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Just thought I'd give this chap's video guide a plug, it's really comprehensive and pretty foolproof. Goes over everything you need to know to tackle the truss rod, levelling, crowning and dressing etc in an in depth but approachable manner. He also shows you how to make your own cheap tools to tackle it if you don't want to spends loads doing it. You need to subscribe to access it but I've had no spam or indeed any emails at all hassling me since I subscribed. I'm not affiliated in any way to him but he has such an amiable laid back but infectious manner and obviously wants to share his skills I thought I'd let others know about him! https://stringing-it-together.mykajabi.com/

Hi everyone I’ve just taken some readings and it came out as 3.48 when volume was fully up and then 0.00 when down. Strangely the bass is working now, is it just a case of putting on some contact cleaner? It was working again briefly a couple of months ago before it stopped working again. all the best, Harry

We have a Liverpool fan... that can be stressful, less so since we've persuaded him having a Liverpool FC banner at gigs is not always a great idea (it was ok at the Liverpool fan club gig though...)

It looked like a post from my famous thumbs. 😁

La Bouganvilla Strangiato - Rush

When I dep I aim to be at least as good as the guy I'm replacing. 9 out of 10 isn't good enough. The bottom line in this world is to keep the phone ringing.

Thanks Phil. I did consider getting a couple of the bars that you bought, but I ended up going for one of these as a floor up light due to ease of set up and being relatively inexpensive. I'd seen them in action at a mate's gig (he has four around the stage) - they work really well to light up his singers, and don't seem to give the band any issues in terms of getting blinded - which, as you say, is quite key!

Awesome! Thanks so much for the direction. She's a beauty!

I've just started 'proper' depping (as opposed to helping out with bands I used to be in). I've done several gigs for one band and I have a gig next Saturday with a new lot. Both bands supplied setlists via Spotify. I had three questions - Are they all in the original keys, are there any surprises with arrangements and what's the dress code? For both bands the answers were yes, no and we don't have one. The reality for the first band was: Original keys? Yes, apart from the two that weren't which I found about about on the night - one of which I had to transpose on the fly, the other I had a few minutes to work on. Any surprises? No. Apart from the the one where our regular bass player signals the rest of the band to come in and the one where the singer always gets lost in the middle and may come in early or late... or on time (again, only made clear on the night). Dress code? No. But they all decided to wear shorts and Hawaiian shirts on the night. To be fair, they were a great bunch and we had a laugh and none of the issues mentioned actually caused real problems. The band I'm playing with next Saturday have a reputation of being more 'professional' but in the last week I've had an avalanche of WhatsApp messages discussing the final set list (which has changed several times), keys and rehearsal dates. And 75% of the set for this gig are songs I've never played before, with perhaps 50% that I don't really know at all so I've put a lot of effort into getting familiar. Out of necessity I will be playing this gig with a cheat sheet. My approach is as a dep I am doing them a favour and enabling a gig that otherwise would not go ahead, so I have earned a bit of leeway (particularly if its at short notice). But I am also part of the band for the night so I will do my very best to fit in with the band ethic (look/feel etc) as it's their reputation on the line. To a certain extent that would include deciding what bass to use from a visual point of view. My go to clothing if there is no guidance would be black trousers, (usually decent looking jeans), a lightly patterned shirt and maybe a waistcoat, with black shoes. Although I do BVs and a few lead vocals, for a depping gig I would not usually offer to sing as that's an extra thing that could go wrong. I expect an equal share of the fee and I would not expect to have to pay any deductions for PA etc that other band members have agreed to. I would always want to see the setlist before giving a definite yes or no and I would be totally honest about my ability to nail the songs. It's in no one's interest to say yes to something you know you can't do, so the set would dictate the notice I need, as I'm not the quickest learner. Good habits? Mainly I try to remember that I am the hired hand and I'll aim to stand at the back and not try to stand out.

That is a lovely bass. Definitely on my GAS list!

Politics, football and personal relationships (wife / partner) should be kept out of bands at all costs. There are plenty of other stupid and ridiculous stuff we can talk about. We are very lucky that we have an ex marine on guitar and his stories keep us amused at every gig when getting dressed for the show. Some of the things those guys got up to are quite simply outrageous and ridiculous whether it was serious or just for fun amongst themselves. Don't think we have any fanatical footballing fans in the band. We do talk about motorbike racing as guitarist and myself are into bikes. We do talk s***e about guitars a lot of the time tho. 😂 Dave

Jungle Gardenia - Mike Oldfield

Jungle Boogie - Kool and The Gang

Looking good there Lozz. Dave

Best wishes matey.