Jakester

That last pic looks good enough to eat! (Though it is lunchtime so maybe I’m projecting a tad)

Yarp

And hope you don’t play anywhere with a ceiling higher than about 10ft.. 😂

Whut? Uh? Er... nope.

Thanks - yes, about £500 more! I already have the audio interface which works fine, current issues notwithstanding!

Not sure where to put this, so Accessories and Misc it is... Can anyone recommend a USB hub that works with an audio interface? Owing to the present working conditions I am stuck in the spare room, using my laptop, which for reasons known only to the manufacturer has only two USB-B ports (older Mac so no USB-C here). I already have a fairly shonky USB hub connected to one of the ports for a (qwerty) keyboard and mouse. I also use a USB audio interface, but it simply won't play nice with the shonky hub. The interface is connected to a mic and studio monitors, so I use it for recording, my wife uses it for spoken word recording, and I use it for work video calls etc, as well as just playing music/videos etc through. Some times it will play audio when the interface is plugged into the dodgy hub, but it doesn't work very well for recording or video calls. The interface came with a very short USB cable so I bought a longer one and then it was fine for playback and recording and video calls - but then (without anything being changed) it just stopped. It works fine plugged directly into the laptop for all things, but sometimes I need to add in other things, such as external drives, USB MIDI instruments , phone, iPad etc, but also need the audio interface and the (qwerty) keyboard and mouse etc at the same time, so there's a fair bit of trial and error or hot-swapping. I would ideally have a 5-port hub that works for all of the stuff which needs to be connected long-term (keyboard, mouse, USB drive, interface) leaving the other port for occasional connections. So can anyone recommend a good quality USB hub that they know has worked with their USB audio interface?

I think it's Options/New recording that overlaps existing items/trims existing items behind new recording (Tape mode) I guess the name should have given it away to me earlier....😆

Thanks all - I have actually found the way to do it 'tape-style', which has sped things up massively now I can just drop in and record over the top of all the mistakes without fannying around with takes. The scroll thing still bugs me though...

I should also say that just because it’s insured, it doesn’t mean they’ll pay out. I recently bought some studio speakers which were damaged in transit. The seller refunded me in full, but the courier refused to pay the seller for the damage.

Yes. IME UPS don’t exclude musical instruments.

No progress to report I'm afraid. Unfortunately I may also find fur-ther delays owing to the annexing of the shell by a certain somebody.... Just guarding it now...

FIFY

Buy it, try it, if you don't like it, send it back. Job done.

Success!! And I have my wife to thank - I mentioned that she had quite a good problem-solving type of mind, so could she give some thought to how I might go about getting this undone. "Just use the massive flat-bladed screwdriver we have to stop the inner bit from turning" she said. Bang on, worked first time - job is a good-un. Annoyed I didn't think of that now!!! So, looks like a full refurb is back on! Woohoo! Thinking something like flamed or curly maple veneer with marquetry inlay down the middle now...

I've been working with Reaper recently - getting really good recordings and the plugins are great. However, it's been doing my nut in when it comes to manipulating the recordings, punching in, that sort of thing. I know it uses a non-destructive form of recording - 'takes' - but I find navigating between them really irritating. Just punching in to correct an error is completely counter intuitive. Can anyone explain how best to do a 'tape-style' punch in - i.e. I just play over the bit I want to re-record over? Otherwise it's just left me constantly having to record the whole line over and over again. Also, the actual user interface - it constantly zooms in and out, and flicking up and down, instead of scrolling up and down the tracks like EVERY OTHER DAW OUT THERE zooms the tracks in and out! WHY? WHY? Is there any way to make it 'normal'? Yours, going slightly crazy...

Sorry for radio silence - computer playing silly buggers! Sadly not! Hmm, yes, I see the idea, but unsure whether it would work. I really need to have a good sit down with it but at the moment finding the time to devote just to this is tricky. Annoying, as I'd hoped to have it all done by now!

One thing which might stymie any great plans is that there’s a socket on the shell to store the drum tuning key - this is/was a Gretsch feature but I’m think you could also buy aftermarket ones for a while. Anyway, it’s essentially a threaded insert that is fastened down by a sort of captive nut. It’s about 25mm (but probably the imperial equivalent) so larger than any sockets I have, and using an adjustable spanner just means the whole thing turns in situ. It can be seen in the pictures below. I’ve tried gripping the threaded part with molegrips and loosening the nut, but it’s not having it. I may try heating the nut, or perhaps some light percussive maintenance but if it’s not going anywhere, it sort of limits the refinish options!

Thanks - my experience with wrapping has been, er, sub-optimal, shall we say? I think one of the things I haven't got to grips with in the past is how much to leave around the bearing edges, with the end result that once wrapped, the heads become too tight. I suppose provided I got over that, a wrap would be an easy way to cover up the stains in the wood. My initial thoughts were simply to oil the wood to put it back to how the previous owner had it - I don't want to take too much away from how he had it (but for no practical reason, I suppose - simply [possibly misplaced] sentimentality?). I suppose it could be argued it's reliced...😋 Possibly - but I expect they'd darken as well with the oil, meaning it'd end up more prominent. I think I've come to the following potential options: 1 - do a bit more sanding, hope I get rid of the stains, then oil the wood to a decent finish. 2 - stain the shell a colour to cover the stains, then oil. 3 - wrap the shell; or 4 - veneer it, then optionally stain, and then finish. I have to say I'm erring towards 4, because of @Andyjr1515's recent veneering masterclass. My thinking is a veneer is likely to be thinner than plastic wrap, so less likely to experience the binding heads. What I quite fancy doing is using some marquetry inlays and veneer strips, but that is probably so far outside my sphere of competence that it's pure fantasy. I guess if I can figure out the appropriate circumference for a veneer and then order both veneer and inlays cut to the same length, it might take some of the guesswork out....

Thought I'd post this here - not quite a Build Diary, more a light tickle memoir, of summat what ain't a bass, for anyone who might be interested. There's a backstory to this - I picked this up quite a few years ago. It used to belong to a well-known player who sadly died too young, and some equipment was sold to raise money for his family. My family used to know his parents when he was young, so I thought the least I could do was contribute some money. Fast forward a few years and I have let it get into a right state. Much of this is down to where it's been stored - one of the things that attracted us to this house was the large stone outbuilding that the owners assured us was dry. Piled all my musical gear in there - cue finding out actually it's quite damp. This snare drum was one of the casualties. Although it has a Gretsch badge and hardware on it, I don't think the shell is a Gretsch - though there are exceptions, the factory drums tended to have a lining of 'silver sealer' on the inside. Much of the hardware is correct, albeit I think the throwoff is a Yamaha. Lots of corrosion on the inside: So I've decided to strip it down and try and bring it back to life. The shell didn't appear to have any lacquer on it (suggesting again it's not a factory drum) and my initial thoughts were to use some Tru-oil to finish the shell inside and out with. However, after stripping the shell and a light sanding it's clear that the corroded fixings have left stains on the shell: I expect these will also show through any finishing oil, so I'm going to have a think about what to do. Perhaps I might try staining the shell. I put the worst of the hardware in some vinegar to try and lift the rust: There were also a couple of small cosmetic cracks in the shell so I've put some superglue into those which should hopefully stop them propagating.

Oh, and I think I read somewhere that some of the Yamaha pickups are a different impedance to 'normal' ones - the Yammy preamp buffers/boosts them but some aftermarket preamps don't work, so perhaps worth checking that out too, though if it's standard jazz-size pickups you'd be fine to change those (mine has non-standard soapbars).