Rosie C

Thanks everyone! & thanks for the linke Phil, that lead me to

I'm looking at getting a wireless headset mic. The arrange of frequencies is bewildering. The options that are legal without a licence seem to be 863-865Mhz or 2400Mhz which is the wi-fi band and I'm guessing could be problematic. Just wondering what other people are using?

I won't name the studio, but my worst experience - I turned up for a classical piano exam and the staff had to explain they didn't have a piano.

I was looking at the National guitar, lot 37 from memory. But then I read the detail and it's not the one from the Brothers in Arms album. Makes me wonder how many guitars he has!

I've never been to Firebird, but it's the place RockSchool's also assigns me for exams, despite being in deepest, darkest Wales. That does look like a decent line up of equipment though!

One for bowing with metal strings, one for pizz with synthetics...

I recently had my bridge converted to adjustable, I was reccomended a luthier who will do it by mail. That could be a solution - adjust the bridge up a couple of mm?

I use an LS-2 for line switching - it has level adjust on both channels. At the end of the line is a GEB-7 for EQ, mainly to roll off the lowest tones to reduce feedback.

I have ACS ambients and I love them. I mainly use them for playing double bass I take a feed from my tuner pedal into a little amp them into the IEMs. I'm starting to use them when singing as well now, but that's a work in progress.

Or new even - my Squier jazz was a tad under £400, I bought it the day before covid lockdown. I couldn't fault it really, certainly compared to what I was playing in the 1980s.

I would dearly like a Hagstrom H8. One day...

I think similar at times. After 30+ years of just messing around on instruments I started a music degree. I have to be careful with topics like "effective practice" to look forwards and how I can do things better, and not back at thousands of hours of ineffective practice!

I placed several orders for acoustic treatment last year - delivery was a bit slow at times, but the price was the lowest around.

Brilliant, thanks!

Thanks @Kitsto !

Does anyone have a checklist they use when booking gigs that they could share? I have a meeting coming up with our town council and I'm trying to think of things to ask...

Others must have had better experiences, but every instrument I've personally bought from Thomann needed setting up again by a local luthier. +1 on getting an adjustable bridge - as well as being able to try different heights, you can fit a Realist Lifeline pickup. I play bluegrass and jazz - I'm a big fan of Innovation Rockabilly strings - a lovely dark sound and much easier on my hands than metal strings. Only suitable for pizz though.

John Taylor - the inspiration for starting to play bass back in the 1980s and still my favourite bass player.

That's about the rate our band have been working at. When you add in holidays, Christmas, sickness, etc. it's taken us about six months to get a decent range of songs to suit a range of situations.

Exactly the same in our church - Fridays used to be our rehearsal, then a meal at Weatherspoons next door. But it took an evening, and it was rare everyone could make it. So now we meet up an hour before the service - works just as well.

Some sort of reference tome, like the Oxford Companion to Music?

I use the gold Herco for mandocello, once I tried them I've not used anything else.

I suppose in the 70s & 80s the UK had student grants, so there was the route the likes of Bowie followed of going to art college and having a few years to experiment. Maybe I'm just too old, but for me loud volume is killing live music. We were at a pub last weekend, just for a beer. There was a band setting up and we would have stayed, but they were SO LOUD. The drummer was wearing industrial ear protectors...

Yes, I do "Sound of Silence" and America. But vocals + mandocello, not bass.

My Squier jazz has alloy tuners. It made a huge difference to the weight. I believe they're Hipshot Ultralights but they don't have the Hipshot logo on so maybe copies. Sadly I can't help with sourcing them - my guitar technician had a second hand set in her workshop. But I would recommend that style - from a post I made on another bass forum it saved 6.5oz on the headstock.