casapete

1 minute ago, MichaelDean said:

I see it all the time in the Bristol store.

Ah, okay. Doesn’t seem great business practice to me then. 
I’ve seen this before with some clothing companies where the price difference has been

small, but £367 is crazy. 

Hard to think that PMT would do this - could have been a genuine oversight maybe?

1 hour ago, meterman said:

Even though I no longer tour, I still keep the cases with the guitars stored in them. No idea why, as gigbags would take up less room. But Hiscox cases are ace 👍

Me too. Don’t like storing my basses and guitars on stands or hung on walls by their necks,

just have them in their cases standing vertically using a rack type arrangement I made.

One or two are in gig bags, but they’re the ones that are either next to get moved on or

cheapies that probably stand me to less than the price of a case! I use a luggage label

tied round the handle of each case to show what’s in it, less messy than gaffa tape which

can leave a sticky residue.

Hiscox cases are great, I only have one though as generally prefer oblong cases for storage.

Had mine for well over 20 years and it’s been superb. 

Thank you all for your interest. Band leader has the details of people who have replied, so 

hopefully it will be one of our own who end up with the band!

Cheers, Pete.

11 minutes ago, itu said:

Some words mentioned earlier:

CTS = carpal tunnel syndrome

back, or neck pain

arthritis

ischias

bursitis

Dupytrens Contracture sufferer here! Had it in my left hand for over 10 years now.

This is a condition where nodules appear in the palm which gradually pull the fingers down into

a contracted state. Once it gets worse then movement of the fingers gets restricted, with surgery

or recently injections the only solution. Fortunately mine has not progressed over the last few years,

and although it can sometimes give me gyp, it hasn't impacted upon my playing / earning a living.

Apparently it is common with string players generally, and the operations to rectify it can be very painful.

1 hour ago, Mickeyboro said:

Could be a new project for you, Pete - The Andre Rieu Experience…

 

And I’m on 10 per cent😂

Brilliant! No wigs needed or anything!

Wonder if bass fiddle would suffice though? 🤣

30 minutes ago, Cliff Edge said:

I thought it was the Tales of The Unexpected channel. 

Or the Queen channel, although they seem to have stopped showing every blo*dy Queen

concert for whole evenings just lately.

The Andre Rieu thing is unbelievably popular, but every time I’ve had the misfortune to see a clip

of any of the shows on Sky Arts they all seem exactly the same, just a different setting. The 

massive audiences must mean he’s minted! Good luck to him, he seems to have found a massive

market - seen adverts he’s doing a UK tour in 2024, with good tickets around the £150+ region.

Given the size of the orchestra I reckon that’s not bad when compared to ticket prices these days

for rock and pop bands with half a dozen musicians. Apparently a lot of people in the UK attend

his gigs in Europe on a regular basis too.

Another +1 for the Fender Rumble 100v3. New they go for around £330, but can be had for around

£150/200 second hand. No need to look at separate cabs and amps, as the Rumble weighs 22lbs!

I’ve had mine for a few years now and it’s one of the best bass items I’ve ever bought. Used it for

all small gigs I’ve done and it’s never been any problem - okay with a quietish drummer as well.

Everyone who picks it up can’t believe how light it is, and it sounds great too with plenty of

EQ options and an XLR for DI purposes. I honestly can’t recommend them enough.

6 hours ago, SuperSeagull said:

I’ve just put my foot down re an annual charity gig - done it for the last three years on the promise of a paid gig which has never materialised, two hours travel time for what should be 45 mins but always get shortened to 30 mins because everyone else overruns, in a pub that is packed, raking in the money for the owner without even a free glass of water for the band. Taking the proverbial.

You have made the right call on this.
An old clubland agent around here used to get bands to do these kind of gigs, using the ‘sprat to catch

a mackerel’ analogy. All we ever got was sprats. 
 

2 hours ago, markbunney said:

We thought this was a good deal bearing in mind how far, and how long we would have to travel, but they didn't want to know. I think they might be having karaoke instead 🤣

And probably end up paying the karaoke DJ more than £300 too......🤬

1 minute ago, Greg Edwards69 said:

The other problem we have is if a number of bands keep doing the same, it doesn't just undervalue their services, it undervalue the pub cover band circuit for everyone. This is one of the reasons pubs are paying bands the same rates they did 30 years ago.

That's exactly how it seems in my area. Can't believe people are still only getting £40 each on a gig, was the same over

25 years ago! I know the pub business is not looking great for landlords these days, so you can understand if they can't

(or won't) discern who the better bands are pay them accordingly? A cheap band will always find gigs.

The sickening part of turning down gigs is that there’ll be someone else willing to do it for

peanuts even if you don’t. However, turning it down will show the booker that you’re better

than that as well as no punters telling everyone else how few people were at the gig etc.

In my experience once you do cheap gigs people think you’re a cheap band.

When I first considered turning pro, a very wise local musician told me to settle on a price

I would want as a minimum for every gig and don’t waiver on that. He said that some nights 

Instead of out working I’d be sitting at home watching telly but it would be worth it in the 

long run. He was right. 

Sold an amp to Ross, all went well. Quick payment, good communications and overall an easy

transaction. Another decent BC person to deal with, cheers.

Seeing the Tracy Chapman song on another thread made me remember this.

There’s a copy currently for sale on Gumtree in Nottingham.

Natural / maple board, £160.

11 hours ago, Downunderwonder said:

Lucky! A ceiling about that height makes an acoustic guitar bloom on every C chord. They will look right at the bass player to blame.

Happened to me last night, and the guitarist did give me the look too. 

Also an original 1958 Danelectro Longhorn - I have a reissue but an old one would be ace.

( Or even the Shorthorn pictured here too.)

I’ve always fancied a Kay bass from 1958, like this K162 ‘Howlin Wolf’ model.

34 minutes ago, Mickeyboro said:

Out of interest, are you ever asked for any ELO? 😈

Ha ha, occasionally Mick! My mate points out that I’m contractually obliged not to play any of their

tunes though ( a complete lie but gets us out of it). 😆

My final gig of the week tonight with our acoustic duo at Beverley’s The Sun Inn. We last played there in 

July to a full pub and this time it was the same. Plenty of requests, so we played songs including ‘Autumn

Leaves’ through to ‘Good riddance’!  Last time we didn’t manage to do a request for a young lady wanting

some Backstreet Boys and told her we’d do it next time. She was in again tonight so we stuck to our 

promise and did ‘I want it that way’! She seemed happy enough but I think it was maybe down to the wine.

Loads of local musos in again tonight which is very flattering albeit a little unnerving, makes us raise our

game though. Used my Ibanez shortie electro acoustic into the PA via my Rumble 100 combo’s DI. 

No gigs now till next Sunday in Scarborough, again with the duo. 

18 minutes ago, Mickeyboro said:

Where’s Jeff? 😂

17 minutes ago, dmccombe7 said:

I'm guessing centre stage. 

Dave

Correct Dave!  
 

Just found another pic from last night’s gig.

10 minutes ago, dmccombe7 said:

I've only ever broken one string in 40+ yrs when i was playing. Even tho i don't carry spare strings because i have a spare bass with me it still sticks in my mind about breaking one again. 

Dave

I’ve never broken a bass string Dave.

My bass issues last night though were jack socket / wiring related, causing me to use my spare.

. 

1 minute ago, Paul S said:

Penistone.  Seriously?

Yup, you can imagine the jokes flying around when we play there.

Actually quite a pleasant market town situated on the edge of the Pennines.

Around 1973. Same as a lot of people - got together with some guys at school, first gig in

the youth club doing rock covers and then some other stuff in villages around here. My

dad would take me and my gear to rehearsals and gigs until I got my own car at 17.

The band finished when some of us went away to uni, and I joined another band in Hull

and then started doing clubs and pubs with them all over Yorkshire and the north east. 
Looking back it was a steep but invaluable learning curve which I wouldn’t have missed

for the world. 😊

Tonight’s gig was at The Paramount at Penistone, a community theatre and cinema near Barnsley.

We’ve been playing here every year since I joined the band, and get really well looked after by

Brian and Amanda who run the venue. Home made lasagne and cakes for all the band and crew

is something we all look forward to, and it’s rare we all eat together before a gig so a nice change.

Venue holds around 350 and it was full tonight. Despite me having bass issues the gig went well,

with lots of people dancing at the front during our second set. It was our last gig this year, so

have a break now until January - most of the theatres we play have pantos on in December.

(Instead of the usual stage pic I thought I’d show our band and crew just after we’d eaten!)