stingrayPete1977

It's been discussed many times but the flip side of the half up front thing would be for example, I wouldn't send out my Stingray Classic 5 unless ALL the funds had cleared, it would be insured to cover my end if it didn't get there and photographed to within an inch of it's life too avoid "I've found a little mark and I want £50 back to cover it" discussions.

[quote name='BigRedX' timestamp='1487672637' post='3241631'] Firstly in my very limited experience of playing covers, I think that bands whose key members have been playing the songs for many years together don't realise how difficult it can be for new band members to find their place musically. Also without them realising it the songs may have evolved away from the original recorded versions over time. When I joined my covers band I was given a list of songs to learn, and duly went out and bought to CDs with them on so I could get on with working out the bass parts. It was just as well this band rehearsed because at our very first practice I discovered: 1. On a couple of songs the drummer played a very slightly different rhythm to that on the recorded version (probably without even realising it anymore), which meant that my carefully learnt bass lines no longer fitted the groove properly and it was very noticeable in places that they didn't. That took more than a couple of run throughs to nail. 2. Although their excellent singer had no problem doing all the songs in their original keys, the guitarists had kept the songs that had been originally done down-tuned a semi-tone in standard tuning. It wasn't helped by the fact that of those songs, the two I'd learnt were both perfectly playable on the bass kept in standard tuning - in fact one of them was actually easier with the bass tuned to standard and the guitars in Eb! Needless to say those were a complete train wreck the first time we played them in rehearsal. 3. Unless the band has exactly the same instrumentation match all the overdubs of the original, some fiddling of the arrangement - usually to the rhythm section is inevitable. Especially on songs recorded in the 60s and early 70s where the "bass part" is an amalgamation of the bass guitar, keyboards and extra rhythm guitar, and simply playing the recorded bass guitar part on its own lacks sufficient drive to propel the song along. I found in those cases that bass line I ended up playing owed far more to the left hand of the keyboards than to the original bass guitar part. 4. Song length and version. It's all very well asking beforehand which version the band has based their cover on, but sometimes they are not even aware that alternative versions and edits of the songs exist. Several times I found myself still playing one part of the song while the rest of the band had moved on to another, because they played a different version, to the one they thought they'd told me to learn. And that's before we get into endings the band have written for songs that fade out (and intros for songs that fade in). Just about all those changes meant that playing along to the recorded versions in many cases was pretty much pointless, and the only way I was going to get my bass lines tight with the rest of the band was to practice playing with them. For the seasoned covers bands veteran, I'm sure all of the above is completely obvious, but for me whose previous experience of playing covers was to break the song down to the lyrics and vocal melody and then rewrite everything to suit the band and their instrumentation, it was an eye-opener and not always in good way. [/quote] It's interesting that we see a lot of comments about people not wanting to play in a covers band from those that have never tried mainly, the presumption is that once you have nailed Brown Eyed Girl you are all set and there's no skill or challenge to be had but in reality and especially for dep players there's keys,tempos, syncopation, stops and starts, nods and winks going on to keep you busy, the best players do it without looking troubled at all maybe with nothing more than an email a few days before the gig, I know dep players that would do a better job of my regular gig unrehearsed.

I've been in bands that practice every week that make the same mistakes at the gigs and I've been in bands that rarely practice that were much tighter so I don't think it's a hard and fast rule. I couldn't be bothered with the weekly practice bi annual gig bands anymore but my current band needs to practice more tbh.

[quote name='LewisK1975' timestamp='1487609047' post='3241181'] Well, I don't think so Pete, but judging by some of the posts here it does seem to offend a few.. [/quote] That bit is rather confusing I agree, I can't stand Morrissey so I don't listen to the Smiths, I don't like prawns either but I'll gladly have the soup to start with if someone wants a prawn cocktail too.

The top and bottom of it is that's there's enough wealthy middle aged blokes than want people to think they've been gigging for years all over the world as there are guys that want you to think they might have been a racing driver in the 70s, lol. Either way they're not hurting anyone are they?

[quote name='LewisK1975' timestamp='1487606058' post='3241130'] OK, so is it MINI/BMW or MG offering that finished relic mini / MGB for sale in addition to their range of shiny new pristine models? Like Fender do? That is what makes it different IMHO! YMMV! [/quote] Your digging yourself a hole here, lol Aston Martin and Jaguar have in the last couple of years opened their own departments just for this purpose, Mercedes never stopped and have a huge network worldwide covering all models, G Wagons are very popular amongst the stars and wannabes for example built to any spec you can afford. Mini have been offering bolt on bits from the early 60s up to the current models, the MG B and Midget models can be built by the MG workshop as can Lotus elans etc, Jeez look at Morgan, they are basically the Fender Custom Shop but for new Morgan cars.

[quote name='LewisK1975' timestamp='1487598451' post='3241029'] So, I haven't scrolled back to see which side of the fence you're on Pete, so correct me if I'm wrong, but what you're saying is that in the classic Car world (of which I know zero!), it's OK, but for guitars it's 'fake'? And really my statement was about the posts comparing artificially aged guitars to modern general consumer cars (which is what folks were referring to) being purposefully damaged and that being sold as a premium, which is ridiculous, IMHO! [/quote] I'm not really on either side here regarding the cars or guitars,for every example I can give a car example which people keep saying its nothing like when trust me it's exactly like. Here's a perfect example, you can buy a heritage shell for a mini or MGB, brand new, people will then paint them with thick cellulose paint and flat it back a bit before fitting the car out with new but period looking parts, you don't want a 2017 lacquered look finish, you want it to look old but good, almost as if to convince on lookers that's it's a genuine old car that's been around the houses, the rally boys will drill holes for extra lights, bonnet clips etc, it's exactly the same as a Limelight bass other than it's a car not a bass

[quote name='Muzz' timestamp='1487598664' post='3241031'] Does the car relicing extend to making them rusty? Genuine question... [/quote] Yep, massive rat look scene and 'oily rag' restorations, have a Google.

Obviously not many fans of historic race cars here then? They slot into the analogy perfectly, old and genuine complete with the battle scars fetch the most then there are people buying up standard mk1 and 2 escorts and minis just to relic them into 'recreation' or 'homage' race cars, they fetch huge money and business is booming making brand new replica parts, SU carburettors have just released a fuel injection system hidden inside old fashion SU carbs for example. There is a saying in the classic cars world, "of the 30'000 Lotus Cortinas built only 40'000 are still on the road", is that analogy not exactly the same as comparing pre CBS era fenders and new relic versions?

A lot of people say brands like Gibson and Ricky should do what fender have with the Squier ranges yet Fender are so in debt that it's amazing they are still in production at all.

I can't fault PMT, my last few bass purchases have been from them.

[quote name='Painy' timestamp='1487539187' post='3240664'] Am I the only person that actually likes the look of a 4+1 headstock? [URL=http://s38.photobucket.com/user/Richard_Pain/media/Mobile%20Uploads/IMAG0590_1_zps4y1nxrac.jpg.html][IMG]http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e113/Richard_Pain/Mobile%20Uploads/IMAG0590_1_zps4y1nxrac.jpg[/IMG][/URL] Does depend on the style of headstock though. 3+2 obviously looks better on more symmetrical headstocks like Warwick, Spector and Ibanez SR etc. but I've seen a couple of Maruszczyk basses with more of a Fender style headstock in a 3+2 and to my eyes it just looked weird. Maybe it's just me though . [/quote] [URL=http://s997.photobucket.com/user/stingraypete/media/Mobile%20Uploads/2014-11/20141102_103353_zpsagwfsjcd.jpg.html][IMG]http://i997.photobucket.com/albums/af100/stingraypete/Mobile%20Uploads/2014-11/20141102_103353_zpsagwfsjcd.jpg[/IMG][/URL] Put it there brother

[quote name='skankdelvar' timestamp='1487536188' post='3240623'] [/quote] "So the band in here last night, guy comes out, long fur coat and frilly panties, that's different I thought but then I noticed the bloody drummer, wearing a watch I tell ya, in here, The Coach And Horses, a bleedin' wrist watch!".

The other reason some basses have 4+1 is that Musicman forgot to copyright 4+1 unlike 3+1

Nope never heard that rule, and you CAN shoot the white backwards too before you start! Are we nominating which pocket for the black?

Oh ffs, I've put 50p on the edge of it, which as we know means it is now legally binding that I'm on next, loser racks up......

Saves reaching so far for the G tuner, reduces the string length beyond the nut considerably and often makes for a straight string lye from the nut to the machine head, also it allows for a standard length hard case. There's 4 reasons for a start

Is there a pool table?

If I was using the rig as backline at a gig rather than a monitor I'd struggle more with a single 2x10 than from the lack of heft from a class D head.

Oh no you've said the C word!

I don't know what was wrong with a firm pat on the bottom if an employee did a good job, world's gone mad I tell ya.

That's a pretty bass razze, lovely.

[quote name='Beer of the Bass' timestamp='1487348822' post='3239218'] I've heard that in the days when electronics manufacturing was still a decent sized industry in the UK, the assembly line tasks mostly employed women, as that was the norm for lighter duty factory work. My mum had a job soldering PCBs for TV sets in her youth. Probably not massively relevant to the discussion, but there you go... [/quote] Yes my mom was a solderer too making missiles of all things, fifty years later she still knows which bit of a soldering iron you hold it by

[quote name='KingBollock' timestamp='1487334479' post='3239048'] That reminds me of when I was in college doing electronics. They were doing some publicity thing with a local news paper and they chose me for the photos to go in the paper. I can't remember what I was working on, but I was using a soldering iron. The photographer didn't like the iron and had me hold a pair of pliers, as though they were a soldering iron, instead. [/quote] At least she has safety glasses on to protect her burnt hand, lol.

[URL=http://s997.photobucket.com/user/stingraypete/media/stock-photo-beautiful-woman-repair-soldering-a-printed-circuit-board-204001492_zpsy46ovk4q.jpg.html][IMG]http://i997.photobucket.com/albums/af100/stingraypete/stock-photo-beautiful-woman-repair-soldering-a-printed-circuit-board-204001492_zpsy46ovk4q.jpg[/IMG][/URL]