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Here you go ian goes through how it works as well as his rig.

Really cool, looking forward to hearing what you think about it!

I've not done pit work, but I have done stage management and lighting design, so I think I can answer some of this. The phone handset isn't for talking to the band. It'll be hooked up to a talk-back circuit - essentially a closed-circuit intercom system - that allows the stage manager, conductor, lighting and sound operators to talk to each other. If the show uses follow-spots, their operators will be on the talk-back too. Music rehearsals will include lengthening parts of songs, cues to play riffs at odd places and repeat some parts. Those will be agreed between the music director and the show director, and be rehearsed seperately. It's not unknown for the actors not to encounter the band until the first technical rehearsal. They'll have been working with backing tracks up to then. When a show does go off-piste - and you're right, pantos do do that - the people who keep it on track are the stage manager, the conductor and the lighting and sound people. The band will have rehearsed what might go off-script and be able to respond accordingly.

I thought it was slightly more useful than all three of us being bassists in the same house…. Besides, good drummers are as rare as chicken lips, and the guitar lad is already well on his way to fronting bands, so good luck to them.

I've cut the grill to size and used Gorilla tape on the outside of the frame just to keep it clean tidy. I've printed some riser blocks for the outside of the grill that fit in the corners of the cabinet. The ones in the picture are far too large, but they're to check things out and I'll print some better ones shortly. These will be glued to the front of the baffle (NoNails) and will have a M3 nut embedded in them. The hole for the nut is aligned to the holes in the grille. On top of the riser block will be some adhesive rubber, 1mm thick), to stop vibrations. More riser blocks may be needed, but the principle is set now. I have the "advantage" of not gigging at the moment, as there's only me and the drummer, so little chance or marauding fans rushing the stage sadly. It's very, very likely that I'll design some M3 handbolts to screw into the riser block. These will probably have the felt washers that are on the guitar strap buttons to further reduce vibration (or may not). I designed a lot of hand bolts for astrophotography, you can check them out here (https://starclamps.com/), these are all parameterised so I have lots of options. I also have some nice brass ones somewhere which might look nice. The red corner pieces have been redesigned so that they don't protrude as far into the baffle area as before, to give the grill some some space. The hand bolts should allow the grille to be taken off easily, Once I've painted the baffle board matt black, most of the riser elements will simply disappear, well that's the idea. Lets see how it works. but I'm off from tomorrow to London so nothing will be progressing. Have a good Xmas all Rob

I sometimes gig with the guys in the pit at Bristol. They’re absolutely incredible players and lovely people.

In the arms of Mrs. Mark of Cain. Pixies

Here you go…

Having volunteered for the pit orchestra for a show in May in the local theatre I will find out some of this, though it won't be a panto. More of this sort of thing.

In The Arms Of Sleep - Smashing Pumpkins

Complete fluke, the complete bass part to 'Fato Consumado' from the 1976 Djavan album, 'A Voz, O Violão, A Música De Djavan'. The bass player is Arthur Maia's uncle, Luizão Maia. https://bilbosbassbites.co.uk/fato-consumado-djavan/

Love the 734. It does a real good p and a real nice stingray/jazz bite if needed too. Nice and easy to play.

Here's the new video to mark 50 years of Greg Lake's "I Believe In Father Christmas"

The latest update from Gary at Upton Bass. I’m liking what I’m hearing from the additional sound holes 🤔 Here

+1 for micropore tape..

Initial cutting and routing done on this beauty, just need to shape in the front and back.

We’ve gone with a couple of ambient mics, with a gate side chained off my bass channel, as I am probably the only band member playing every note on every song. Only tried it once and it works well. I do need to raise the gain on the ambients a little but these coupled with the general pick up from the vocal mics works for us.

+1 for Surgical Spirit. I slather it on before playing, it really helps. Or there's this http://doublebassfingertape.com/ I bought some but have yet to use it!

Very nice, , looks good in the faded green

Same here Greg. Take care and keep let us know how you're doing thru the recovery process. Dave

That’s a beautiful colour scheme

Behind the Wall of Sleep - Black Sabbath

Rubber doorstops, they come in a variety of sizes (Google tells me 20mm to 76mm height). Screw the grille into the frame as per @Phil Starr then some door stops near the middle, black washers and bolts and T nut them in. The advantage of these is that you can position them to kill any unwanted vibrations in addition to improving the kick resistance. Strangely in 55+ years of gigging this has never happened, I must be playing the wrong gigs. Plenty of impacts with doors, furniture, car parts and other kit though.