BigRedX

Definitely not. I have a largish parcel going to a client in Brussels. It spent a week in UK customs and is now in it's 3 week in Belgium customs (who are currently quoting a 20-24 day processing time). My GF's business isn't doing any better having parcels going to The Netherlands taking 4+ weeks to arrive.

Currently Interparcel items sent to Europe are experiencing 4 week customs delays even with all the correct paperwork. I don't know if anyone else is doing any better at the moment in this regard.

IME the amp is the virtually the only area where weight saving can be achieved. Even the difference between a traditional plywood/aluminium and a modern moulded plastic flight case isn't that big and all the serious professional multi-effects are still built like tanks and weigh almost as much. Obviously if you are going from an Amp SVT to something like a TecAmp Puma you'll notice the difference, but I went from a solid-state 2x300W power amp to a 1kW valve/class D hybrid and the overall rack weight difference was a slight reduction in the difficulty of the rack case for a one person lift, a slight overall better balance of the case (the solid state power amp made the rack case very noticeably front-end heavy).

My point was that as soon as you start racking up your gear, IME the weight of everything combined with the rack case adds up very quickly. Also while amps have got progressively smaller and lighter, very little else has (rack mounted multi-effects, external PSUs mains distributors, cables etc.), so all the other contents of the rack are still pretty heavy, and the overall weigh savings get more negligible the more you have in your rack. It ends being a compromise between speed of setting up and weight.

While there's a lot to be said for the setting up convenience of a rack-mounted rig - in the days when I had mine it took less than 5 minutes to have everything plugged in and ready to play, the proliferation of light-weight gear tends to negate the advantages. What's the point of having a 500W amp that you can lift with your little finger if the case it's going to be put in weighs almost twice as much? I have been a rack user for my various bass and guitar rigs since the mid 80s and until recently I used to have 2 racks systems - A big one with 6U of space that was ideally a two-person carry and lift onto the stack, and a little one with 3U of space which was more manageable but I still wouldn't want to carry it any great distance. The actual gear itself that went into the little rack didn't weigh much, but the metalwork to hold it in place, the PSUs, and all the cabling to wire it up very quickly made the complete rack pretty heavy for its size. When I decided to ditch my conventional rigs and go for an FRFR system I thought long and hard about what I was going to do about the non-amp contents of my racks, and eventually settled on a Helix Floor, rather than rack unit. Even if I was in a band with a road crew I couldn't see myself going back to a rack-based system.

Actually the "reboot" of Hawaii Five-0 only ended it's 10 year run last year...

In theory it's a smart idea, but then you can't replace them with locking strap buttons because the button with the strap attached to it will be taller/longer than the other, and your instrument is no longer stable when resting on them.

I've finally made up my mind how to vote on this. I put two. 1. Keyboards (although it's really just synthesiser - don't expect me to be able to provide full song accompaniment on the piano) and 2. Any plucked stringed fretted instrument. The mental attitude to what I need to play will vary depending on the instrument in question, but the playing techniques remain basically the same - one hand for fretting the other for plucking.

But the bass is all but useless without the rest of the band.

Like @AndyTravis if it has frets and strings I will be able to get something musical out of it. As well as bass guitars, I've also owned guitars, Balalaikas (including a solid electric one I built my self as a try out to see if my woodworking skills were good enough to make an electric guitar) and a Mandolin I also play keyboards well enough to have been a synth player in a band for 6 years in the 80s.

One of the most successful bands I was in (other than The Terrortones) was very much subject to the sorts of logistics problems that @EBS_freak has outlined. We didn't have any problems on the musical and playing side and TBH I don't think I would have time for any band member who didn't put in the required practice outside of band rehearsals should it be needed. However for every other aspect of the band - organising rehearsals, gigs, recording, promotion etc. it came down to the fact that if I didn't do it, then nothing would get done. After a couple of years of this combined with having a quite stressful day job that had a tendency to take up all my waking hours to the extent where the only way I could guarantee to be available for a gig would be to take the whole day off as holiday, it was unsurprising that I suffering from band burn out. As an experiment, I stopped organising anything to do with the other band members, and had a quite relaxing six weeks off doing almost nothing from a band PoV (up to that point we had be rehearsing twice a week and gigging at least once a month) until one of them phoned up asking when the next rehearsal was going to be...

Unless it is classed as a warranty repair (i.e. free), you will almost definitely have to pay VAT and possibly import duty on the cost of the the repair and the return postage when it gets sent back to you. If you can get the relevant paper-work for an export for repair, then sending the item to The Netherlands should be free of VAT and duty. I haven't tried exporting anything too outside the EU, but AFAICS the new rules apply to all exports, not just to the EU, so there won't be any less paperwork for sending it to the US. And from the sorts of delays I've currently been experiencing allow 4 weeks for export and possibly the same for it's return journey, plus however long it takes to fix the item. I have a sneaking suspicion that you are right in thinking that option 4 is going to be the best.

Two entirely different DAWs with completely different features designed to appeal to users with different needs. However, you can think of Logic as being GarageBand Pro, so if you like the way that GarageBand works then Logic is definitely worth investigating, plus as others have said it will import your old GarageBand projects. Also while £199.99 might seem like a lot of money, you get a lot of extras in terms of plug-ins, instruments and loops, and unless there is something very specific that you need it terms of effects or instruments, you don't need to spend anything additional to have a fully-featured DAW. Reason is completely different. If there is a trial version available then download it and have a go and see if it suits you.

Yes it's a complete nightmare, with a load of additional paperwork and extensive customs delays both in the UK and the receiving country. If I was in you situation, I would first phone up HMRC for advice, and also get them to email it to you so if anything goes wrong you have all the information you were given in writing. Because it's being exported for repair only and will be sent back when fixed, you will need different forms then it it was an item you were exporting as a sale. Then check with all the various courier companies to see which ones are getting their parcels through customs the quickest (Most have massive delays and some aren't even dealing with items for Europe at the moment). Currently from my experience The Netherlands Postal Service has a huge backlog of items coming from the UK which are taking approximately 3 weeks to process even if all the accompanying paperwork is present and correct. Edit: My dealings this year with Europe have all been "sales", however I did look at sending something back to the US for servicing previously and in the end decided that all the additional paperwork was too many hoops to jump through considering the cost of the item. Since January 1st the amount of paperwork required for items both coming into the UK and leaving it (from anywhere - not just EU) has only increased. This combined with delays and restrictions due to Covid does not make it a good time to be trying to send anything out of the country.

None of the strings that came with any of my Bass VIs (I own three - Squier, Burns and Eastwood) and none of the strings I have bought for them subsequently - LaBella and Newtone) have come with any unwound strings. Also neither sets of strings that I got when I briefly dabbled with 5-string tuned E-C came with an unwound top C. Where are you finding unwound bass stings?

It took several weeks for my application to join the Shergold forum was approved, so hang in there...

Bill Oddie. Both Noel Fielding and Julian Barratt of The Mighty Boosh were in the original touring version of IAMX

Well after all that negativity in my earlier posts I got an email from the keyboard player form Hurtsfall saying that we have been asked to contribute new a track for a compilation album coming out this summer. This was accompanied by an MP3 with his initial ideas for a verse and chorus. Looks like I might be playing again.

That's my understanding too. However I think that part of the problem is that she was not given to opportunity to make a bid for the master when they were sold. However without knowing exactly what is contained within all the various contracts, and only those whose signatures are only their plus their legal representatives will know for sure, it is difficult to comment accurately on the situation. Added to the fact that both the mainstream and specialist music media often seem to have problems distinguishing the various rights and ownerships when it comes to music, who knows and can comment with accuracy on exactly what the problem is?

UK consumer law says that any new electrical device sold to the UK market must come with a UK mains lead or a fixed, fused adaptor that fits and locks over the existing plug completely shielding the contacts. To do otherwise is breaking the law.

That top E is an octave below top E on a guitar? If so that equates to a light D guitar string. I've not come across any plain D guitar strings no matter how light I go! Also I'm now playing Bass VIs - all the high E strings for those (30" scale, and even the lighter gauge sets) are wound. If you are having problems finding the right strings for you as others have said get in touch with Newtone.

What tuning are you using? How stiff or floppy do you like your strings to feel?

Use what you want. Experiment. The gauge of the wire is only one part of a number of variables that go to make up a pickup.

The controls might have been modified, but the rest of it looks right for an early 70s MIJ copy. Normally those pickups would be hidden under the ashtrays so you wouldn't know that they weren't Fender style J- pickups.

Interesting. Although when it comes to end-user usage there is no allowance made for a wired connection. Also the most important point to make is that IMO unless you are a cinema anything over HD is fairly pointless. A neighbour has recently put in a 70" TV. In their small living room. It completely fills one wall and you can't sit far enough away from it to be able see the whole screen without moving your head. Also unless I am mistaken it doesn't actually make the script or the acting any better.