Linus27

14 minutes ago, ezbass said:

The blond P.

Nice, I dont think you'll be disappointed, I'm certainly loving playing mine.

36 minutes ago, ezbass said:

It'll be out for delivery tomorrow, apparently. I hope I'm not disappointed by either the product or the delivery. 😬🤞

What did you go for in the end?

1 hour ago, greavesbass said:

Threads got me thinking and remembering a lot of stuff.

 

That thing when you've setup but the male bog door is on ur side of the stage, and this can be the case in the nicest of places and that wiff of toilet cleaner hits u every now and again.....I can remember it now looking out onto a packed floor, me killing Boogie Oogie Oogie or similiar and then that pong hits you. Haha, the life of a pro musician.

 

You either love the circus life and grease paint or you don't. To be fair I did for a few years and then it wained, and once it starts to go there's no stopping it.

I loved the circus life, absolutely love it, travelling across the country, venue to venue, playing in a new town or city, meeting new people, playing a gig which might be absolutely amazing or go disastrously wrong but still having a laugh along the way. It was one giant adventure and I love every second of it. Some people used to moan about it and say its really boring, they hated it, hated all the travelling etc. so I would just say to them then stop if you don't like it then go and get a regular job but this is a gift, to be on tour, to play music, not everyone gets this opportunity or life style so you make the most of it, make it work for you but if this is too much hard work and you'd sooner be working in a shop, or a factory or an office then you crack on but doing this is my dream and I am going to love every second of it. Most seemed to get it after that and enjoyed it but not all.

38 minutes ago, Lozz196 said:

Another thought here, has anyone had people making bootlegs of your merch - t-shirts etc?

 

 

We've had fans record our gigs and make their own t-shirts which we were ok with. We even had a band cover one of our songs in their live set which was pretty cool. A few years ago, I heard a new band and one of their songs was quite a rip off of one of our songs. 

46 minutes ago, Paul S said:

 

Somewhere in a 'sliding doors' parallel universe there's a version of me that is slim and handsome  

Somewhere in a 'sliding doors' parallel universe I would be in The Stereophonics. Virgin were coming to see us and The Stereophonics and we were in discussions with them but in the end they decided to sign The Stereophonics.

29 minutes ago, Jackroadkill said:

 

Did you used to play the White Horse in High Wycombe in about 1998?

We did play there but it was on the 12th August 1999. I don't think we played there previous to that.

3 hours ago, BigRedX said:

IME having just about any kind of job (or a family for that matter) is almost totally incompatible with being in a band that has any hopes of success. If you can't drop everything to do that last minute gig then you put the band at a disadvantage compared with all those are prepared to make these "sacrifices". Perhaps there will be time for a family once you are established as a musician. You also need to be one of the band's songwriters or at least have negotiated a share of the songwriting royalties in order to still have some money coming in after the band is over.

 

The only time I have been able to put in something approaching the time and effort that is required to be more than just a weekend warrior, was in the 80s when I was unemployed, and more recently now I am self-employed and can be more flexible about how I allocate my time.

This goes back to how you define success. I did 3 years as a club band, playing over 100 gigs a year, earning around £10k a year whilst doing a 9-5 job every day and having a wife and 2 kids. It was just a case of finding a balance.

6 minutes ago, Frank n funker said:

Really liking the tort, bet it looks great with the Squier neck too 👍

Here you go and yep, looks great 😁

Been playing around with mine a bit today 😁

Tort scratchplate and a lighter gloss 70's neck. Does change the look of the bass somewhat.

Rosewood neck which is quite nice.

Original

24 minutes ago, MacDaddy said:

 

Don't be shy, what was the band?

Here you go,

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inter_(band)

I never wanted the fame and fortune but I wanted to play music and make a living out of it. When I was 9 in 1979 and at school, I told my teacher I wanted to play the trombone so they gave me a test and then told my parents I will never make a musician as I don't have a musical bone in my body. Then skip to 1985 and I saw U2 at Live Aid and saw Adam Clayton strutting around the stage looking like the coolest dude on the planet and I wanted some of that. Went to college and met some friends and got myself a guitar and my friend got a bass. I wanted to play bass and he wanted to play guitar so we swapped but he gave up and I stuck with it.

I then spent two years learning to play and then joined a band and gigged lots but this ended after a few years. I then formed another band that eventually got signed in 1996 and actually did really well. We went on tour, photoshoots, recorded two John Peel sessions, did a Radio 1 roadshow, a live Virgin radio session and recorded an album with Mark Wallis who produced the It Bites album, Travis albums, U2 and many others. We released 4 singles, got lots of airplay including TV and cinema adverts. We made it, were signed, getting paid and living the dream but I was still not interested in any fame or fortune despite some of that coming my way. All I ever wanted was to have a song played on the radio, record an album and go on TOTP's. 

Now, my perception of making it is different but I still don't want the fame or fortune and if anything, even less so than before, I just want to play music and making it is all about how much you play and how much you can live from the income it brings rather than being famous. A few years ago I was playing in a club band that was earning great money and gigging pretty much every weekend. It was supplementing my day job income enough for me to buy a car from earnings and to be fairly comfortable so I considered myself to be semi-pro during that period as apposed to being pro when I was signed and it was my only income. 

If I look back over the 37 years of playing, I have been amateur, semi-pro and pro and I look at the wall with the albums I have played on and think that I have spent more of my days gigging, touring, recording and playing music that I have working for someone else so for me, despite being an unknown, but known to my friends and family as a musician, I identify myself as a musician more than anything else and to me that is making it.

1 hour ago, Frank n funker said:

Mine arrived today too, I'm also super happy with it. It's set up really well, if a touch too high for me but I'll give it a fettle tomorrow. I have to say I think it looks superb,  the vintage tinted neck is very classy as is the satin finish on the body.

 

The sound is everything I'd hoped for with tons of sustain. I'm particularly impressed with how progressive the tone control is, small adjustments give really discernable change.

 

It'll soon be strung with flats with the addition of a tug bar and maybe a bridge cover to complete the retro vibe.

 

I'd have been over the moon with this bass at full rrp but for £259 it's incredible!

Post up pictures when you've done the bits to it as it will be great to see. I'm thinking of changing the pickguard to either a vintage off white or red tort and possibly fitting the fretted neck that came with my Fender FSR 70's Precision. It's tinted as well but not being used as the bass has a fretless neck on it as per the picture above. Like your idea of bridge covers as well so might do the same.

If they do come in at around a grand then I think they will be super popular. Official release date is rumoured to be the 19th so we might find out soon.

Just now, neepheid said:

 

Was aimed at Mr. Rosewood earlier in the thread...

Oh, I get you now, Mr Rosewood hahaha love it 😂

4 minutes ago, neepheid said:

 

Fake news

Huh?

Just to add, my 40th Anniversary Precision in Satin Dakota Red has just arrived and it is incredible. An absolute dream to play and is actually set up really nicely. It also sounds brilliant and despite not liking satin necks as I prefer gloss necks, it feels really really nice. The only other satin neck I've ever liked was my fretless Stingray which was the nicest neck I've ever played but this also feels really good. The vintage look is also really nice. So I am super happy and the best £250 I've spent on a bass and will tide me over as the only fretted bass in my collection 😜

Starting to appear now.

https://reverb.com/item/73213671-fender-vintera-ii-70-s-telecaster-bass-vintage-white

I had made my mind up on getting it in green but I'm actually liking the Vintage white more now.

6 minutes ago, ossyrocks said:

 

Yes, the earnings per year are an indicator of whether this is a hobby, or a job.

 

You are allowed to earn up to £1000 a year from your hobby, without declaring income to HMRC. Anything over this falls into the work category. This would be a very good basis on which to consider whether you are working, or it's just a hobby. I'm definitely in the Hobby category.

 

Rob

Plus, there is a list of things you can claim back as expenses before submitting your tax return, for example, travel, stage clothes, accommodation, insurance, repairs, consumables etc. The list is huge and we used to claim back on literally everything we possibly could and it went through without any query. 

14 minutes ago, Maude said:

Technically you are not using your car for work, you are commuting to a place of work. 

If you were using your car for business deliveries, or taxiing people around for money, trading as a mobile mechanic etc, then fair enough, you are using your car for work. But just driving your gear to a gig is surely commuting. While you are working (gigging) you are not using your car. 

 

Also, and this is never easily accepted, but insurance companies don't find a get out anywhere near as much as people would like you to believe. In my 35 of being in the insurance repair trade I can't even think of a handful of times when they weaseled out. Usually you simply pay the extra that the relevent cover would've been before we're allowed to repair/release your car.

Yes, exactly this, if fact my wife had her car written off by another driver on the way to work. Insurance company asked for some photos of the damage, sent a chap round to look at the car and then offered a thousand pounds more than the car was worth. Bought it for £4600 and they gave us £5600. Wife's replacement car got hit by an unknown car in a petrol station on the way to work. Again, asked for some photos, they then sent a local repair company to look at it and within a week, the car was taken away, repaired and returned. Following year her premiums went down. No quibble's or questions.

As a weekend warrior, legally, no organisation or company would consider or lay claim on you as a worker or employed, and you would have no rights, especially as there would be no contract of employment in place. Even if a contract existed for you to perform as an agreement on a date for a sum, if below a financial threshold, then HMRC would not be interested in asking you to pay tax.

1 hour ago, casapete said:

What about if the police are involved regarding the accident? They see your car is full of gear, stands

to reason they will check to see  if your insurance covers your use of the vehicle at the time. Would

be the same for anyone using a vehicle in any line of business. ( Takeaway delivery drivers are always

getting prosecuted for not having correct insurance for what may be only a part time job for example.)

Add in the fact you may have been playing at a local hostelry and smell of booze then questions will

no doubt get asked. 

I don't see this makes any difference to be fair. Lets say I went out for a meal on Friday night and my car was full of old furniture that belonged to me that I had sold on Ebay and was going to deliver the next morning and was being paid £50 for. That's not a business or a trade so it is no different to having my car full of my own music equipment that I used as my hobby by playing down the Red Lion and got paid £50 for. As long as I am not acting as a business or a trader and earning enough to cause a concern to the HMRC then there is no difference. In fact The Police wouldn't even be interested at all to be fair unless a crime has been committed. My mate Dave down the road could ask me to give him a bass lesson. I load my car up, give him a lesson and he pays me £20 for the trouble. I give him this lesson in the back room of a pub. My mate gets totally smashed on booze and I drink water all night. Again, that's not any concern to The Police or insurance company as no crime on my part is committed and I am not acting as a business and purely a hobby. They may smell booze, breathalyze me but as I am stone cold sober then no crime has been committed.

I think there needs to be some clarity if we are talking about pro or semi pro musicians or those who are weekend warriors playing down the Red Lion on a Friday night. I'm not aware of any musician who is a weekend warrior who declares on their insurance they are a musician or claims it as a second income. I am not even aware of the insurance company being remotely interested in what you were doing prior or post accident on the day/evening and only interested in your description of how the accident happened. I have never had to provide information to the tune of saying it was Friday night and I had been playing a gig at the Red Lion and after the gig I drove home and had an accident. It has always been on this date at this time I joined the A31 and the other driver rear ended me etc. I am sure also below a certain financial threshold per year, it is classed as a hobby and not a business, professional, trade etc. 

However, if a pro or semi-pro (how do you even define this) and you have registered your vehicle for business use as a musician then I can see that you would possibly declare it.

10 minutes ago, stewblack said:

I have bought many of them but the one which so perfectly scratched my itch is the Boss BF-3 

Perfect, thank you, I will check it out

4 minutes ago, stewblack said:

Double bubble for me because I had it with a flanger recently too!

I'm a big Chorus and Flanger user. Which Flanger did you get?

22 minutes ago, Bassybert said:

This.

 

I’m pretty sure 99.99% of an audience and 99% of bass players themselves wouldn’t be able to hear any noticeable difference between a rosewood/laurel board or different bridge. 

 

The decisions back in the day to use these now hallowed materials were almost certainly made using bottom line thinking rather than some tonal nirvana. 

I've personally never noticed any difference between different bridges. I've had Fender Precision's with a High Mass Bridge, standard bridges and ever the '51 design bridges and never noticed any difference whatsoever in sustain, playability or tone between any of them. The only difference tonally is the pickups where a '51 P-Bass sounded like a '51 P-Pass, a '72 Humbucker Telebass sounded like a Humbucker Telebass and a split coil P-Bass sounded like split coil P-Bass. In fact the best sounding Precision I have ever had is my Mexican Fender FSR 70's Precision which has a standard bridge and has sustain for days. Even our singer has commented on it. Its why its my main recording bass but I am sure that's more down to the 62 Custom Shop pickups and the Ash body.