Musky

Just a thought Chris, but isn't the Turin Shroud actually a fake, dated to the middle ages? Surely any benefit that people get from it has to be down to a placebo effect.

Like Higgie says, the AC bit is important - most power adapters are DC. Maplins do a suitable adapter, as does a guy on ebay. Give me shout if you can't find him, as I've added him to my favourite sellers list.

Walter Benjamin had a few interesting things to say about authenticity, although he was looking at art in the age of mechanical reproduction. He pointed out that the aura of a work of art adhered not to the artifact itself but external factors which are attached to it by the viewer - it's entirely cultural. So just as Marcel Duchamp's ready-mades (mass produced objects sold as art) became 'art' once signed by the artist, the same principle can be attached to any mass produced object - in this case by sticking the word Fender on the headstock (or at least a '73 S/N). How would you feel about your '73 if you were to discover it was a cleverly made fake? Probably a bit p*ssed off that you've paid over the odds for it (which is an indication of the power relationships tied up with authenticity), but would it change it's usefulness to you or the value of any use you've already had from it? In the art world there are plenty of people who have discovered their works are fakes - placebos if you like - but I'd suggest any benefical effects they felt while thinking it was genuine were real. The only negative side to discovering the fake was entirely economic. Interestingly Benjamin also predicted the rise in importance of nostalgia - if he'd been into guitars maybe he would have predicted the Relic series as well.

[quote name='Adam.M' post='87775' date='Nov 13 2007, 10:36 AM']Wouldn't touch them with a barge pole. That single pick up guitar is made of Korina (of flying V fame) which is quite good, and that's the cheapest one. The rest, the more expencive ones? AGATHIS! Agathis isn't a tone wood, it's mush, sludge, horrible stuff that is only for the cheapest of cheap guitars, and these guys are using 'em for £300-400 quid guitars... something ESP do and it pains me to see it. It really annoys me, as some of these basses look really nice looks wise, but the tone will never be there at all, even with EMG's. Though one of the ones I like a lot in the bass range is Korina, which should be fine. [url="http://www.arbiter.co.uk/italia/electric_bass_guitars/imola_deluxe_4_5_bass_guitar.htm"]<a href="http://www.arbiter.co.uk/italia/electric_b...bass_guitar.htm" target="_blank">http://www.arbiter.co.uk/italia/electric_b...bass_guitar.htm[/url]</a> i really like that! A shame, i like the Mondial in black quite a bit too.[/quote] They do the solid bodied Mondial Sportster in Korina as well, though it's not on the Arbiter site. Maybe they're not importing that one.

I don't know about nowadays, but many years ago a friend of mine took a course at the London College of Furniture Making, which was just about the only course available in the south of England. Then again, I can remember a carpentry teacher knocking out a guitar in his spare time. So I suppose it depends on what you mean by 'luthier'. At the end of the day it's results that matter. If you can figure out how to make a decent instrument on your own, you're a luthier - it's just that some training usually makes a worthwhile shortcut

Doubtless someone who knows more about speakers will be along soon, but I do know from reading these boards that there's far more to choosing a speaker than sticking a 'good' one in the right sized hole. The boxer combos were quite small, and I think you'd find you might get better results out of it with a much smaller speaker. Since that would mean installing a new front baffle, I think you'd be better off just springing for a second hand cab.

I just thought I'd point out, for the benefit of those sitting with their fingers poised over the bid button in the final few seconds of an auction, that ebay gets a lot of traffic on the quarter hour (particularly on the hour). It's usually better to bid a few seconds before you might otherwise do if the auction you're watching ends at this time.

You don't have it until we see the pictures. But congratulations - £200 is a very good buy.

[quote name='beerdragon' post='84487' date='Nov 6 2007, 04:13 PM']Here's a bit of a mongrel according to the seller who sounds as if he know jack about guitars the neck is from the 1990's if i'm not mistaken. [url="http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=260179217094&ih=016&category=4713&ssPageName=WDVW&rd=1"][url="http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vie...e=WDVW&rd=1"]http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vie...e=WDVW&rd=1[/url][/url][/quote] That's a bog standard American Traditional - they were oddities produced before the MIM standard series. Made in Mexico using US hardware, though the neck was always a bit of a mystery. It says 'made in USA', but AFAIK US made necks of the time had the truss rod adjustment at the body end. Basically it should be treated as a MIM.

I usually use www.snip.pl for bidding - it costs about 10p for a successful bid, although you get 5 free credits for signing up. It'll put the bid at a default 6 seconds, though you can vary that if you want. Of course none of this actually stops anyone from shill bidding and driving up the price, though it does stop them from retracting a bid. If the person shilling is the highest bidder, no matter when you put your bid in you'll still end up paying more than you should have done.

[quote name='originalfunster' post='84367' date='Nov 6 2007, 11:10 AM']BFM?[/quote] Bill Fitzmaurice. I was referring to Bill's post about speakons costing roughly 4 times as much as jacks.

[quote name='originalfunster' post='84266' date='Nov 5 2007, 11:30 PM']So can someone answer why my ampeg svt3 pro has only 1 speakon output but 2 1/4" jacks???[/quote] I think BFM has probably covered that one.

[quote name='bass_ferret' post='84238' date='Nov 5 2007, 10:06 PM']Lyte on sound - I found it lacked bottom, weight if you like Not tried a precision special but opinions from those that have were mixed. There have been a few if you can get the search to work.[/quote] Strange. A mate has got a couple of Lytes and I've not noticed they were light in the bass, but did seem to lack the typical low mid grunt of the P. Then again I've not used them through my own amp or A/B'd them with a precision.

Sticking 'Lush' into bandnamemaker.com comes up with lots of possible variations. Lush Union The Lush Conspiracy Dry Lush Lush Explosion Psycho Lush I thought Lush Panda was quite funny. But maybe not Aroused Lush and the Beaver. ^_^

[quote name='stingrayfan' post='83614' date='Nov 4 2007, 06:01 PM']Edit: It doesn't matter if there was a band called Lush ten years ago if you're only pitching at the local covers market.[/quote] Maybe, maybe not. It really depends how litigious 4ad feel like being - they've still got CDs in their current catalogue. Plus given the penchant for so many bands reforming, it's probably agro you could do without.

[quote name='OldGit' post='83208' date='Nov 3 2007, 05:57 PM']Nope Can't have Decades... [url="http://www.thedecadesband.com/"]<a href="http://www.thedecadesband.com/" target="_blank">http://www.thedecadesband.com/[/url]</a> Nice jackets! Nice bass I liked Lush Puppies but then again so did the Lush Puppies [url="http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=134379635"][url="http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fusea...endid=134379635"]http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fusea...endid=134379635[/url][/url] [/quote] It's a shame the Lush Puppies has been had - on the assumption that it's a pub band I thought it was rather good. Lush was also a rather well known band in the 90's as well. [url="http://www.4ad.com/lush/"]http://www.4ad.com/lush/[/url]

[quote name='andy67' post='83075' date='Nov 3 2007, 10:15 AM']Has there been any explanation from ZPQ re this? I am sh*t at geography and please correct me if I'm way off the plot here...but zpqproductions appears to be in hull and the original seller says its was in preston lancashire thus, by my dodgy geographical search (multimap) would make these places neighbours?[/quote] They're a good 100 miles apart. Not really neighbours.

Ah, but the vintage ones are best. I collected some recently and they seemed different to my old stock. Maybe they're Chinese made nowadays.

I read something somewhere on the net about this in relation to vintage Fender guitars (it might have been the provide.net site), and it concluded that the number of pieces of wood used didn't make any difference to the sound. My own view is that the quality of the wood used is likely to play a far greater part in the tone of an instrument, and that it's probably much easier to find two (or three) smaller pieces of quality timber than one big piece. I tend to think the whole "one piece' thing falls into the 'mojo' category.

[quote name='lovedub' post='81988' date='Oct 31 2007, 10:33 PM']Well done, Sherlock [/quote] Just had to chuckle. Sorry. I wouldn't bother if you want a useable bass - In my experience, any instrument with those bent wire string retainers like that one has are the worst kind of crap there is.

[quote name='Hamster' post='81685' date='Oct 31 2007, 12:36 PM']You are being far too polite. [u]The item was sold.[/u] The seller and another then arranged or conspired behind the back of the rightful owner to deprive the rightful owner of [i][u]their[/u][/i] property. It's dishonest, disgraceful and illegal - NOT slightly unethical. The person in current possession of the bass should at the very least give the bass to its rightful owner at the original sold price and offer apologies. Hamster[/quote] I actually agree with warwickhunt's last post about this. Any dishonesty in the transaction was on the part of the seller - he entered into a contract to sell, backed out and lied about the whole thing. That was [i]unlawful[/i] but not illegal AFAIK, and the sale isn't completed until cash has exchanged hands. Though of course BB could probably persue the original seller via a claim for breach of contract if he wished. I suspect we're all going to have different views on exactly how bad the buyer's actions were, but I wouldn't go as far as calling them disgraceful. That's just my opinion on the matter, though I can totally understand others taking a harder line.

[quote name='Bloodaxe' post='81552' date='Oct 30 2007, 11:59 PM'][url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mavu1RvKJAM"]Colin Hodgkinson[/url] has a slightly different slant on the solo bass idea (the clip gets going about 1' 30" in)[/quote] First thing I thought when I saw the OP was 'Colin Hodgkinson' - I scroll down and there it is! Good man. Colin Hodgkinson is one of the few players that doesn't make me cringe at the words 'bass solo'.

[quote name='warwickhunt' post='81590' date='Oct 31 2007, 07:25 AM']Not if you live in the NE it isn't! Tyne & Wear and Northumberland is the NE but others may place the boundary elsewhere. re. the matter of ZPQ's involvement... in the grand scheme of life the universe and everything it doesn't matter at all but it would be interesting to know exactly how he came to be chipping in and yet 'appears' to be directly involved. You are right of course he hasn't stolen anyone's money or broken into a house and nicked the bass BUT is he the original seller in which case he's the kind of eBayer that we all love to hate. Conversely did he deliberately gazump a fellow BCer using info gained from this forum? There is always a buyer and sellers view point and I'd certainly be receptive to hearing the whole story.[/quote] As I understand it, the original seller and ZPQ live in different necks of the wood - somewhere near Manchester (if I remember correctly) and York/Hull. I also don't think it was this thread that drew attention - BB first posted 4 days after the end of the sale. So it might appear that ZPQ contacted the original seller after the end of the auction with a higher offer, as BB suspected had happened. Although making higher offers after the end of an auction is perhaps slightly unethical, it's quite commonplace, and not just on ebay. To my mind the problem lies with the seller, who not only renegued on a deal but then started spouting unbelievable claptrap about the whole thing.

Old HH valve sound amps - they used to be in rehearsal rooms everywhere. In fact I like the sound of all the older HH's, quite growly little amps, if generally underpowered.

Try Zed One on the corner of Camden and Brecknock Rd's. Brilliant studio, though I suspect it's above your price range. Other than that, Islington Arts Factory (opposite the women's prison!) is dirt cheap - £9 p/h inc. all backline for the larger room, though both rooms are quite small. In my experience it's the best cheap studio about, including Scar (which is a bit of a hole).