THE Bass Relay Thread

[gary mac]

[quote name='Grangur' timestamp='1380033390' post='2219860']
FWIW I'd pay more at auction for a bass that Mark King and John McVie have signed than having it in the knowledge that Gary Mac played it in Hoddesdon.

Maybe I'm wrong, but maybe the fundraising at gigs would be better too if you can show the sigs and say the stars who've signed?

Sorry Gary, but he knows where I'm coming from.

I recon sigs first, gigs later.

You're all doing a great job.
[/quote]

No worries mate, I know where you are coming from

[MoJoKe]

[quote name='Kiwi' timestamp='1380033294' post='2219858']
Guys, I hope there are no perceptions that the working bass punter is being snubbed in favour of glamorous, name bassists. I'm pretty confident that isn't the case.

I'd suggest we can flick the bass around to the other punters once Lars has worked his incredible magic....
[/quote]

Absolutely not at all from my perspective. This and what Bluejay says... If you need help with any more "name" involvement, as said in my previous post, I might be able to assist...

[quote name='Kiwi' timestamp='1380033294' post='2219858']
The lack of frets is really disconcerting though. Who pulled those out?!!
[/quote]

Not sure these are a recent disappearance? I've not seen it in the flesh since the LBS, but I'm sure they were missing then too!!

[Jimryan]

First thing, I pulled the frets out. You've got to remember that initially, this was just a mad idea. I didn't expect anyone to take part and for it to be laughed out the forum. The bass was effectively decommissioned. However, I do see what you're getting at. Personally, I'd suggest either re-fret the end, or fill the gaps and have the end a "prope" defret.

In regards to the other points, I understand what you lot are saying in regards to not gigging, losing momentum, celebs not contributing. All valid, but as also stated, it's raising the profile, I think it's safe to say that we wouldn't have made the Sunday mirror, the Portsmouth news (the second time) or the Falkirk Herald if it wasn't for the celebrity involvement. It's also the big names behind it, that has helped gain the sponsorships. The big names helps prove that this is working.

Alas, I can also sympathise with those wanting to gig with it. It is us lot raising the money, making the donations and being the fundraisers. It's us working the cause and not the celebs. Silvia, you know we all appreciate what you and Lars are doing, and yes, I f*cked up big time the other week, for which I've apologised. Though, how about this as an alternative?

You keep it until Lars gets back to us with dates (assuming it's not too far away, Halloween, guy Fawkes and Christmas and New Years gigs could raise a LOT of money for this). Keep hold of it for now, but, if a London member wants it for the night (there's enough of them), then let them use it. Lets use this time, to get it around the capital before it hits the road again, this way it doesn't keep darting to and fro. It does London, it does some members gigs there, the celebs get in touch, we meet them, we ship it out.

This way, all camps are pleased. The BCers of London can use it, as can the celeb players, everybody wins.

Also, Silvia, what's your most up to date PR? I've a fiendish plan that could increase donations (or exposure at the very least) ten fold.

Once again, cheers all of you for being involved and making this crazy idea work. When I'm out I chat to people in the pubs and this almost always comes up and every time, it's the same old "so how did you all come up with this?". I never thought it could grow to be this popular and I thank you all. Last Friday I was quietly having a pint and some come over and asked if it was me for "the bass relay thing" in the paper.

Cheers,

James

[Jimryan]

And out of curiosity, did either of the pots fill up at the bash? There was about £30 in one when it left me, just wondered how they got on.

James

[Kiwi]

[quote name='Jimryan' timestamp='1380039382' post='2219959']
First thing, I pulled the frets out. You've got to remember that initially, this was just a mad idea. I didn't expect anyone to take part and for it to be laughed out the forum. The bass was effectively decommissioned. However, I do see what you're getting at. Personally, I'd suggest either re-fret the end, or fill the gaps and have the end a "prope" defret.
[/quote]
I think its more about the intentions of those involved being taken seriously with an instrument that is at least functional. However, given this is your thing, it's your call. Frets are easy enough to reinsert. Five should take about an hour to install along with levelling and dressing the whole neck.

[quote name='Jimryan' timestamp='1380039382' post='2219959']
if a London member wants it for the night (there's enough of them), then let them use it. Lets use this time, to get it around the capital before it hits the road again, this way it doesn't keep darting to and fro. It does London, it does some members gigs there, the celebs get in touch, we meet them, we ship it out.
[/quote]
This is a great idea. I'm totally stunned and impressed by what you have achieved so far Jim.

[Silvia Bluejay]

Guys, I didn't have the time to go round with the bass at the bash, as I said in a post on the previous day, so there was no fundraising at all, and no photos of the bass with anyone except Dave and Paul. I simply had too much else to do, and so did absolutely everyone else at the bash.

I am waiting to hear from Lars about meeting the two gents mentioned above. It might be a short notice thingy - it was like that last time we tried (and failed), and I'm not blaming James for "f**king it up" as he says - we only had a couple of days notice, and Peter Hook was waiting for James in Bristol on the previous day, and he* was supposed to be travelling around the whole of the South East in the space of 48 hours. Not ideal.
With the Baton possibly being required at short notice - such as "can you make it tomorrow afternoon?" - I would prefer to hold on to the bass until Lars has some more precise info, if you guys don't mind.

James, there was a newish version of my press release, but I'll create a newer version and email it to you. Anyone else thinking of contacting the press, feel free to PM me and i'll send it to you as well.

* James

Edited September 24, 2013 by bluejay

[Jimryan]

I know you wasn't pointing the finger Silvia, but it was my fault, I realise that, I should've kept my cool and delivered as promised. Not to worry, it won't happen again.

[Silvia Bluejay]

No prob James. I've emailed you a new press release and photo

[Jimryan]

Yep, all received, so I'll adjust as required and send out either tonight or tomorrow night. Got a cracking idea that just might work.

[Silvia Bluejay]

Excellent

[TimR]

Dear me. It's a bass. You just hold it up, show the sigs it's currently got, tell the story, plug it in, play a song while the tin is going round and collect the money.

All getting very precious.

I don't see any more people putting more money in the tin because it has 20sigs or 3.

To my knowledge none of the big name players, apart from Rhino have actually played the thing at a gig.

New pups and frets make no difference what so ever.

It's got more value in the story to say its going round the country and celeb X from band Y is lined up to play it at Z gig soon. People might look out for it. We should be pushing for them to be playing it too.

Edited September 24, 2013 by TimR

[Norm]

[quote name='TimR' timestamp='1380061297' post='2220459']

It's got more value in the story to say its going round the country and celeb X from band Y is lined up to play it at Z gig soon. People might look out for it. We should be pushing for them to be playing it too.
[/quote]

this!
My wife (not remotely interested in celebs or names) said, "what, they're not playing it! just holding it for a pic? Why aren't they playing it at a gig? surely thats the whole point of it? W#nkers!"

Kudos to Rhino!

Also Much kudos to all of you who are currently pushing this along with your commitment & time but if we can get more names to actually use the bass live at a gig the value of story & therefore the fund should both increase.
All the best,
Norm

[Silvia Bluejay]

Guys, what you don't seem to realise is that in general we're not meeting these stars in a proper gigging environment. Even on those occasions when James went backstage to a show, he was only allowed in either before or after the show, and just for a very short time.

[TimR]

[quote name='bluejay' timestamp='1380102237' post='2220710']
Guys, what you don't seem to realise is that in general we're not meeting these stars in a proper gigging environment. Even on those occasions when James went backstage to a show, he was only allowed in either before or after the show, and just for a very short time.
[/quote]

That's kind of my point. I don't mean to be disparaging in any way. There's a lot of effort and good will going in but isn't the point if the relay that it's getting played at gigs by as many bass players as possible.

What are the terms of the guiness world record and how many players do we need? If someone has signed the book but not gigged it how do we stand. Lots of questions I know.

I did a good two or three minute chat to an audience to get them to part with their money. It seems some of what I said may not have been the truth and what we're putting the papers isn't fully correct either. I may be over egging this but would rather see us break a record and raise money properly than by misleading people however unintentionally.

Have we lost sight of the original idea?

[gary mac]

Tim, what do you think you said that might not be the truth? Just wondering in case I did the same.

[TimR]

Nothing particular but I did say that Rhino had played it on stage, we were hoping to get a few more famous players playing it as well and make a world record. It's probably not so relevant to those of us who got involved early on. Maybe the fact that people have signed it implies they've played it. What have they written in the book? No gear, no song...

Is someone keeping track of who has played it and who has just held it?

For me the idea was it was someone's first beaten up old bass being handed round the community to raise some money. That's changed, but people have donated money believing that's what's happening. We've changed pickups, talked about replacing frets. These were 'character parts' of the bass I pointed out.

I've got to go back and play that pub in a few months and people will ask me how the relay is going, how much we've made and how many people have played it. What should I say?

Maybe the PR people need to send us an official speech...

Maybe it's just me being precious. Lol.

Edited September 25, 2013 by TimR

[Silvia Bluejay]

Look I'm getting slightly bored with all this. You guys just decide - do you want stars involved or not? Do you want the press involved or not? The latter is somehow dependent on the former, unfortunately, as the media are only interested if there are big names to be dropped, and don't give a flying **** if they have played or just held the bass.

If the answer is no to the first question, let me know, and I'll thank Lars and ask him to dedicate his time and hard work to other projects. Whatever your final decision, I will not be the one who writes the speech to give the audiences at the relay gigs.

[TimR]

It's just in my experience of fundraising it's pretty key to make sure that you're being honest about what you are doing, if the media spin it that's their problem.

If we're getting stars to sign it to increase the value then that's fine. But they shouldn't be signing the book and we shouldn't be saying they're playing it during our speech.

Are we trying to break a record, what is the guidance? I've not seen anything. If not then again it shouldn't be in the speech.

Again what's the plan with the bass parts, it's starting not to be the battered old first bass that it was.

Jim spoke to Guiness, it's his baby, we're just the foot soldiers.

I'm not saying don't do these things, I'm saying think about them first and communicate them to us and the audiences please.

Edited September 25, 2013 by TimR

[Norm]

[quote name='bluejay' timestamp='1380102237' post='2220710']
Guys, what you don't seem to realise is that in general we're not meeting these stars in a proper gigging environment. Even on those occasions when James went backstage to a show, he was only allowed in either before or after the show, and just for a very short time.
[/quote]

Point taken & understood, bluejay. I know its hard to get access full stop, so any involvement is good.

[steve-bbb]

just to play devil's advocate for a moment - wasnt the whole purpose of this exercise to raise funds for charity by distributing the bass around random players up and down the country with the intention of it being gigged and then passed on to the next random gig?

not to detract from all the fantastic hard work put in by Jim and Sylvia and Lars and everybody involved, but from a cynics point of view, the fact that some cleb bass player has signed it before/after a gig (but not played it) imho would most likely not increase significantly the donations made when it makes it's next random amateur/semi-pro gig appearance - we can only hope that the added publicity from the cleb endorsement will encourage regular punters to be generous to a charitable cause - if it only does this much then it wil have achieved something positive

the cleb involvement is good for increasing its profile among bass players, particularly those who might not already be aware of it from basschat or facebook for example, but from a wider media persepctive the clebs will be getting as much if not more publicity being seen to be supporting some charitable cause - surely agents and PR for the clebs would not be doing their job properly if they didnt try and do this - and ultimately the end result should be money raised for charity and increase profile for bass everywhere

its a difficult balance and i dont disagree with what you are doing Sylvia and hopefully you appreciate also that miserable old buggers like me have offered to host it at a gig several times and pass it on but not been able to because it is either already being gigged or having some cleb leave their mark on it so we just have to wait patiently until it passes nearby enough to go grab it for a gig and pass it on

i guess the moral is we should have got in early before it got famous

Edited September 25, 2013 by steve-bbb

[Jimryan]

Ok, a quick tidy up.

They are signing the book...but not in the log section. They're signing the back. Completely separate.

Are they playing it? When advertising an up coming meet, we don't know. All depends on the player. I just tell people that so and so is getting involved. Most of these players have a tech and their gear is already sorted, but if they're genuine enough to want to use it then that's awesome.

Yes, it being battered was half the story, but the upgrades will not only increase the value of it at the end, but it makes it more useable and people prefer to use something they can actually use. To quote rhino from a phonecall between me and him "nobody is gonna be happy using a sh*tty bass that barely works".

Guinness records, from my recollection, there's nothing like this yet. They also never got back to me regarding this as a record. I'll chase them up.

Once again, we see the point you are all making about it slowing down and getting celebs involved, but people are forgetting that the plan is to auction the bass at the end, the celebrity endorsements will help pull in a larger figure.

I think the best plan is to see what Lars comes up with in regards to Guy Pratt and John Taylor and then it's back on the road. If someone in London wants it for a night, they use it and then it's back to Silvia. Silvia, I know what you said in regards to this plan yesterday, but lets face it, Lars isn't going to call at 2000 one evening and say our only opportunity is 0917 the following morning. We'll be ok in that respect as there's enough members and transport links in London to make sure the bass is collected again either the following morning or after a gig.

[Silvia Bluejay]

OK - I haven't heard from Lars yet, but I know he'll be on the phone as soon as he has news.
Regarding the short notice, it's [i]probably [/i]not going to be "tell you tonight to get ready for a meetup tomorrow morning" but it might still be pretty tight, we don't know. The only reason why I'm being so recalcitrant is that we have let John down once before and we don't want to do that again. Once I lose sight of the bass, despite all the best intentions from all sides, there's no guarantee I'll have it back pronto on the day/night I need it - we have seen how life has a habit of getting in the way.
I'll feel more relaxed once we have got those previously mooted meetups out of the way. At that point we can again give priority tothe bass being moved around.
However, at this point in time I'm not even able to say whether John is going to be available for another meetup, so it's all a bit up in the air. I'm not the prime mover in all this, so I'll be awaiting instructions. Simply tell me what to do and I'll do it.

[steve-bbb]

[quote name='bluejay' timestamp='1380114131' post='2220973']
Simply tell me what to do and I'll do it.
[/quote]

Sylvia , myself and i would guess many others on here would reiterate that you are doing a great job with this and carry on doing the best you can between the handful of you that are doing it with best intentions! what we surely dont want is for this all to start veering off on the direction of being organised by some democratic collective with everything being scrutinised and voted on otherwise we run the risk of suffering the "horse>>design>>committee>>camel" syndrome

[TimR]

Cool.

One last point. As more celebs sign the bass and it becomes more valuable we should become a bit more cautious security wise. God forbid it getting stolen! We're just handing this bass to some stranger off the Internet at a motorway services...

When we did 'The Shirt', it went missing for about 6months. Turned out the guy lost his job, moved house and lost his Internet. Musicians!

[Jimryan]

strong possibility of another magazine feature.