Matt P

for smaller guitars the Yamaha APX range are pretty good, I've been impressed by some of the smaller Takemine's as well, there are also some great options from Freshman, the few i've played have felt and sounded like much more expensive instruments. one of the best i've played in that price bracket though was an Aria Sandpiper, not sure if they're still available but you might find a used one. my friend has one and it's always a pleasure when i get to play it. Matt

we've done a tip bucket once, for our first gig we booked an upstairs room at a pub and to get some help filling the room we asked a water charity to join in, they did some promotion ffor us and then ran the door and took the money, the room was free (as long as the bar took enough) the only expense we had was to hire in some speakers for the evening as we didn't own any at that point, so we had a small bucket on stage with a label "tips to cover the PA Hire" we got enough to be able to put the extra back to the charity and all was good. The gig was to get us some experience as we hadn't played together live (although we had all gigged in other bands, most of our friends turned up and it was a good night all round. Matt

We're a 3 piece, and started as good friends before we were a band, I'm in charge of the technical side (PA, recording kit and helping to source instruments, strings etc) and the Guitarist/singer is in charge of the gig bookings. Our drummer has some health issues so he's just in charge of looking after himself (he was my best man and he's been one of my best friends for over 20 years so i'm well aware of his needs and allowances are made for him) Matt

Bought a set of strings from Steve, arrived very quickly and well packaged. Thanks Matt

bought a neck from John, excellent communication, posted when promised and arrived safe and sound. thank you Matt

some sockets have quite a deep taper/radius at the open end to aid getting the socket cleanly onto a nut from odd angles, if the nut is very thin (as it often is for a machinehead) you are likely still in that tapered/radiused section so won't get any grip. the choice is either to use an open ended spanner or to grind the last few mm off the end of a deep socket to get to the parallel section. I usually go for the open ended spanner approach. Matt

Timber isn't too bad for weight but I was always building to fit the carrying case which was heavy, this was the main reason to go back to a commercial board. Having something to carry the board in was always the challenge for me as I like stuff to be properly protected. Matt

these cables are very useful providing you are within the power limits, I'm using a 4 into 1 cable to connect up my recording setup, only a single socket for the whole rack case, i went through each rack unit and checked that they had proper internal fuses and that the whole lot was well under the rating of the cable. my setup goes to an IEC socket as well which limits it to 10A but i'm well under that. Matt

I've looked at it a couple of times (I'm an R+D engineer so it's used a lot in our test environment) I couldn't find profiles that suited what i was trying to do, most of the easily available ones were too deep or just oddly proportioned. the profile isn't that cheap either so the build cost always snuck up past what was willing to spend. every time i ended up back with a commercially made pedalboard or making something from timber to suit a particular setup. Matt

that is an amazing build, I've never seen anyone hide the truss rod adjusters that way, so slick. It's giving me a real hankering for a short scale thunderbird now (maybe even a 5 string one) Matt

I just peel the rubber off, there is usually a nice flat metal plate underneath ready to accept the velcro. the screws sit proud of the base but the thickness of the velcro is enough that they still sit perfectly on the board. I've got a small box full of the rubber plates, if i come to sell a pedal i just include it for the buyer so they can re-fit if they wish. Matt

I had this same issue a while back, from memory some Gator rack cases have a steel bar/plate with tapped holes that is fixed in, for that you need 10/32" X 3/4" Rack Screws. If your case doesn't have the bars then you need slide on cage nuts, Penn elcom make some M6 ones Available here and probably elsewhere you will also need some M6 pan head screws to match, and plastic washers if you don't want to mar the front of the mounted units. there are also this type but i don't have a supplier of smaller quantities to hand Amazon link Matt

I run a wireless from bass to board but when i use a cable i usually go for a 3m cable from bass to pedalboard and then either 4 or 5 from the board to the amp. most of may cables are right angle to straight, and they are all neutruik plugs and Klotz AC110 cable (all home made as i bought a 100m drum about 12 years ago and still have plenty left even after making Hifi interconnects and cables for friends.

the internal dimensions of the petrol bag are 24 cm (width), 44 cm (length), 25 cm (depth), so the nano would fit in there fine with space for cables and other stuff in the outer pockets, it has a smart LED light inside as well for rummaging for cables in the dark. Matt

I would have to double check the size but would something like this work for you? bought on here a couple of years ago but now surplus to requirements https://www.digibroadcast.com/bags-cases-rain-covers-c67/petrol-pc004-pc-004-deca-dr-camera-bag-p4172 I cant remember exactly which one i've got but this is what it looks like, can check measurements if you think it would be any good. I think i only pad about 60 for it and i'd certainly sell for a bit less to get some space back!

The PA in our band is partially owned by the band and the rest i bought myself, the shared kit was bought with gig money and the reset i sourced. It is stored split between the 3 of us, the main reason this works is that the band is just the 3 of us and we were close friends before we were properly a band, I have keys to both of their houses and they have keys to mine (this was handy last week when the drummer locked himself out and nipped over to borrow the spare key) the main reason that i bought the kit was that I've got experience of PA and when we were starting I had the spare money and time to source stuff (mostly secondhand) any upgrades or repairs are done by me too as i enjoy that sort of thing, at some point soon i'm planning to replace the 15" speakers with some 10" ones to reduce weight and make them easier to store. the total outlay on our PA isn't that high though, I've spent far more on the recording setup and it's all eclipsed by how much i've spent on my own setup.

i was originally looking for a pair of control 1's until i remembered the JPW's in the back of the cupboard. (which i think i got free when a shop was having a refit)

i'm in the Hifi amp and small speakers camp, currently a Trends T-amp and a pair of JPW Minims. there are lots of cheap T-class amps available now (the Trends isn't that cheap but i got mine secondhand) and small hifi speakers are easily available from facebook marketplace or ebay. My setup will go fairly loud and the quality is very good. I like having a single easy to reach volume control, my last setup of active speakers had all the controls on the back of one speaker and it was annoying to adjust and switch on and off as i couldn't see any of the controls. Matt

I don't think my Stagg EUB has this, did you buy it new? it might have been fitted by a previous owner to allow for mounting to a stand.

I'm definitely the band dad, and have been forever, I also used to be the PA guy at different events when i was a student (mostly with borrowed kit) so i've always had a selection of adapters and cables etc, at one point i had 3 silver cases with all the stuff in and marked them 1,2,3 so i could direct any helpers to the right case to find stuff. My band is a 3 piece made up of 3 very close friends, the drummer was best man at my wedding and I've known the guitarist almost as long. i carry strings, plectrums, spare cables, tools etc as much for my own kit as for my bandmates. I actually put together a EGC kit (Every gig carry) in a dedicated case so I know that I have all the required kit and can just grab the case and throw it in my bag and know that i have everything. I am also custodian of the Pa cables so they're all in a couple of holdalls (speaker and power in one, instrument and mic in the other)