Simon.

Indeed, which to me seem a bit excessive. Then again, I don't know how many day in a year these things are likely to be out on hire, and at what kind of frequency they need to be replaced. If you have a bass rig that only goes out on hire for 50 days in a year, but needs to be replaced at the end of that year because it's been trashed, then yeah, 1/20th makes sense. If it's out for 50 days in a year, but will last you 10 years, with minimal maintenance, then it becomes a cash-cow. If you we looking to hire something long term for a show (more than 5 weeks), then surely it would make sense just to buy, new or 2nd hand, and then flog it at the end? Which, admittedly, wouldn't help @roonjuice any.

Certainly for the hire of marine survey kit, that was the going rate, but we are talking about equipment in the £5k - £50k price range, and quite a limited selection of suppliers. I've just had a look at the prices on a local PA / Backline hire company (DM Audio) and it looks like 1 / 20th is about the going rate, so my bad.

When I used to hire a lot of survey equipment, the going rate was roughly 1 / 200th of the replacement cost, per day of hire. Hiring backline for festivals, we used to pay about the same rates. However, mostly that was on the basis of a 1-2 day hire. If it was a longer term hire, you would get a reduced rate. In your scenario, I would look at it as 42 shows, and then decide if you want to give them 'mates rates' or add on a little more if you think there is a risk of damage - either from the band, punters or lack of security. Also depends a bit on how attached you are to the rig, and how you would feel if something happened to it. Unless you are dealing with pros, who understand the costs of the kit, be prepared for people to baulk at whatever price you quote.

O.M.G. ! 😲 That is so good. 😎 Have I got it right that this is the back of the neck, we are looking at? I'm very intrigued as to how well this will carve into a neck profile, and how the pattern will look.

The Stirling Castle show(s)? I was on the crew for that. Was quite an emotional weekend.

The level of skill and attention to detail in this build is jaw-dropping! 👍 Always fancied the idea of winding my own pickups.

I'm kind of torn... Normally I would have said no-plate, as the top looks just so sweet. However, the more I look at it without the plate, the bigger and bigger that bell plate starts to look, and in need of the scratchplate the off-set it.

Really like the shape of that! So nice to finally land something you have been after for ages.

Back in the, when in an Americana band, we were going to a Bon Jovi tribute gig for a laugh (possibly as our own support slot), with the name of Ban Jovi. To be fair, after a couple of rehearsals it was clear that the name was the best bit...

Still my favourite tribute band name, ever! Dead jealous.

This is such a bonkers build - I really love it. I guess this is more a question for Sims, rather than Andy, but it did occur to me, after watching the video of the Sims pickup demo, is why not have 4-way toggle switches on the pickups, rather than a 3-way + an extra on/off switch? Would save a bit of real estate.

Not at all normally my 'thing', but I thought there were some really good ideas in there. It would be interesting to see where there splits into the 5 sections/acts are supposed to fall. I did like a lot of what was going on between about 2.20 and the 5 minute mark. Drumming, to me, seemed very of the genre and not all that unusual in the world of digital recording. Good effort. 👍

Just wanted to echo what Dave has said - War of the Worlds is amazing and Herbie's playing is just awesome. I'm gonna have to put some effort in to learning to read... Thanks for posting these - and all the others. 👍

It looks like one of his basses was 'Bass of the Week' on No Treble back in March. https://www.notreble.com/buzz/2020/03/16/bass-of-the-week-elwray-basses-amani-5/ Hope he's still building and just too busy to post on BC. I liked a lot of the ideas on the Community bass.

Not a band I listen to a lot, but the Barenaked Ladies did a 'Holiday' album a few years back, and IMO, this is 32 seconds of awesome:

I find this a really interesting subject, but one which can be hugely subjective and open to individual interpretation. In a parallel life, I work as a tennis coach, mostly for juniors. A couple of years ago I had a new lad join one of my classes, and his parents were very diligent beforehand, explain that he was very much on the Autism spectrum and they just wanted him to give it a go and have some fun. No worries. A couple of weeks in and I was really struggling to connect with the lad and get him engaged in any way. It was really frustrating. I read and re-read the coaching literature on dealing with Autistic children, but nothing worked. Then one day I read the section on ADHD, and it fitted like a glove! Pretty much overnight I was able to get the lad to engage with the lessons, even start to interact with the other kids. It's not straight forward, and many (most) non-mainstream teachers / coaches / educators will have had little or no education on the subject.

Those look great - especially the singles! Obviously a lot of thought and work had gone in to these. Best of luck with them.

Like that. 👍

I got a set of the Vintage 4s a fee months back, and like them a lot, but as they are flats, I'm going to need to replace them any time soon! However, I would to use them on my 5-string. Any new on if / when there will be 5-string sets on the Vintage available?

That is brilliant. I always wanted an 8-string, never quite brave enough to think about a 12 though. 👍

This is the concept I had in my head, but couldn't work out how to express. Thanks! 👍

Looks intriguing - I'm having visions of the Jetsons!

First 'proper' gig I went to was Sabbath on the Headless Cross tour in 1989 (?), with Mr Murray on bass duties. Was an awesome night. 🤘