casapete

Understood. Just seems a shame to risk damaging them by exposing them to the extremes of heat and cold that exists in most lofts. My 63 P-bass was rescued from a loft, and the paint peeled off in strips! Frets were green and the original case was damaged beyond repair. Amazingly the neck survived without being warped , but it took a lot of restoration.

Be careful putting guitars in lofts, especially at the moment with the current heatwave - you’ll need more than a set of hex keys to sort them out 😟

I now have my bass set with a lower action than I’ve ever had before, as I had started getting more aches and cramps in both hands. I turn the amp up more and play less hard than I used to, and (so far anyway) it seems to have done the trick. Am sure it won’t stop the ageing process but may just make it more manageable for the time being at least. 😐

Cheers Trev. Glad you had a good night, and your son as well. Thanks for the pics too - my monitor was riddled with a strange feedback through most of the gig so I was trying to ignore it, hence the rather stern expression you captured so well. 😅

Agreed, although I bet a lot of bassists (me included) rarely venture up there so maybe aren’t bothered? I quite enjoy routine check ups on intonation and action etc - always do this every 6-8 weeks when restringing. I remember getting an electronic tuner for the first time in the late 70’s which made the job so much more accurate and easy. Think it was quite a significant era for people to start doing their own set ups.

A colleague of mine a few years ago was meeting a friend of hers for lunch, and the friend arrived early so I chatted with her. She lived not far from me in a neighbouring village, and we made small talk about what local entertainment was around at the time, and of course I chatted about being in a band etc. At some point she mentioned her brother played guitar too, so I presumed she meant in the same area so I asked if I knew him? She said maybe , he has been with Elton John’s band for a while now - turned out to be Davey Johnstone.

His version of Steve Van Zandt's 'Ride the night away' is great. Jimmy recently joined Little Steven and the Disciples of Soul onstage for this tune when they were touring Australia earlier this year. My son-in-law is an Aussie , and couldn't believe how little known Jimmy was/is over here.

As I remember, loons were more fitted in the thigh than flared jeans, with a narrower waistband too. Often cotton / velvet material, thinner than denim. You could always find them for sale via mail order in the music paper small ads (Melody Maker and NME etc) where the same shops sold long sleeve scoop neck t-shirts , Afghan coats and tall fringed suede desert boots. Groovy...

Exactly this ^^^ I usually copy and paste some relevant details from the internet to hopefully stall the daft questions, but there’s always one or two who don’t get it. A while ago I was selling some passive JBL PA speakers, and did this, only to find that one guy turned up thinking they were active for some reason.

The Thorns - used in the last episode of Ricky Gervaise's 'Afterlife' .

Brilliant, thanks for posting. ‘Don’t play that song’ will be getting my attention ASAP, love that tune.

Friend of mine who used to make cases used an electric carving knife to cut the foam with great results.

Yeah, start with contacting the manufacturer. You could also consider having the driver repaired maybe? Try Wembley Loudspeaker for a quote. [email protected]

We did Conkers Amphitheatre Arena near Ashby-de-la-Zouch on Saturday night. It’s an open air gig in a lakeside setting situated in The National Forest. Around 700 people attended, full capacity - we do the gig every year and this seemed the busiest yet. Fortunately the weather held out for us, as even though there are canopies it can be a bit miserable if wet for the audience. A great band opened up the gig, The Surfin’ Llamas. A good mix of ska and Northern soul tunes got the crowd really livened up early. Bassist Pete had a MM Bongo 5 string and Barefaced cabs, sounded really good and their sax player was fabulous. We came on around 8.45 and did one long 90 min set, which made a nice change for us. Crowd were up pretty much from the start, so it made for a memorable gig. Nice crew and PA too, and we got rebooked for next year so happy days. As we usually do theatre gigs, these sort of venues make a really nice change for us. We’ve got another one this coming Friday at Hampton Pool so already looking forward to that, just hope the weather is okay. We are on with a Blondie tribute too so should be interesting.

Reminded me that I still have (and occasionally use) a couple of those grey Fender leads that used to come with their guitars and basses. Library pic below. Nigh on indestructible!

Here you go, a couple on ebay - https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/FISHER-PRICE-604E-Vintage-Crazy-Combo-Horn-Musical-Instrument-1984-Complete-Set/264296323348?hash=item3d8949d914:g:jo8AAOSweOdcD8eU https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Vintage-Fisher-Price-1984-Crazy-Combo-Horn-Set-Collectable-Instrument/273919803272?hash=item3fc6e47f88:g:hxEAAOSwcb5dIi9q

Just what I was thinking - my grandchildren would love one of these!

Could it be that some people are just so keen / desperate to get on a stage and perform to a crowd that they will do it for nothing? (Same as amateur dramatics scenario?)

A very expensive black leather Gibson strap I bought in the mid 70’s to go with my second guitar, a black Avon Les Paul copy. Still using it, although these days with my 1959 Les Paul Junior. Still got my Marshall 18 watt valve combo I bought around 1976, for £45!! Just had it overhauled, and it sounds as good as ever. Sadly don’t get chance to use it in public these days due to my guitar skills still being rather err..rudimentary. Occasional jams with friends is when it gets an airing, and it will never be sold. Also my big Korg GT6 tuner which was a birthday present from my girlfriend in the late 70’s. Nowadays gets used at home when restringing basses and guitars, still works great!

This is the MU take on it, sent to members yesterday. It has recently been brought to the MU’s attention that the Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo (REMT) has advertised for experienced musicians of what would appear to be a professional standard to apply to form a new stage band for a 25 show run throughout August. Including worldwide television coverage. The MU have contacted the REMT for further detail and have received confirmation that despite imposing stringent demands and requirements for applicants, there is no fee available to musicians for this month-long engagement where only food and accommodation will be provided. These requirements include being available for an intense period of rehearsals and a run of 25 shows, being at least grade eight standard, possessing an ability to sight read, an ability to perform to an excellent standard in front of over 8000 people, have experience of performing in a showband, pit-orchestra and/or musical theatre band and a demand that although participants “may” take on other work, they must prioritise the REMT. Furthermore, the engagement expects the rights to be granted for worldwide TV coverage – for which there are of course union agreements in place. This issue falls clearly under our Work Not Play campaign and as such we now seek responses from any MU members who have engaged in this work so that we might ascertain the impact on our members. This kind of call for work is gravely concerning for the Union and our members. If you have been engaged for these shows, we would very much appreciate your response to this. Please let us know by emailing [email protected] as soon as possible.

The MU flagged this up yesterday, unbelievable.

Peavey beat you to it in the late 70's with the 'Mini-monitors' !

Sorry to hear about your shoulder Mart - still, with the Dano poised for action, every cloud?!! Catch you on Friday, cheers.