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So I pick another stifling hot day to sand and stain the bass ... hey ho So before I attacked it with the 240 grit .... A couple of coats and the look is pretty much what I wanted ... old looking. Not stained the neck yet ... that will be a next week job. Put an experimental rub-on first coat of Birchwood and Casey gun stock oil after I took this pic - and it's starting to look really good. I want the end result to be satin - and still retain the look of an old and battle-scarred bass ... just with a brooding aged black patina and no obvious chunks missing

Biff Byford!

We mainly play clubs and there is always some bloody issue or other. I do not like them.

It just shows how tastes can differ because I thought English Teacher were very dull. Contemporary alternative rock by numbers. There is nothing remotely new or original about their music or performance. For me, CMAT have stolen the show so far from what I have seen.

That was cracking. Glad your brother is back up to gigging strength.

Me too, along with MiniMert and my best mate! Gonna be a warm one 😎

Tennis - Chris Rea

Well I never knew HF was Kim Wilde's son.... Wunderhorse's bassist's father is Biff Byford.

I've used the Shure A85F, it's perfect for your problem.

Same 😀

Looking for suggestions on cleaning the tubes of moulded plugs tubes. I have a set of moulded plugs that are coming up fours years old (I have a new set on order and due this week). The right hand one of my original plugs stopped working I had that repaired but now find that the left one is very quiet compared to the repaired right hand one. I always clean my plugs after every gig, but either my hearing has got a lot worse in recent years on the left side or possibly there is some wax build up on the left side. I’ll have them checked when I get the new ones but it would be good to keep the old ones as spares so before I start poking around in the tube with a wax pick and break something else I wonder if there is something like a small vacuum unit that might be available to keep the tubes pristine?

I did have to print that off to take to the shop when I got mine serviced. Unbelievable amounts of treble on tap there.

Da iawn, @Ramirez. Very pleased to hear that your brother is back in action after such a serious health problem.

Back to you - Bryan Adams

Come to think of it, this Dickens model has some quite advanced Bartolini preamp package in it. I did a search and it indeed is quite something 🙂

I managed to find something on amazon its 8 cm longer than needed but should do the job il let you all know if its suitable when its delivered

Miserable fsckers!

Load of misery , that place.

60th Birthday party in Camelon Labour Club in Falkirk area with BLOCKBUSTARZ glam band. Not a large audience but as it was a private party not much we could do about it. Played this club a few times and every time they have an issue with us. 1st - they double booked the adjacent hall for a funeral party and then complained to us about being too loud plus we had walk through the funeral party hall to the changing area in the pool room. 2nd - committee guy that complained 1st time there was complaining about the load in door being open and all the heat was escaping and we had to use the main entrance door that was wide open because of all the smokers outside so WTF ? Last night when we arrived girl behind the bar states in a rant that she wasn't told it was a live band ? what other kind of band is there ? There was no area to get changed as they had an all day wedding the following day and all the tables were stored in the pool room and we couldn't get access. We highlighted that we need a changing area same as we always had when playing there. She then suggested changing in the toilets and at that point i abruptly replied absolutely not. Its disgusting to be changing in a toilet. We have expensive outfits and nowhere to leave our personal belongings like clothes, spare outfits for 2nd set, wallets, watches and phones. If we cant get changed we'd be as well packing up cause this just wasn't happening. She started blubbering that its not her fault (bar manageress). As we pointed out its between her and the person that booked us. We had txt messages saying that all our requirements had been passed on to the club and when the woman that booked us arrived she was furious and said she came into the club and told them exactly what was required for the full night. Singer said only option was to play the gig without the costumes as we were sort of thing but that defeats the purpose of booking a Glam band. Anyways the buffet supplier arrived and i suggested we use the kitchen area if it was a cold buffet and that's where we went. When we started to sound check at what was a reasonably quiet volume staff complained again that it was too loud and when we said its because the hall is empty at moment. Few quests had arrived early at this point and staff said they couldn't hear the orders from customers which was ridiculous. My volume was lower than its ever been for any gig. She didn't understand that you cant turn the drums down. They aren't thru the PA. Amps were set to match drum volume. We are not a loud band. The bar staff were obviously being extremely childish and when not serving went thru to the other function room even tho there were at time 5 or 6 people waiting to be served. Anyways back to the gig itself. After a few songs we had the dancers up and that remained thru the night for virtually every song with some songs just a few dancers to others filling the dance floor. At one point there was absolutely no-one sitting down, they were all on floor dancing away. Audience were great bar staff on the other hand a different story. All in all we will never return to that venue. We've never seen such unwelcoming staff at a venue. From the word go they were being difficult and awkward as if we had caused the problem. The problem was a badly run club that has been cancelling their own booked gigs left right and centre for lack of ticket sales. Got paid before we even started and the woman that booked us was over the moon with us and feedback from the audience was all good at the end of the night. Band played really well with only a few very minor fluffs but audience never picked up on. Happy Days. Next week we are back at one of our fav venues The Dreadnought where we are always really well looked after and they are always happy to help the bands. Dave

Can't offer direct advice, sorry, but: Whatever you do: do not jump on the chance of getting a second hand Yamaha U1 or similar without thorough investigation. There's a whole industry out there, sending rotten pianos to Poland for new veneer, and the buyer is the victim. Other than that, our own tiny upright came extremely cheap from the local Salvation Army's second-hand shop, and I can honestly say that it has given me more joy than the Steinway and Bösendorfer grands I used to play before. Maybe an idea. One has to keep in mind that good pianos can be had for peanuts, and not all of them are bad. Your choice whether you want to buy in a shop and get it delivered and placed, or wish to organise the move through a specialised piano moving company. BTW, apart from that upright, for the money we saved we bought a digital one, and would sometimes even play together on two instruments. Also handy for the divorce! One each! 😂 (My wife wanted the SA one; I got to keep the Roland.)