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Busy weekend coming up....! A friend's band at the Face Bar, Reading on Friday night, then Marc Martel (amazing American 'Freddie Mercury' soundalike) with his Queen tribute at Shepherds Bush Empire on Saturday night, then my Wife's wind quartet on Sunday afternoon in Guildford and finally(!!) the amazing nu-Yacht Rock kings 'Young Gun Silver Fox' on Sunday night up at Koko in Camden!

That’d be great, thanks. And hope to see you this month too, pick an inspiring picture for you! 😊

it's actually not an eBay tale of woe at all, they've done rather well, more like a DHL take of woe?

Yes...but imagine the disappointment when you buy a bass and it never arrived.Correct..with the old system I would have been stuffed.

A few months before my 50th birthday I joined two bands. A covers band which included a good friend of mine on guitar and an originals band started up by the singer from a band I had been involved with very briefly the previous year. Two years later I had to quit the covers band because the originals band was doing more and better-paid gigs, not to mention that it was a lot more fun! I haven't gone back to playing covers since then and TBH I can't see myself doing covers in the future.

No....it just didn't arrive.The parcel was within the size and weight limits.Tracking showed it scanned in at my home and then marked not arrived.Also updated over last couple of days but it's marked as lost and eBay paid out to the buyer and myself.

I have a foot in both camps. I have an amp on stage which is largely redundant as the PA is supplied from my rather excellent Jad Freer Capo preamp and we’re all using in-ears. The amp is really only helping the PA out, but at a recent gig, my amp died and with this setup no one noticed. The plan for next year is to upgrade the PA and ditch the backline altogether.

and on that note. This has to be the maddest version of that particular classic

Absolutely, lost, claimed and refunded all in a single week? That's eBay's systems working bloody well if you ask me 👍

The 42mm nut width would be the USP for me on the Alnus.

I know it is stressful but if you are saying that ebay have refunded you and the buyer is recompensed then I'd say that is far from an ebay 'woe'! If you'd sold it privately and shipped it yourself, you might be having a far greater set of woes to be getting an insurance pay out.

The band I mentioned in my previous post had somehow acquired Sweet Caroline in their set by the time I rejoined. Transposed up a 4th to suit the female vocalist. They use an electronic backing track in lieu of a keyboard player....the opening intro caused my heart audibly to hit the floor. It's a shame because previously they'd aimed at being a pop / soul band steering clear of all the nasty songs. And they'd picked up work as a result. But identically the BL manufactured a false need for Sweet Caroline. I just thought it was indicative of a race to the bottom. No offence to anyone intended...I'd happily play High heeled sneakers for instance!

If they're as good as my V7 they'll be great, but I'd need to A/B test it with a Cort Space. I wouldn't want to jump in feet first with a fan-fret only to find that I didn't get on with it.

Interesting. Of course, a Squier Sonic Bronco costs less than £170 (new, less used) and that gives you a neck and a Mustang-alike body. However, this neck may be better quality.

Wow, thanks guys - I wasn't expecting that! It was a really fun one to work on, and I enjoyed listening to all the entries this month. Hopefully it won't be another year before I manage to take part again... @Chiliwailer if you're happy for me to take this one I'll get an image over to @lurksalot shortly.

Fair question because I can't tell if there's a generational shift in the punters you're playing to, or a saturated market of bands conforming to archetypes of genres that are getting hackneyed. I've certainly got jaded with covers. Not that there's anything wrong at all with it but I've got ground down with the repertoire, venues and the people I've been in bands with. A lot of that could be a post covid lockdown problem with my motivation! I rejoined and left a band earlier this year that I've played with on and off for over 5 years. Again, it's a specific unique case in point but it was hard to see what that particular band offered as an alternative to a solo girl singer with a PA speaker and a laptop backing track. Bizarrely I'm back enjoying doing originals ( in my mid '50s!!) doing less gigs but it's sustained my interest.

Bought a ticket for Steve Hackett but it's not until Oct 2026! I don't get out much in my old age (62) but I may catch either of my two fave bands before then (Pendragon and Lifesigns) if possible.

64 TSB for me.

I've removed the 'RIP' from the thread title, as it appears (to paraphrase Oscar Wilde) that rumours of their demise were an exaggeration