neepheid

[quote name='TimR' timestamp='1370873947' post='2106664'] I think you'll find that's always been the case. Unfortunately the venues got bigger and stopped thinking about the law and started thinking about profits. All that happened was the council, and police got fed up with clearing up the mess and started to come down harder on venues. [/quote] I respectfully disagree and at the risk of further thread derailment would like to retort. This came to pass in the most recent iteration of licensing law changes (in Scotland at least) with the necessity for Personal License Holders, spot checks by Police and Licensing Officials and other such guff. I also find the wide brush you're tarring with which suggests that all venues (and by extension all staff) are like that, having worked in the trade, somewhat offensive. I have never sold alcohol to anyone I judge to be worse for wear, just the same as I've never sold alcohol to anyone who in my estimation is under 18 and lacks the requisite proof to the contrary. Profits are irrelevant, I don't like cleaning up blood and vomit. I didn't need an additional burden of responsibility and misplaced, disproportionate consequences/repercussions of errors of judgement to tell me that. I know that there are venues who push their staff to sell, sell, sell and surprise, surprise they're the ones with the police vans outside them every weekend. But we all get it in the neck because the powers-that-be use as wide a brush as you are using right now.

[quote name='4 Strings' timestamp='1370871786' post='2106624'] I don't see why this is the Wal owner's fault? He did nothing wrong. Why should he expect anyone to touch is property without permission, especially something as personal and fragile as a musical instrument. It's a pain in the neck keeping things in cases at gigs where there's so little space, the cases get put away. Going along the 'it takes a village to bring up a child' line, assuming the Wall owner was not right there at the time why did none of the punters stop these two idiots going anywhere near the gear? In reality there is more responsibility there than the landlord who was no doubt busy keeping the queue at the bar down. Its the two idiots' fault, I'm sure it wouldn't be too hard to find them, they need to be given the chance, now they've sobered up, to put things right. [/quote] If it was an ideal world, what you say would be true, but it isn't. I'm not saying it's right or fair but in an environment where alcohol is impairing the judgement of those around you, you must adapt to that environment. To compound the problem that some people can't keep their hands to themselves, I would estimate the the people around the incident would be reticent to get involved for fear of receiving abuse, or getting the wrong end of the stick and experiencing the embarrassment of attempting to stop the rightful owner or a trusted associate from picking it up. Heads down, nothing to do with me, mate. To say or expect otherwise is naive in my opinion and therefore there is a (small) element of blame to be put on the owner if they expected their stuff to be respected by drunk people, or for drunk people to come to his assistance/rescue. Also I do not share your belief that these idiots will be easy to track down and even if you did find them, while your adherence to a due process is commendable I would be very surprised if you extracted anything but slopey shouldered feigned ignorance at best or worse, outright abuse out of them. You may find me cynical but for the record, I would love to live in a utopian world where people kept their irrelevant hands to themselves. I just can't see it happening.

[quote name='xilddx' timestamp='1370866874' post='2106505'] If I were you, I wouldn't bother listening to that 'someone' anymore. [/quote] It didn't sound very plausible to me. Yay, I don't have to book a half price ticket on Virgin Galactic just yet

I'm not going to get into any perceived improvements in sound (mostly because I haven't heard any and it's somewhere below my level of caring - I want reliable cables that work, end of). Dave's cables are solid, reliable and dependable. He's also a breeze to deal with, ask him for what you want, pay the man and in a very short period of time the cable(s) arrive at your door. What more do you need? With the exception of my first ever instrument cable, which (sentimentality aside) is pretty neat looking (clear brown jacket so you can see the braid underneath) and seems to be of a similar bulletproof construction, all my cables are OBBM. Instrument cables, speaker cable, patch lead. There's a rather lonely one in my bag of gig bits and bobs which only sees the light of day when someone in the band forgets/breaks theirs

Anth bought a pickup and associated bits from me. Smooth transaction, prompt payment, great communication, just how it should be

I've owned three and sold three. Tells its own story really. Won't be buying another one. If someone's getting all precious about the acoustic thing then (if I even wanted to proceed) I would offer the "compromise" of the Epiphone Jack Casady. It's got F holes, and that's about as "acoustic" as you're going to get from me.

In general I gig whatever bass I feel like playing, whether it's my RD Artist (which is probably worth 1.5-2 grand depending on who's doing the selling) or the Yamaha BB450 I resurrected for about fifty quid. There is a line, and it's common sense. I won't take an expensive or rare bass to a festival, for instance. To be honest I rarely leave the bass out as we're usually not the only band on the bill so it goes back on in the bag and stashed in the wings of the stage or in a designated area. If we're on first then I might leave it out, but you can bet I'll always be close by (or a band member will be asked to keep an eye out). A couple of weekends ago I was playing at a private party on a farm in the middle of nowhere, I took my G&L El Toro and left it out on the stand. Was never going to be a problem. It's all about risk assessment.

Well, I find it wholly disgusting. I stopped working behind bars because of changes in the licensing laws which basically passed a lot of the blame for patrons' drunkenness onto the staff. We don't pour it down their throats! We had a loosely defined duty of care and we stopped serving someone who is out of it, but who's to stop someone buying a drink for some poor SOB who is already legless then falls over and splits their head open? Now that's our fault? Up yours. I quit. Venues are being hounded and harassed on all sides by the Police, Councils' licensing boards, the PRS and now stuff like this? Sometimes I'm surprised they bother to open their doors at all. And before you question my credentials, I know venue owners personally and have installed and maintained CCTV in a couple of places. What fun - bouncers getting put in the dock for doing their job - physically restraining someone who is throwing punches around is assault, apparently. I've been hauled to court as a witness to something I never actually saw because I lifted the CCTV footage, I spent a whole morning waiting around then finally the perp changed his plea. Wonderful. It's not a morning off work by the way - it's a morning of sitting around uneasily in a waiting area playing spot the junkie. Fun. As far as I can see, rather than the courts tackle the drunken individuals who can't or won't handle their ale, they'd rather solve the problem by harassing venue owners and staff. They'd love it if all the bars in the country closed. Someone also told me that if a contractor falls off their own badly maintained ladder on your property, you're liable and can be sued? Is that right? Now someone has taken their eye off the ball, something bad happened that was completely unforeseeable by the venue staff/management (and indeed, unless they're running a bass crèche, not their problem) and he's trying to extract compensation out of the venue? Balls to that. In a perfect world you would be able to leave your property lying out and people that have nothing to do with it would leave it well alone, but this isn't a perfect world. I despise the way this world is going. Blame anyone but yourself. In my opinion there are two problems here - of course the vast majority of the blame is on the drunken idiots who fkd about with the bass in the first place but a smidgeon of blame rests with the owner for not taking the appropriate steps to secure his property IF he left it unattended. It's no-one else's problem or concern. Deal with it.

Yes, one will be more expensive than the other for ill-defined reasons

Well, at least you've got a pickguard to hide the routing, which will be a strange amalgam of jazz and precision shapes. Or sack trading - just buy the P/J Deluxe

[quote name='pete.young' timestamp='1370808087' post='2105889'] I just pick up my spare bass. [/quote] I do not possess the cat-like reflexes and physical dexterity required to execute that manoeuvre mid song. I salute you. I do find that I can flick a switch that fast, so that is my coping mechanism.

[quote name='pete.young' timestamp='1370690530' post='2104404'] (though why you'd want the passive I don't know) [/quote] Safety net in case the batteries start dying on you mid-song/gig. Quicker than changing the battery especially if a screwdriver is involved. Yes, one should be keeping on top of the battery situation, but one is only human after all.

Surely it's the fault of the idiots concerned? Where has personal responsibility gone?

Holy thread resurrection, Batman!

You could try a thing like this to sharpen up your skills? [url="http://www.fretboardmaster.com/fretboardgame.html"]http://www.fretboardmaster.com/fretboardgame.html[/url]

I don't see how the Beatles can be held responsible for a lack of innovation on the part of other people. The title of this thread is a little too combative for my tastes also. Are you trying particularly hard to be controversial today?

I do try and stash gig bags etc. off to the side/hidden behind PA speakers or in the wings somewhere. Can't stand having clutter around me. Never mind it looking bad, I'll probably trip over it. On the subject of clothing - at my last gig I wore a fuzzy trilby. Never let it be said that I don't make an effort.

I wouldn't humph an 8x10 around. I've got a lovely light Zoot 4x10, I feed it up to 500W and I've never wanted for volume, even without PA. Done pubs, function rooms in hotels, marquees and last weekend filled a byre (that's a cow shed, in case you're unfamiliar with the word) with lovely bass. Pretty easy to get in/out of car/venues/up/down stairs.

I used to have a Hodad. Sold it a while ago. Still got a picture of it though:

[quote name='tonybassplayer' timestamp='1370271511' post='2098366'] Just a minor comment but wouldn't it be better if those lights were on the band not the audience ?? [/quote] Are you asking me or telling me? I dunno how these things work - too used to being spoon-fed lights and PA in established music venues.

Saturday's gig was the inaugural gig for The Inevitable Teaspoons. Well, most of them anyway. Singer comes on board next week to relieve a relieved keyboard player from lead vocal duties. Sax player called in sick in the morning with an inner ear problem/dizziness - when he was standing still he felt like he was on a ship so in no position to drive to the middle of nowhere then blow into a saxophone. So the four of us took to the stage. And what a stage. We were playing at a house/farmwarming in rural Aberdeenshire. We were playing in an old byre (cow shed for non-locals) which had a raised concrete level and a channel which would have been a trough. Certainly the most solid stage I've ever stood on which is more than I could say for the wall behind us (we were advised to move all our gear forward ). (Photo courtesy of Jo Norris) Anyway, it went pretty well. We had a set of our own stuff and then a set of covers. We had a song up our sleeve for an encore, but even after that people still wanted more. A quick conflab amongst the band decided we all kinda knew "One Step Beyond", so we played that, then someone asked for "(Sittin' On) The Dock of the Bay". A quick work out of the chords and someone holding up an iPhone for the singer for the words and we did it - first time I've ever done that. It was probably a bit crap but people seemed to appreciate that we gave it a go. Anyway, have a vid: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pfrH_DQxDR0