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So does that mean you got a full refund on the bass and walked away?

Maybe half-cut..?

He was certainly board (I'll get me coat).

Alternate viewpoint... This didn't happen to me, but to a friend.... His lot were a locally reasonably well-known Milton Keynes band back in the 1980s. They got a gig at some Buckinghamshire rural pub and turned up to find they'd be playing to a bored barperson and a dachshund (It may have been called Colin). Being troupers, they decided to treat it as rehearsal time and duly played their set. Right at the end, and as they were contemplating a weary trip home, a massive, obviously wacked-out, knife-carrying (it was very visible) biker turned up, alone. He started to dance to their last song. At the end he demanded an encore...warily, they obliged...when they finished and started to take off their instruments he demanded a further song. As he was approximately three times the size of all of them they concluded that it might be better to oblige....remote pub...bar person suddenly absent.... What ensued was a reprisal of their entire set, played by them in a state of abject and increasing terror and a strong feeling that they might never see their loved ones again, as this maniac biker lumbered menacingly around the dancefloor... I think he eventually fell asleep.

Been there Dan, was rather disappointing to find out my (imo) great onstage sound was so rotten in the audience.

Tried a new Standard, impressed with the overall quality with neatly finished frets and low action fast neck. Not over keen on the ceramic pups but planned to replace with alnicos. On second play at home the guitar had become unplayable- horrible rattling of all strings on first to fourth frets. Hadn’t made any changes to the original setup. The dealer couldn’t explain what the problem was but refunded the cost without argument.

Many moons ago I was working as a stage manager at Nottingham Playhouse. On the night Forest were in the European Cup final we had an audience of two. But the show still went on...

Haha, wicked! I've been telling people about this for years - picked the tip up a couple of *decades* ago and stopped boiling strings to switch to this, and it's so good! And yep, they kind of feel played in, but with all the zing you could want - my guess is, the stretch they've had has them at "comfortable playing tension", so they don't need playing in. Such a cool trick, and it saves a fortune! And it'll work great the second time around, and the third - at least. The only thing that happens is the paint deteriorates on the ball ends - but that's it. And thanks to the XLs not having any thread winding on them, the string tops always look good. Nobody can tell it's L'oreal (or whatever)

Typical of the G&L story...now they've closed they're getting the advertising they always needed 🤷

That's good to know. Music retailers are going bust all over the place at the moment. Good luck with the new business structure.

Years ago I was playing in a country rock band. We’d been booked by a rugby club somewhere near Doncaster to play in the bar after a big local derby match. As we were setting up our pedal steel player let us know he’d forgotten his instrument! He played it on around 80% of our songs, so pretty key to our sound. Around the same time we noticed a distinct lack of punters too - apparently the home team had been given a thrashing so their supporters had either gone home in a huff or ventured into town to drink away their disappointment. We kept quiet about our own problem, and sure enough the club steward shuffled over and apologised for the lack of an audience, offering us most of our fee to go home! We tried not to look too relieved as we packed down. 😂

Yes. We play 2 or 3 venues that have sporadic audiences. I don't think you can ever work out exactly why. Unfortunately our drummer is a bit headstrong and if we play a new venue and it has a poor attendance his mind is made up and "We're not going back there!". Unless it's a gig he organised, in which case we should give it another go... To a point where we were continually asked to turn down at a gig last year, for some reason the bass was hitting some natural frequencies and all the glasses were rattling. He's not going back there either - even though we played there before with no problems, and the place is under new management. I'm beginning to think he doesn't want to gig unless it's to his freinds. Which is why I left the last band.

Yeah that would probably be the best way. We just had a big folder of our Church songs in ChordPro format which I just added. And yes you can do all those things easily. You can also set up a transpose button, meaning when I change I just hit the plus or minus symbol to go up or down keys quickly.

Thanks Phil. I didn't suggest any stick plus sub systems because the OP said he was old school and also because they can get pretty spendy, but you're right. FBT, HK, RCF and others offer excellent options. I'd add that one capable sub will always beat two less able ones. I find I need only one for probably 80% of the gigs I do (I sometimes wonder whether it was worth my buying two when one sits at home for much of the time). The RCF 8003 is very good, although it's a bit of a lump to carry around. The 905 is a little easier on the back. A pair on NXL24s plus a single 905 would be a pretty tasty rig and would come in under the OP's budget.

I think sometimes, it's just the time of the month and year. This Saturday just gone at a regular venue was rather quiet compared to usual. We put it down as the last weekend before payday, compounded by it being the first month after the summer holidays.

I spent years getting paid to "untrain" managers from using that technique. For what it's worth although too late in this case, The "sh1t sandwich" feedback method has several significant disadvantages. One major issue is that it often fails to achieve its intended purpose because of negativity bias; people are more likely to remember and focus on the negative feedback while disregarding the positive comments that frame it, rendering the praise ineffective. This can lead to recipients feeling that the positive feedback is insincere or merely a tactic to soften the blow, which undermines trust and makes the compliments seem fake. As a result, the positive feedback may be dismissed entirely, and the negative feedback may be perceived as more severe than intended. It'll be interesting to see what happens. If he's ex-military it might work.

Hi all, I’d like to step in and clarify things directly, as I can see some understandable confusion here. Bass Bags Ltd (the company) went into liquidation, but the Bass Bags brand, stock, and team were acquired by Strings Centre Ltd, which is now running the business. We are trading as Bass Bags (a Strings Centre brand) and continuing to serve musicians exactly as before. Like many UK retailers, we’ve faced tough trading conditions in recent years — Covid, Brexit, and wider global pressures (including the war in Ukraine) have all made it challenging. Closing Bass Bags Ltd was a restructuring step, but it has allowed us to protect the brand, keep the same team together, and continue looking after our customers. For me, Bass Bags has never just been a company name — it’s our team, a small family of people who share their expertise to make a living. We’re musicians and craftspeople ourselves, and we take things personally when it comes to our customers. That hasn’t changed, and it never will. To be absolutely clear: The same team is here looking after customers, just as we always have. No customer orders, hires, or repairs have been affected. We’re fully operational, continuing to support players across the UK and beyond. We’d always prefer people to pick up the phone and speak to us directly rather than speculate online — but I completely understand the concerns and wanted to set the record straight here. If anyone would like to talk to me directly, please feel free to get in touch: 📞 01332 840391 📧 [email protected] Thanks to everyone who has supported us over the years. We remain committed to delivering the same reliable service that Bass Bags has been known for since the beginning. David (Bass Bags / Strings Centre Ltd)

I once played a duo gig in a bar with just one drunk customer. He started howling like a dog over the music and couldn't take it any more. So I went over to him, picked him up (he was only little) and threw him into the street. He, did eventually, crawl back in to his seat at the bar. ...we weren't asked to come back 🤣