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I've been trying to get a Spinal Tap tribute band together for years, but can't find a drummer.

Never seen the words 'stunning' and 'Bongo' in the same sentence before. However that does look rather pretty. The headstock shape does still remind me of Peppa Pig's head, though.

This whole tribute act argument bores me to death, what's the problem? If you don't like it move on to something you do like; if I stopped to add comment to everything I didn't like I'd be typing for the rest of my like and never get off page one, the sooner you grow up and get on with life the better. We're all different, accept it, don't make yourself look inadequate by trashing everything you don't like. Like it or lump it, the market for bands is driven by audience demand, if they don't want to see it they won't pay and hence you don't get the booking. The universal truth for any group of musicians is; if you want to get on you have to give the audience want to hear what you have to offer or make the audience want to hear what you have to offer and no amount of whining or whinging will ever change that Very sorry about that, one of the few things that annoy me are people who like to put others down in any way, why not try and make them smile for a change?

Thank you, Christine. You have been on the forum for 2 days and this is the most eloquent and sensible thing I read read on the tribute band subject and in response to this ridiculous post.

I've worked for the last 20 years in a show featuring imitators of everything from Elvis to Edith Piaf. In that time, there have been lots of funny and bizarre stories, but the oddness of one has always pleased me. We have a Ray Charles impersonator who is an old white gentleman who uses black make-up on stage. This already feels a bit sticky and I'm not sure how I feel about it, but..., anyway my black colleagues have never commented one way or the other, so I don't know what they think about it. There is a shared dressing-room for the male acts and one for the female acts. Some years ago I walked past the mens dressing room and the door was open. There I saw, sat directly next to each other, the white guy putting on his black make-up and seated next to him a Michael Jackson impersonator, who is black, putting on his white make-up to do MJ. The irony (if that's the right word) of the situation didn't seem to have struck any of those present. I just kept walking and felt like an extra in a Jim Jarmusch film.

Here’s my 4 HCA Sandy’s Umbo, TSBS, 48, TM2

A House In The Boonies / S13 Ep4 / Wales Final Broadcast Transcript Run Time 29’:22” Pre Creds: Presenter (Wendy) to camera “This week we’re in Wales helping Ron and Marjorie to find … A House In The Boonies” Opening Creds – Theme Music: ‘Plinketty Plonk’ Scene 1 – Establishing segment Wendy to camera: "Ron and Marjorie Blart currently live in a poky, condemned one bedroom flat in London but hope to exchange it for a gigantic mansion in Wales possibly with turrets. Ron’s a retired astrophysicist and Marjorie’s a lion-tamer so they need some land for Ron’s collection of radio telescopes and an enclosure for Marjorie’s pride of lions” Shot of lions ripping zebra to shreds – Incidental Music: ‘Banjo Breakdown’ Wendy smarming to camera: "So how did you two love-birds come to be married?" Ron and Marjorie to camera, holding hands: Incidental music: ‘Disco Love Theme for Ukulele” Ron: “We met when Marjorie’s circus came to perform at Jodrell Bank. It was love at first sight” Marjorie: “I’d never seen a little man with such a huge telescope” Music stab: ‘Trombone Wah-wah-wah descending’ Wendy: So what’s the most important feature you’re looking for in your new House In The Boonies? Marjorie: The master bedchamber must have have lots of light. And I want a snug little room somewhere to do colonic irrigation. It's a hobby of mine. Ron: I’d need an absolutely stable gravitational environment with no electro-magnetic eddies… Wendy: Right… Ron: … but it’s not a big issue as long as Marjorie’s lions are happy. Particularly Rex… Marjorie: Yes, Rex. Rex is a bit picky. Wendy: (simpers) Well, we’ll be looking at three luvlay generous properties after the break Break Bumper Music: ‘Pizzicato Plonketty Plink Plinketty Plinketty Plonk’

Terrible when that happens, it's the bitterest pill, you might as well light your funeral pyre and all around the world, in a strange town, a town called malice in fact , this English rose and the man in the corner shop along with Smithers-Jones will write to the news of the world for publication in the city but not pretty green fields filled with carnations How terrible is that?

In fact, the Vienna Mozart Orchestra dresses up like Mozart (see post above) and performs only his work. The Bach Ensemble was formed in 1978 by the esteemed Joshua Rifkin, plays Bach almost exclusively and has recorded only the works of Bach. Indeed, in the geographic home of the tribute act The Haydn Orchestra of Australia hews pretty closely to his works but occasionally chucks in stuff like Boccherini to sweeten the pot. The list goes on... In fact, it's a pretty established tradition among jobbing classical musos to form scratch bands with rotating personnel and to name the aggregation after certain well-known composers; to begin by performing a mixture of that composer's faves and rarities and then - when the steam starts to go out of it or they've made their name - to start throwing in music by the composer's contemporaries. On the other hand, you get outfits like the Bach & Beethoven Ensemble of Chicago who go off the rails and don't perform anywhere near as much of the eponymous composers' work as one might expect but instead branch off into commissioning new stuff and generally being a bit arty-farty in the community (the better to score donations from charities, quangos, philanthropists, I suppose). So - within classical music - there's a clear and living distinction between 'function bands' that play a mix of well-known covers (the LSO, The Berlin Phil) and sort-of-tribute bands such as those mentioned above. Then there are era-bands like the Academy of Ancient Music or The Consort of Musicke or The Tallis Scholars who roughly equate to I ♥ the 80's acts. New original music is regarded as terribly worthy but not as good at putting bums on seats as a programme of old chestnuts, unless it's ghastly pabulum by the likes of Einaudi and Karl Jenkins as hawked by Classic FM in between the good stuff. In fact, the more one thinks about it, the more the classical world and the pub music market come to resemble each other with the financially-driven need to pull audiences in with the offer of familiarity and / or focus.

Yeah.... that's what the JAM tribute say....

I would phone you and talk you through this... but I suspect you wouldn't be able to hear me over your tinnitus.

Bass Guitar Magazine has been raising funds for pro bassist and staff writer Ellen O'Reilly, who has been diagnosed with aggressive breast cancer and is undergoing all sorts of unpleasant chemotherapy, keeping her off work until she is better. LBGS exhibitor Strings&Things donated this bass with a view to getting it signed by as many stars as possible and then auctioning it for Ellen. This is the link, in case any of you would like to own the bass, and help. Many thanks from all at BGM! (Yes, I have Ped's permission to post this.) https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Totally-Unique-Sterling-By-Musicman-SUB-Series-Bass-Guitar-See-Description/222980908977

When Later first aired over 25yrs ago (pre-internet/YouTube etc for most of us at the time), for me, it was like a breath of fresh air in terms of being able to see live bands on the telly. It gave music fans the opportunity to see bands/performances that we wouldn't otherwise have access to. So, in the spirit of the above here's something that blew me away when I first saw it in summer 1993, and still does, in fact... At the time I think it was one of her first live appearances after Debut came out. I love the song, but this version, to my ears at least, is the best live version I've heard to this day. Captures the original and adds that little bit more. And I was (and still am) intrigued by the bass/guitar (?) that is used as a percussion instrument by one of the keyboard players. Anyone else got any standout moments from Later?

Could be worse, could be me waving my Beef Bag under your nose

I reckon that north of 90% of the acts on Later have not been to my taste. That doesn't make Later a bad show. Later is a good show because it features live music. Why anyone would want to take it off the air just because they don't like the acts beats me. What these people should be moaning about is that lack of alternative music shows on TV. With more choice, maybe, people would stop bleating on about Later.

Acme do cabs that go down to -6 dB at 31 Hz. They need a LOT of power to drive though. With bass cabs, you can get them to go deep, be small, or be loud... pick any two! Al, get some 18" subs for your next gig, get Cuzzie to lend you his Beefbag and we'll all turn up to experience the true meaning of heft. Of course nobody will be able to hear the other instruments or even focus their vision due to their retinas vibrating, but they are but minor drawbacks to an otherwise excellent plan.

I actually started to get trolley GAS ... no, seriously, stop laughing ... and came up with https://www.sitebox.ltd.uk/clarke-cst12-industrial-sack-truck-oclarke_6500185?paid=googlepaidproducts&gclid=Cj0KCQjw0PTXBRCGARIsAKNYfG15YVWAjE6e5U9jhnKD4qWopfRbEjIUDHizjKwf5HHJoH089U7QP2UaAjCeEALw_wcB Luckily, I had the sense to ask what the (unladen) trolley weighed before I bought it. 21Kg. Ah, right, so now I need a trolley to move around my trolley ... perhaps not.

Copied to BC Famous Quotes thread. Laydeez'n'Gemmun, we have a new record for fastest newb into FQ's. Kudos.

Ped, can we ban Christine please?

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Edit, edit LOL I was just typing the same, Going underground now LOL

Al, you've spent the last 6 months raving about high pass filters, now you want to evacuate everyone's bowels by reproducing notes at 20Hz. Get a grip man! Psycho-acoustics is a complex field, your piano test doesn't quite take all factors into account. You could roll off everything under 100Hz and still be able to tell the difference between the low E on your bass and 7th fret on the A string. Your brain knows what a bass guitar or piano sound like and the typical ratios between the various harmonics that give it it's unique timbre, so it's very good at detecting the difference between two notes an octave apart when the fundamental is chopped off. However where it gets interesting though is that musician's brains are better at this than the general population - with enough low end rolled off, some people might perceive a step from 7th fret on the A string to 1st fret on the E string as a step up in pitch rather than a step down. The Wikipedia link posted earlier goes into this.

I put some sadowsky knobs on my PM5 last week. I can now tell what the settings are without touching them!

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I was a founding member, and spent 26 years, with a KISS tribute band. We wore the full outfits and boots (custom made and VERY expensive), had custom guitars made (and existing guitars customised) and took the musical/vocal/arrangement accuracy very seriously. To me, that's what makes a 'tribute' band, rather than a 'cover' band. I even went as far as to learn firebreathing and we filled our performances with the expected pyrotechnics too.... It all paid off though... We were the first KISS tribute to perform all over Europe & Scandinavia and played numerous international fan conventions too. Over the years we played with, played for and/or appeared with almost all original and latter members of KISS as well as appearing on both of Gene Simmons worldwide TV shows. We performed for the Red Hot Chili Peppers and Def Leppard, headlined festivals and launched products (Volvo etc). We also performed at music 'trade shows', played Halloween at the Cafe De Paris in Monaco and toured Japan with The Bootleg Beatles, Counterfeit Stones, T-Rextasy and Royal Family (Queen show), gaining endorsements from Washburn, Ibanez, Cort and Spector along the way.... We even discovered that KISS were keeping up date with our performances and later found that a mid song breakdown/arrangement I had created had been adopted by KISS themselves in their live show! It was very hard work, but great fun and gave me life experiences that will stay with me forever. I also spent spare time in originals bands and cover bands over the years so have seen both sides.... Tribute haters gonna hate...... usually from their bedrooms...... but I guarantee I worked 10 times harder during every 2hr tribute show than haters ever have onstage....

Thought I'd add to this what i can from my experience 1st class D i got was Markbass LMK ordered at a show about 12 years ago, had to wait for the new kid on the block. It was great never let me down or left me wanting in over ten years with various cabs 2nd was an GK MB500 fusion as back up to the LMK . great amp used mainly for rehearsal and jazz. Great warm amp. EQ presets didn't really suit my cabs ? or basses? to be 1st call. change of cabs to two Acme 4 ohm, left me looking for a stereo amp with 2 ohm capability. bought an SWR SM-500 on here to cover the gigs where two cabs were req. Then got a Mesa Subway D800 to take the strain. Bomb proof design and great depth of tone, Just got the Mesa D800+ for the added footswitch mute and tuner out, also greater EQ flex, Gas again + grass greener etc. So verdict is I would be happy gigging any of these. Gas is the only reason apart from Ohms loading that pushed me to change. Some amps EQ centers suit certain basses and cabs better. and may be able to respond better to room E.Q ing. some shops let you try at home / gig well worth doing if you can. It is the only way to be sure. N.B. An old mosfet amp with a 4x10 cab will always feel good but your back will prefer the class D

Hi Following on from @Phil Starr 's post, I'm one of the regular forum modder / builders he refers to and certainly my personal view is that for a 'standard' 2k finish there would be no perceptable sound difference (assuming the finisher put the pickups back at exactly the same heights as before). There would, however, be a change in the value - modding guitars and basses almost always result in a drop of value even when the mods are clearly improvements. I say that not to put you off doing it, but it needs to be a keeper to warrant making the change. Hope this helps.

Pity the audience is looking the wrong way!

What a great picture, so much to look at. Love the drum kit. And it looks like quite a bit of 1940's style photoshopping going on there for the crowd to get the numbers up.

The clip-on tuners are great and I use them extensively ... but not at gigs! They disappear way too easily ("disappear" as in go walkies and never come back) and they look ugly as sin. My Korg DTR2000 on the other hand looks really cool, and with a fly lead left dangling from it, can also be used by the guitarists in the band. Where space is short, or there's no need for me to bring that particular rack case, I always use a pedal tuner. First choice is the Pitchblack, but increasingly the only pedal I take to gigs is my Valetone Dapper.

I am sure all those Beatles tributes playing to packed theatres, year in - year out would have trouble with that statement. T.Rextasy are the best tribute band I have ever seen. They are busier than practically anybody. There is a demand for most of the acts who put the effort in to reproduce the sounds and look of those we have lost. I am waiting for an opportunity to catch the 'Purple Rain' Price tribute, when I can. It may not interest Dan Dare, but the rest of us are not Dan Dare (nor a tribute to him).

So over three years later and desperate to get the herd fit for playing (or the market)..Might actually start pulling this together This became one of four stalled projects Quality celluloid (or part) pickguards are the missing link... Montreux one I got via Thomann was awful. Good sources anyone (not Spitfire £€¥$). Photo's soon (by my standards)

Guilty...photo taken only last month.

Good afternoon, brambasstik, and ... Plenty to read and amuse you here, and lots to learn and share.

Your good lady wife is right on the money. I was musing on this a while back, Crass - Sleaford Mods, anything in between is mostly irrelevant.

Well - you came to the right place OP - there's more instrument building knowledge here than you can chuck a factory of MIMs at. I don't have the foggiest though. I suggest sandpaper, a sharp screwdriver and copious expletives!

The EH has 9 canned sounds, coupled with tweaks via the control knobs. It's good for playing things which complement the bass line; I think it's an accompaniment. The SS generates the sounds and is very direct and is more of an instrument in its own right. I think their roles sort of complement each other.

If its a fixed neck, I'm not sure how you would get all the way to the neck with any router arrangement unless I've misunderstood something. One option - because the type of jig you show is actually a very good design - might be to rout on the jig as far as it will go close to the neck, and finish the last inch with sharp chisels? And yes - warm welcome.

I've some more worms here, where's my tin opener? Years ago, I built a very crude theremin as an undergraduate project. (Good fun it was, too.) One day, I brought my chromatic tuner into the lab to see if I could determine the (narrow) range of pitches it was producing. It couldn't work out which pitches I was playing. One explanation I was offered was that it was only producing the fundamental (which made sense given the way theremins work), and the tuner, having been designed for guitars, basses, etc, was expecting a much more harmonically rich signal...dare I extrapolate further from this and speculate as to whether the tuner would use the balance of harmonic content to help it work out which octave the pitch sat in?

Counterpoint: Mini Kiss

Worthy cause and a great idea. Good luck, and I hope Ellen gets better soon. Horrible disease that has touched us all at some point.

Moved Si

Hey, thats entertainment!

How about sat in front of a wall on pieces of ancient wall?? .this photo wasn't staged - it was taken outside the colosseum in Rome - 2 of the band are missing - one of them taking the photo probably I am Ray-banned in centre sporting a barefaced tee

I have the Helix, so tune through that mostly. But on occasions where I'm not using it, I also have the TC Clipon and I'll never buy a pedal or rack tuner again. It works perfectly. Even in some very noisy rooms.

All hail @FacStudio the anointed king of Sandberg’s!

When we set up to play in a pub, the people who are there have chosen to be there. They could have gone somewhere else, but this is where they want to be. Some (a few, a very small number) are there specifically to see us, some are there to check out the music because it's a music pub, and some are there for all sorts of other random reasons. Once we start playing, those punters who don't like rock music will leave. Those punters who don't like our particular brand of rock music will also leave, but not so quickly. Meanwhile, those punters who DO like what we're doing will be texting or phoning their mates and saying "great band on tonight, you should come down here". By the time we play our last set, the people in the pub will have self-selected to be only those who actually like what we're doing, and who will respond to the music ... dance maybe, or sing along, or at least applaud after each song. The gig is far more involving for the band, far more fun for everyone, far more likely to bring repeat bookings. ************************************************************************************ When we set up to play in a club (Social, WMC, whatever), the people who are there are always there. Most of them cannot imagine going somewhere else on a Saturday night, and if they do their friends will ask where they were. They are there for the venue and to see their friends, and the music is almost incidental. They sit there with their arms folded, staring at us, and daring us to entertain them. It's THEIR club and we are the intruders. Once we start playing, those members who don't like rock music will complain. Those members who don't like our particular brand of rock music will also complain, but not so quickly. Meanwhile, those members who DO like what we're doing will NOT be texting or phoning their mates and saying "great band on tonight, you should come down here", because the club is Members Only. After the first set, one of the members (almost invariably a guitarist, allegedly) will buttonhole a bandmate and explain in enormous detail what we are 'doing wrong', advise the lead guitarist and the drummer to play louder because no one can hear them, and then disappear into the smoker's paradise for the rest of the evening. After the second set, there will be a 30-minute hiatus while everyone pretends they've joined the Jarrow Hunger March of 1936 so that they can get excited about the Meat Raffle. Have these people never heard of Sainsburys? By the time we play our last set, most of the people in the club will be sitting grim-faced and glowering their sense of entitlement at us, waiting for us to finish so that they can return to playing Abba on the jukebox (last Saturday it was Phil Collins!). Those who actually enjoy what we are doing and want to dance will be intimidated off the dancefloor by the drunken poseurs trying to throw shapes while playing air guitar, and stumbling into the PA. The club gigs are well-paid and the venues are usually excellent ... big stage, loads of power, built-in lightshow, etc. But in truth if I never play another club I won't miss it. Silvie and I do all the gig-getting for my main band, and we have already decided not to bother with clubs at all for 2019. Life's too short.

I have shoulder problems due to arthritis and use a strap from hypnotic straps, it’s 3” wide and very well padded. Despite my Gibson being the same weight as a boat anchor I don’t have issues.