here) players, but what a sad, sterile waste of talent and application. Looks like since our singer died recently my 60s band will be folding its tent and slipping away, but in the meantime I have been asked to join/form a fairly loose collective of musicians locally who gig like there is no tomorrow. Mostly acoustic or quiet electric stuff in pubs, doesnt pay a huge amount but these guys are out 2-3 nights a week PLUS their Saturday night gigs. Also have a wedding and a NYE gig before I even went looking! About 50/50 guitar and bass. There is still hope, chaps!

There's nowhere to put your thumb on a Ray.... Just sayin'....

The UK Country Western club scene has been declining steadily since the mid to late eighties, which is why there aint a lot of interest in playing it. Come to think of it, the same thing is happening on the roots RnR and rockabilly scene. Us old folks that grew up on that stuff are dying out! Modern Country???? I do OK with rootsy Americana laced with Gulf coast soul funk boogie stuff, but not too much in the way of good paying gigs out there for it.

There are no such agencies, unfortunately. Still plenty of places like Steve Allen and Starlight surviving that will be a source of work if you are good enough reliable enough have a good act and do something they dont already have on their books a million times over. And remember if an Agent gets you a gig, regardless of how much of the fee he is keeping for himself, you are still making more than you would sitting in front of the tv or for that matter trying to book yourself on a regular basis. Most agents are greedy conniving manipulators, but that is exactly what you need to get you work. A friend once said that if the agents are all sharks, go to the biggest nastiest one you can fond - they will make more money than the others for themelves and somm of it is BOUND to be left over for you. Usually more than with lesser sharks! He is right.

BIT GIT KIT DIT My only experience with this lot was having to deal with the endless splurge of tapping widdling sweep-picking tech heads to come from the Guitar bit. Thank goodness most of them subsequently learned the crucial element of being a guitarist later: TASTE!

[quote name='Roger2611' timestamp='1492970670' post='3284501'] We played a really weird pub [/quote] Crown and Cushion Great Gransden or The Black Bull in Brampton? Played them both. Weird bit fun gigs as far as I was concerned

The trick is the same as it has always been. Engage the audience. What you choose to play is almost irrelevant if you can get them to take notice.

Sorry - completely forgotten what station I watched it on! We should prolly google? Hang on [color=#282898][font=verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif][size=2]Channel 5[/size][/font][/color][color=#282898][font=verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif][size=2] [/size][/font][/color][color=#282898][font=verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif][size=2]Sun 16 Apr 2017, 9pm [/size][/font][/color] Apparently the Prince fans are not taking it any better than any of the other docu's on him, but I liked that they made no attempt to disguise that is IS a docu-drama.

I started plying bass before there was much in the way of decent amplification available in the UK, so pretty much HAD to play really hard to get anything out at all. Sadly I have never managed to lighten up my playing, although having developed pretty bad arthritis on my thumbs, fingers and wrists has "helped" in a weird way. That said, I just recorded bass lines for 12 track on an album and became acutely aware of just how over-hard I still hit everything. At my age it is probably too late to do much about it, but all you heavy jitters out there be warned! (grinz) P.S. It is worse when I play with a pick too, unless I use a rubber or felt one. Wish someone could invent a method for gentling-up all us players whose "technique" consists of beating the living daylights out of our basses.

Yeah - SO "f*** you, amateurs!" in a good way. The sheer ebullience and positivity in that performance are just... Wow.