String poll - what would you like to see in a rehearsal/recording studio complex?

[bazzbass]

2 minutes ago, Stub Mandrel said:

+1

only seen them in one rehearsal space, and I've seen a FEW since 1979 lol

[Merton]

Come to Hive Rooms in Horley then. They have two in each room. 😎

[Davo-London]

In 40 years of playing I have never ever broken a flatwound string.  I have broken 2 maybe 3 roundwound strings.  Flatwound players tend not to abuse their strings / basses whereas metal bass players will be using stainless steel rounds and giving them hell.  These are the strings that you need to stock!!

Hope this doesn't offend any metal players out there I am simply going from observation.

Peace

Davo

 

[dmccombe7]

Make sure they are priced appropriately. I needed a 9V battery for my tuner and the studio charged me £4.50 for one. I can get 2 Duracell ones for £4 elsewhere. 

I appreciate they need to make a profit on them but 100% is a bit much. Oddly enough the studio cost is £35 with 1st class gear supplied so its a bit of a shame they charge so much for the little items you might need.

Would hate to have to buy a set of strings from them. I'd need a 2nd mortgage 

Just a suggestion to be realistic with the pricing of these things.

Dave

[Stub Mandrel]

16 minutes ago, dmccombe7 said:

Make sure they are priced appropriately. I needed a 9V battery for my tuner and the studio charged me £4.50 for one. I can get 2 Duracell ones for £4 elsewhere. 

I appreciate they need to make a profit on them but 100% is a bit much. Oddly enough the studio cost is £35 with 1st class gear supplied so its a bit of a shame they charge so much for the little items you might need.

Would hate to have to buy a set of strings from them. I'd need a 2nd mortgage 

Just a suggestion to be realistic with the pricing of these things.

Dave

The studio will be buying maybe a dozen batteries and other such items, that may sit on a shelf for years and never be sold, unlike a supermarket that shifts thousands of the things.

They might have several thousand pounds worth of stock and yet only shift 10-15% of it in a year, plus  they don't get the benefit of bulk buying prices, indeed they might buy the batteries at the same price as you!

So you aren't really paying for a set of strings or a battery - you are paying for a studio to keep a stock of largely unwanted items so they can get you out of the mire at short notice.

[EBS_freak]

I would personally stock individual strings. Strings are very personal to people - so I think a "save the rehearsal" spare is where it's at.

[EliasMooseblaster]

Drumkits not propped up by a mountain of gaffer tape would also be an improvement on a lot of places I've rehearsed!

Joking aside though, this does sound like a brave attempt to improve on the usual horror show. Given the only one I know of in my area is a single, mouldy room with a leaky roof and a floor largely held together by hazard tape, I might have to consider the trip down to Horley next time I need a space!

[Monkey Steve]

The correct answer is "whatever I currently play".  Never seen any studio stock them, no matter what i was playing at the time.

But if i can get a set of something even vaguely similar that's OK on the day I'll buy those to get me to the end of rehearsal, so as a minimum some flats, some nickel roundwounds (though I personally prefer steel) and please, some five string sets, or even better individual strings. 

In my experience even the better studios will have a fairly wide range of guitar string gauges, albeit from one lucky manufacturer, and then one set of 40-100 bass strings (with no low E).  So I never go to practice without bringing my own spares.

I do think that studios miss a trick here.  Bit like someone said on the batteries, there's a self-defeating spiral here - people don't buy strings at a studio because they cost more than in a shop, so studio's don't stock much choice because nobody buys strings from them unless they desperately need some. at which point they feel ripped off and will do their best to bring their own spares in future so that they don't have to buy from the studio again, so having made one sale the studio loses all future sales... 

Says to me that there's a market for a good range of strings, keenly priced so that the punters don't feel ripped off and will happily buy their strings, picks, drumsticks, etc from the studio because it's convenient.  They might not make much of a mark up, but that feeling of not being ripped off would definitely get loyal customers coming back, and even a tiny margin on the sales would be made up for in the increased volume of sales.

So to the OP, my suggestion would be for the new studio to make contact with a good local music shop and agree some sort of deal where they can hold a decent range of stock, and make the punters know that if they don't have their favourite strings right now they can always try and get hold of them if they're going to be a long term booking.

Edited April 29, 2019 by Monkey Steve

[dmccombe7]

8 hours ago, Stub Mandrel said:

The studio will be buying maybe a dozen batteries and other such items, that may sit on a shelf for years and never be sold, unlike a supermarket that shifts thousands of the things.

They might have several thousand pounds worth of stock and yet only shift 10-15% of it in a year, plus  they don't get the benefit of bulk buying prices, indeed they might buy the batteries at the same price as you!

So you aren't really paying for a set of strings or a battery - you are paying for a studio to keep a stock of largely unwanted items so they can get you out of the mire at short notice.

Yeah i guess so but taking 100% profit on a battery just seems a little extreme to me. Adding £1 on is more acceptable to most people. I should really have had a spare in my bag but i tend not to use batteries and i simply forgot to put my power supply in that day.

Don't think i'll ever be convinced that 100% profit is OK. They know they've got you if you need to ask them for one. Maybe the guy was pocketing a £1 from the sale  

Dave

[dmccombe7]

To be fair the studios i use are really good. Plenty of space, well lit, air-con, great quality PA and backline of Marshall amps and 412 cabs with either EBS, Aguilar or Ampeg SVT2 heads into Ampeg 810 cabs. Clean toilets no matter what time of day you rehearse and seperate hand washing facilities / mirror area (for the ladies of course). Various seating areas and TV room. Pretty good coffee vending machine with snack vending machines too. All for £35 / 3hrs. They do get some very well known bands rehearsing in there as well usually before gigging in Glasgow. Few weeks ago Steely Dan were in for a few days, Michael schenker has been in with Chris Glenn band, Kaiser Chiefs and even Beyonce was in once before playing Glasgow SECC. I guess when you have that clientele you need things to be good.

Dave

[Stub Mandrel]

1 hour ago, dmccombe7 said:

Don't think i'll ever be convinced that 100% profit is OK. They know they've got you if you need to ask them for one. Maybe the guy was pocketing a £1 from the sale  

At least they don't charge corkage like a restaurant. "Allow me to fit that string for you sir, that will be £12..."

[dmccombe7]

2 hours ago, Stub Mandrel said:

At least they don't charge corkage like a restaurant. "Allow me to fit that string for you sir, that will be £12..."

Can't argue with that one tho 

[Leonard Smalls]

14 hours ago, dmccombe7 said:

Don't think i'll ever be convinced that 100% profit is OK. They know they've got you if you need to ask them for one. Maybe the guy was pocketing a £1 from the sale 

Standard mark-up for many shops is 2.5 x the ex-VAT wholesale price... That way they can pay for premises, business rates, heat, light, staff, insurance, accountants, trade body membership etc - and hopefully still have a couple of quid left over to be taxed as profit.

[dmccombe7]

54 minutes ago, Leonard Smalls said:

Standard mark-up for many shops is 2.5 x the ex-VAT wholesale price... That way they can pay for premises, business rates, heat, light, staff, insurance, accountants, trade body membership etc - and hopefully still have a couple of quid left over to be taxed as profit.

Yep that's all very well but they are buying from shops who already charge extra to cover their costs.

I'm surprised so many of you guys think charging double for a 9V battery is ok in a studio. Maybe that's why they do it cause everyone apart from me thinks its ok. 😜

Dave

[neilp]

It's a distress purchase. You can avoid it by bringing a spare. If you're not prepared to do that, for whatever reason, then you have to pay the price they want. Think of it like buying fuel on the motorway. Fill up before you leave.....

[dmccombe7]

2 hours ago, neilp said:

It's a distress purchase. You can avoid it by bringing a spare. If you're not prepared to do that, for whatever reason, then you have to pay the price they want. Think of it like buying fuel on the motorway. Fill up before you leave.....

I get what you are saying but like motorway services its down to greed because they can.

I normally don't use batteries and forgot to repack my power supply for some reason. I won't get caught out again plus the shop at bottom of the road sells them far cheaper. Didn't know that at the time.

I also don't use motorway service fuel either and will travel into nearest town if required unless midle of the night or i'm in a hurry to get somewhere fast. That's rare these days tho. Cause i'm old 

Should always be prepared and usually i am.

Dave 

[bazzbass]

On ‎28‎/‎04‎/‎2019 at 06:01, Merton said:

Come to Hive Rooms in Horley then. They have two in each room. 😎

lets see, one for lead guitarist, one for rhythm guitarist, what about the BASS ???

 

that is a fail in my book. Do they think every band is a power trio? 

[neilp]

Really?? They have two guitar hangers, clean, modern, well presented rooms with aircon, good quality PA, decent amplification, good drums and cymbals if you need them, a clean, modern kitchen wit free tea and coffee, a comfortable lounge area, friendly, welcoming attitude and fair (cheap) prices, and you think ONLY two hangers is a fail? Bring a stand. More power to them, I say, they are raising the bar in this area, that's for sure.

[Stub Mandrel]

33 minutes ago, bazzbass said:

lets see, one for lead guitarist, one for rhythm guitarist, what about the BASS ???

 

that is a fail in my book. Do they think every band is a power trio? 

They think all basses have two little feet like this one 😆🧦

[Merton]

42 minutes ago, bazzbass said:

lets see, one for lead guitarist, one for rhythm guitarist, what about the BASS ???

 

that is a fail in my book. Do they think every band is a power trio? 

The lead guitarist is too busy wombling over his fretboard to hang the guitar up on the wall..... 😇

[Merton]

6 minutes ago, Merton said:

The lead guitarist is too busy wombling over his fretboard to hang the guitar up on the wall..... 😇

Or maybe us bassists are too busy practicing our slap licks.

etc etc.

2 wall hangars is 2 more than most places

Edited May 4, 2019 by Merton

[bazzbass]

40 minutes ago, Merton said:

The lead guitarist is too busy wombling over his fretboard to hang the guitar up on the wall..... 😇

truth !

we go out for a 5 min break, he'll stay there noodling lol

[iamtheelvy]

On 27/04/2019 at 21:31, Merton said:

Come to Hive Rooms in Horley then. They have two in each room. 😎

There are rehearsal rooms in Horley? Damn, things have changed since I lived there. We had to make do with a barn...

[Merton]

31 minutes ago, iamtheelvy said:

There are rehearsal rooms in Horley? Damn, things have changed since I lived there. We had to make do with a barn...

Yep. We have a lovey purpose-built rehearsal and recording studio facility now. Plus the barn still exists, as does another slightly tired outhouse thing. Hive is a breath of fresh air in terms of facilities and equipment

[iamtheelvy]

Nice.