ambient

I believe there’s just John’s sons working there, think John himself retired. I follow them on social media, they’re building some incredible looking instruments.

I briefly owned a 6 string Calibas bass. It was a beautiful instrument, but weighed more than I do.

Is that one of his original instruments?

Jaydee aren’t doing any repair work either at the moment, they’re concentrating on building. I was talking to one of the guys their before Christmas, they’re just so busy with orders.

I know a few people who play them. I’m assured by them that they’re fantastic instruments.

If the original songs are good and fit with the general vibe of the rest of your set, then it shouldn’t matter. I’d never heard the song I’ve got - rather annoyingly - going round in my head at the moment until five minutes ago, when I heard it on the radio. It is apparently the new single from Jake Bugg, and sounds quite different to his previous songs. Just because someone hasn’t heard something before, it doesn’t follow they won’t like it.

I quite like the badges.

Why is it named after a rather dodgy area of Birmingham?

It’s certainly ‘different’ isn’t it? That’s the politest thing I can think to say about it. It’s a creative bit of recycling though, could it be something knocked up on that ‘money for nothing’ programme, using a canoe paddle and a bit of wardrobe?

I owned one briefly whilst at uni. They’re really nice, very well made instruments.

That’s fantastic. Good to put faces to the people who aren’t replying to my emails.

Another VAT rule came into force from July 1st, with the removal of the €22 VAT exemption for imports. This is affecting quite a few small labels and artists, selling CDs, vinyl, cassettes etc into the EU. Whilst the VAT on its own isn’t a big deal, it also attracts a handling fee from the import country’s post office. I sold a cassette and a booklet last week to someone who was charged an extra €20. Consequently he won’t be buying anything else. There’s a few people I know who have been similarly affected by this.

Just a follow up to this. The shop rearranged the delivery themselves - obviously something they should have done much earlier so that DPD didn’t make a wasted journey. I am however still waiting for my refund. They’re punishing me by not refunding me until they absolutely have to because I opened a PayPal dispute. The shop in question is Craig’s Music in Bodmin, Cornwall. They sell through eBay and Reverb. Their customer service is absolutely appalling.

You could approach your local school or music hub for a recommendation. Make sure whoever you choose has an enhanced DBS check.

I had percussion lessons from him at ICMP. He is fabulous, and such a nice guy too.

DPD have tried, they also notified the shop by text and email giving them a delivery slot. If it wasn’t a suitable time then all they needed to do was change it via the text/email, rather than buggering off home.

PayPal. That was my concern too. I mean, if you get a text and an email from DPD telling you to expect a delivery between 3pm and 4pm, you’d wait on for it, or use the text/email to change the time.

Exactly. Plus I don’t have the information that he’s been given to be able to rebook. I’m not convinced that what I bought wasn’t actually faulty, it didn’t perform like the one I tried in a shop, or as people had described to me. I emailed them telling them that and received a very flippant reply. I’ve emailed them anyway, telling them that they should rearrange the delivery so the time suits them. I’ve also told them I’m not standing for being messed around.