casapete

Antique / junk shops, car boots, auctions, eBay, Etsy etc etc as others have mentioned. Or how about this? Vintage ‘Wash Board’ for £22 - gdads.co.uk Or even this although £56.44 - amazon.co.uk Search for ‘Behrens BWBG12 Galvanized Washboard, Large’ Same Behrens model as the Amazon one available for £37.50 - desertcart.co.uk Good luck! 👍

This ^^^ 100% ! We had a similar gig yesterday, our regular slot at The Sun Inn, Beverley. It was pretty full by the time we arrived at 4.30pm, then absolutely rammed by the time we kicked off at 5.30pm. Obviously the bank holiday had a fair part to play in the amount of people coming in, but we managed to keep them from moving on to other local drinking places. We did our usual request thing, and probably the most we’ve ever had. ‘Dad rock’ was the main theme on a lot of them , so we hit them up with ‘’Smoke on the water’, ‘Highway to Hell’ and ‘Stairway…’. These were intertwined with ‘Copacabana’ , ‘Don’t dream it’s over’ and the awful ‘Hi Ho Silver lining’ Drink does appear to affect a lot of people’s preferences it would seem. Funniest thing was when a group of young lads came in, with a trophy held high as they’d just won it at a local football tournament. As they were about to be served one of the bar staff asked what the team was called, to be told it was a village under 18 side!! A swift exit followed ….. No pics taken, except for the lovely Beverley Minster as we were loading out.

Probably just under an hour then I reckon. 🙂

Where are you Mike?

My main ‘band’ is an acoustic / electric duo, ‘Milestone’. What makes us unique? I think it is mainly how we let our audiences pick what we play. At most of our gigs ( decent pubs, cafe bars and private parties ) we run a request system, where we put forms on the tables with space for 3 songs, then try to play them! We do anything from the 1920’s to the 2020’s really, and have literally thousands of songs to call on. Of course we get plenty of requests for stupid or little known stuff, but we try to cater for as many styles as possible. We both sing, and sometimes the limits of just having acoustic guitar and bass can be rewarding as well as limiting. What do we have that others don’t? A truly phenomenal guitarist and singer. My mate Gary is generally acknowledged as being ‘the’ guitar player in our area, and never ceases to amaze both me and our audiences. He can play pretty much any style of stuff, and sings well too. My role is to keep things anchored and add harmony vocals, and somehow this combination works really well. We’ve been doing gigs as a duo for over 30 years ( without ever having one rehearsal! ) and have developed that telepathy that makes playing together so much easier. Our best selling point? We can play gigs anywhere! We can adapt what we do to suit pretty much any venue / occasion. Last week we played at a rural village hall for a VE Day party, this weekend we are in a great local music venue full of musos who come to check us out. Birthdays, weddings, themed parties, pub acoustic gigs, we do ‘em all! Gary is a pro player, and I’m semi retired ( after being pro as well) so we can ask for good money too. Areas we can struggle in ? Not much really TBH. We do tire of playing some of the more obvious stuff, and sometimes have to chuck in a few of our choices to compensate. Also two blokes in their late 50’s / 60’s do have some limitations , but we manage pretty well most of the time. I absolutely love being in the duo, and can’t imagine it not continuing for a while yet. It’s great having just your best mate as a colleague - none of those stupid band politics to contend with, although he can get a bit loud after a couple of glasses of Pinot 😆

IIRC the song ‘Footsee’ is generally regarded by true Northern Soul fans as being a bit naff and subsequently doesn’t appear in many band’s repertoires who specialise in the genre. I remember it being released when I worked in record retail and even then it was considered too ‘poppy’, but at least it introduced many to the delights of NS. ‘Wigan’s Chosen Few’ was the band credited on the label, but I believe it had it’s roots in an earlier recording from the 60’s.

I’d say whatever option is cheapest! If you have access to some foam offcuts that’s probably best, especially the dense black type. However, some roll end cord carpet would do the job, although will weigh more than the foam option if that’s an issue. I did a case in this ages ago and used rather smelly but strong carpet adhesive and it was fine. Easy to hoover out too.

Couple of gigs for me this weekend. Friday night I was with The Alligators blues band in Hornsea on the East Yorkshire coast. Gig was The Green Owl, a decent cafe bar more popular with locals than holidaymakers. Used my P-Lyte straight into the Rumble 500 combo which is now my go-to setup for this band. The Rumble is astonishing both tonally and volume wise - one of the best amps I’ve used. Anyway, the gig went well, with an appreciative audience for us - I’m the only band member not from the area so it’s nearly a complete hometown gig for us. Saturday saw the acoustic duo playing at a lovely big village hall in the Yorkshire wolds near Driffield. It was an early VE Day / late St George’s day bash! They hired a local fish and chip van for the catering (see pic) and by the time we started the hall was full. Some fairly normal requests, with no surprises so an easy gig really. 2x50 minute sets flew by, followed by a quick pack down as my guitarist mate was flying off to another gig, in Hornsea! I was home by 9pm so well happy - these late afternoon into early evening gigs suit me just fine, after decades of getting in at 2 or 3 am.

What PA do you use Paul, and are you DI’d straight into it with your bass? Am curious as to how it sounds with the system behind the band, looks interesting!

That looks like a great gig Daryl - just the sort of place we’d like to do with our acoustic duo. You get some great venues!

7.5 lbs would be a tad under the weight of my 63 Precision. Even when I was younger I would definitely have struggled with your mate’s 1977/ 14 pound Jazz. I honestly didn’t know they could be that heavy!

Robbie sometimes does gigs around your area playing with Hamish Stuart from the Average White Band. He’s a great player, saw him with his own band years ago with Pino on bass.

I have the same problem Lozz, and the same solution. Damned cymbals….

I had one of these, the 600 watt Delta head. Was okay IIRC, I believe they wanted to steal some of Trace Elliot’s thunder. Weighed about the same too….

I’d forgotten I had put a short scale Squier Jaguar into my usual gig bag. It’s a friend’s bass which I haven’t played in anger, so wasn’t really ideal for the gig. I’ve had the Dano for a long time, and it was just like putting on a pair of old slippers, one of my favourite instruments. It is actually a Longhorn Pro, which is one of the slightly less authentic Korean reissues from the late 90’s. Factory upgraded bridge / tuners / pickups, and no tape around the edges! Sounds immense though, and weighs the same as a packet of crisps.

Two gigs for me last weekend. First was with the blues band at a rather remote pub on the coast. Not as busy as last time we did it but still a small appreciative crowd. I made a classic schoolboy error of leaving home a bit late and grabbing a gig bag on the way out, only to discover I’d brought along the ‘wrong’ bass. Fortunately I also brought along my Dano Longhorn to show the guys, so ended up using that into the Rumble 500 and it sounded pretty damned good. Haven’t used it for a while, so a nice reminder of how it will always be a keeper. (see pic). Then Sunday I was with the duo at our regular venue in Scarborough, ‘The Lookout on the Pier’. A full house as per usual and some interesting requests, including ‘A certain smile’ ( for the owner Jill ), ‘Africa’ and ‘An Englishman in New York’ with the crazy walking bit in the middle which is OLF. Encore of ‘Eight days a week’ which is a cracking tune as well. We’re there again in May and it’s always a pleasure.

Great tune / bassline. Their follow up single ‘Can’t get by without’ had a similar and arguably better bass part too.

We had a FAL Phase 50 amplifier when I was at school - think it was used for PA duties in assembly and stuff. Dreadful things, tried it with guitar and bass and it was horrible. Seemed to remember them being sold by RSC, a shop that sold budget disco and band stuff. My second or third amp was an RSC GP 30 watt valve job, in a metal case! Wasn’t that bad IIRC, used it in my first band.

+1 I always liked the HA3500 and 5500 heads, seemed easy to dial in decent sounds. The cabs on the other hand seemed very bland to me, even the aluminium cone ones.

In an old band I was in, if anyone dropped one then the culprit had to raise their hand to show it was them. This sometimes led to some very funny moments, and our audiences often got it too.

The Rumble 100 is a great option. Used mine for practicing, rehearsals, regular gigs with my duo etc. Stupidly light yet sounds great, and will hold its own with a not too crazy drummer. The best thing is they’re not silly money either, especially if you can pick up a tidy s/h one.

I’m almost OCD about safety onstage, which comes from mainly playing in theatres for 15 years where a tidy stage was the norm - cable runs taped down and covered etc. In most of the venues water was the only thing allowed onstage and then it had to be bottled, no glasses. Any drinks near anything electrical have always been a no-no with me. I hate to see drinks on amps or on the floor near mains powered pedalboards etc. Also can’t stand punters getting too near whilst dancing with full glasses in their hands - when did that become a thing I wonder.

Mine is looking okay. I have 3 gigs every month at good venues with the acoustic duo, along with quite a few other ‘one offs’. Gigs with the blues three piece amount to 2 / 3 a month too, mainly in pubs although we have one at a blues club and an appearance at a Jazz and Blues festival in June. I don’t really want any more gigs than these TBH as I’m hoping to have some nice days away with Mrs CP ( which I rarely managed when I was touring.)