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I'd say that a significant factor is how much cash you'd have to invest to tool up for the job. If you already have premises and tools then I'd say go for it, you've little to lose. If you have to buy substantial tooling and rent a workshop then you'd have to be pretty sure you've got a customer base. If you have to borrow for the above you need to be absolutely sure it makes business sense. Just prior to covid striking I was in the process of setting up a reclaimed furniture business. I'd managed to make and sell a few small pieces but, in my case, covid did me a favour and gave me breathing space before I'd invested significant money into the venture . It became apparent that I wouldnt be competitive making pieces on spec to attempt to sell. Etsy etc showed that as a cottage industry I couldnt manufacture at a low enough cost to compete with factory line production and I struggled to make contacts for bespoke pieces so, in my case, it was a non starter. That said, if you think theres a market for a unique style and you can be competitive go for it

Bought a Kong Beer Fuzz pedal from Ordep. It was posted promptly, was well packaged and arrived in great condition. Would definitely deal again. Thanks!

I think there’s a few AI tools will do that?

And here it is!

Music Man Caprices are one of those mythical instruments we all know about, have heard and desire. Their relative scarcity has kept prices very high, sadly. They're like Unicorns in the mist and people seem to hang onto them for dear life.

Side-street music, Largs Music, Bandparts, Sound City, McGregor's Music, Jimmy Grant Music, Pete Seaton's Music, Live Music, Mev Taylor's Music, Rae McIntosh, Gordon Simpson, Rainbow Music, Sound Control and Westmill Audio. All 14 of these were open for business in Edinburgh during my time playing. Every one has now gone. Sad times indeed.

Yes, I remember A1 Music from the late '70's . Could never afford anything there, but I remember you went down the stairs and there was a huge cavernous shop underneath which went all the way under Oxford St. Also in Oxford street a few doors up the road (past the Salisbury and Oxford Rd Station) there were a couple of music shops, one of which sold Wal basses. My favourites from that time were both next door to one another on Chester Rd, next to a dodgy pub with a pool table. They were Muir Music, owned by Geoff Muir. They sold electric guitars, drums and PA. Dave Lunt was the amp repair guy who worked there. Next door was Sounds Acoustic, run by Charlie Carter and his friend Graham. They sold acoustic guitars,mandolins and banjos. I spent a lot of time there and still have a Fylde Orsino which I bought second hand from them, hire purchase £10 a month!

I love Tiran Porter's playing on this but I'm struggling to nail it properly. Anyone fancy transcribing it, pref in tab, for me? Thank you in advance!

That might have been SoCoDi Music. They were originally in The Friars, from the early '70s on. The name was a corruption of South Coast Discos. I think they moved to Castle Street around that time. Kennards Music were in Northgate, opposite St John's Place. I had piano lessons there for a while. It's now an Indian Restaurant. Reggie Forwood's music shop was on Palace Street, for classical stuff, and Judd sold instruments, records and other bric a brac there. It's where I bought a Futurama bass and my vinyl copy of Back Door's first album.

...and underplating is usually nickel (Ni). Still in a place like plug and jack the wearing resistance should be substantial. If the base material is hard, it helps the coating a lot (and the other way around). Otherwise coating a piece of cheddar with diamond like carbon (DLC) results like it was coated with carbon like diamond. No support, no hard surface.

And if that's not enough it has the audacity to be a string short 😂

Thanks. That's very interesting and great to know.

Normally when I'm working my day job, it takes between 2 and 3 months. Since I have to do the lutherie in the evenings and weekends. And my little tool shed is a limiting factor too. I can't saw and sand while I'm in the middle of the lacquer process. 😉

Just add @Kiwi carbon necks and there are custom pickup makers here, like @The Guitar Weasel.

I was able to use a car trim removal tool to carefully get the plugs out. Changed valves and that was not is source.

My first bass was a second-hand Burns Sonic. At the time it was the only bass I could afford and for over 10 years the only bass I owned. I used it on the demos that had CBS records interested in signing my band. It went through numerous modifications in order to keep it playable. However when I could finally afford something good it was replaced with a 5-string Overwater Original. After that it spent most of its time unplayed in its case. When my current band did their first set of recordings I used it on one song. We re-recorded that song recently and I used one of my Gus 5-strings instead, which sounded better. When I had my big clear out of instruments I thought long and hard about keeping it for sentimental reasons, but I ended up selling it. It didn't really fit with any of the music I've played over the past 30 years, and if I had kept it, it would have gone back in its case and into storage.

If you are not into doing your own stuff, loan, steal, and arrange. Like Paul Anka did his lounge recordings. I think nothing is sacred in the blues scene any more, a song in major can be arranged pretty easily to the blues/minor scale. If the owner of the rights is nice (and you to them!), even some words can be changed from the original. Our band wanted to change few words from an old punk song, as we wanted to make a bossa nova of it. Like we were young and played punk then, now we are middle aged people with kids. We wanted to make the song very laid back, but the changed words was the final straw. We weren't given the possibility to publish it. (Even though the original artist gave a thumbs up of the idea and our arrangement.)