Chris Sharman

Ay Caramba! This just keeps on getting better. More sunny days required.

That is looking gorgeous Andy.

Had a thunder 3 back in the early 90's and regret selling, currently have a Thunder 3 fretless (see avatar photo) and as others have said they are fantastically well made (if a tad heavy) with great tonal variety available. I can't recommend them enough and would have a collection of them if I could.

The last time I saw Simple Minds live was in 1990 on the "Real Life" albume tour at Milton Keynes bowl. The support bands were - An emotional Fish (one hit wonders IIRC) - OMD - and "The Stranglers". so there is history of the two bands appearing together. I now feel really old.

Paul Weller at Manchester arena on 28th of this month.

so he bought it for $699 USD from the Stratosphere Ebay store like this one: [url="http://www.ebay.com/itm/2016-Gibson-USA-Les-Paul-Studio-T-BODY-NECK-Project-American-Guitar-Fireburst-/141789092185?hash=item210349d959"]http://www.ebay.com/itm/2016-Gibson-USA-Les-Paul-Studio-T-BODY-NECK-Project-American-Guitar-Fireburst-/141789092185?hash=item210349d959[/url] and expected no-one else would be smart enough to figure it out...

Love this. Looks like everyone involved had fun as well - Win!

Just so you know, I had a problem with a Westone fretless that I bought, a worn fingerboard causing rattles and deadspots and I had it re-finished by Andy Rogers (AJR1515 of this parish) and it now plays beautifully. Whilst it may not be financially viable for you to get it up to Andy for his work there may be someone local to you who could do it for you at a reasonable cost and bring life back to your old instrument... The thread is here - [url="http://basschat.co.uk/topic/235818-westone-thunder-3-fretless-fingerboard-refinish-help/page__hl__westone%20thunder"]http://basschat.co.uk/topic/235818-westone-thunder-3-fretless-fingerboard-refinish-help/page__hl__westone%20thunder[/url] please read it through because Andy documents his work in detailed photos.

Odd one last night. Played at the annual presentation night for the cricket club that our drummer plays for in a rural village hall in Staffordshire. Intending 2 x 45 sets with a short break between them. by the time we were meant to start they had just started the presentations so we were invited to help ourselves to the buffet and we retired upstairs to a room they had set aside for us, had a beer and a chat and some vol-au-vents and chicken drumsticks and waited..... an hour after we should have started we kicked off, first track almost no response, applause increasing track by track until a third of the way in a couple of people started dancing over by the bar at the far end of the room. Generally no-one seemed that iknterested except one or two that had obviously "imbibed freely" and the barman who was dancing like a loon behind the bar. In the end we decided to just play straight through and cut a couple of tracks for time reasons. Three tracks from the end I did the intro to "One Step Beyond" and the place went mental! everyone was up dancing so we followed up with 'lip up fatty' to continued mayhem. Finished off with one of our own tracks that is very much of the genre and everyone loved it. It was like a different audience for the last ten minutes. We got paid, fed and watered and everyone went home happy but I was left with a sense of "what the hell was that?"

"...a rebel without a clue..." perhaps?

A few years ago I was in the process of buying an old Hofner Senator bass that was reputed to have been owned by Gordon Giltrap and I wanted to test the provenance of it (and that the signature on the back of the headstock was actually his). I enquired via his website and was amazed to receive, the very next day, an email from the man himself including a photo of him playing it and a very nice message about the instrument itself. Not everyone would have done that. A true gentleman and I wish him all the best.

I used Pro Audio Services at Coalville on my previous Ashdown combo and I am going to use them soon for a service and repair on my current one. Good service at a good price. [url="http://www.proaudioservice.co.uk"]http://www.proaudioservice.co.uk[/url] (I have no affiliation to them other than as a satisfied customer)

Honestly dont think my playing does this justice. It's a great piece of kit.

Can. Not. Wait.

Oh my! That looks fantastic! I wonder what it plays like....?

My verdict? - Top Job! It now sounds even across all the strings both acoustically and amplified and plays far better than I would have expected for an instrument of that cost. The work you have done on it is certainly up to your usual standards Andy, for which I once again find myself in your debt. From what I recall the bass did cost about £50 delivered although I dont know the exact cost as it was a birthday present from Mrs S but it was somewhere about there. Funnily enough one of my friends popped round this afternoon and is considering having you work over his acoustic bass when he gets it back as he is really taken with those D'Addario strings.

Looking good Andy. To be honest I am glad you have upated this thread, I was beginning to get withdrawal symptoms.

Thanks all. Seems very much a mixed bag and all depends on whoever picks it up at there end. I have no idea what will happen when our tune "Trip Hazard" slaps them in the face...

[quote name='BigRedX' timestamp='1438770293' post='2837032'] We've used it. Mr Venom deals with this side of things, but IIRC you can log in and see if anyone has listened to your tracks. I believe ours were all auditioned within a week of being uploaded. Whether or not you get any airplay is entirely down to the people who make those decisions for your local show and if they like you or not. Nottingham (and consequently the East Midlands) is very much in the grip of fey singer-songerwriters with acoustic guitars, so unless you fit into that genre you will probably be disappointed. We have uploaded the tracks from all three of our EPs (as well as supplying actual physical copies of the CDs and vinyl to Radio Nottingham) but have only ever had one track played on the radio. You would have thought that a local band with it's own records available for sale would be important enough for a local music show to at least play one track of each release, but apparently not. Good luck, but don't expect much. [/quote] I won't. It's unfortunate that the "fey singer-songwriter" seems to be favoured by them (Water for Dogs are DEFINITELY NOT in that category) but I suppose it makes it easy to get them in for a live session in the studio. God know what they would think if we turned up with stacks of keyboards etc...

Good morning my learned purveyors of the lower frequencies, I write today requesting your collective knowledge upon BBC introducing. Has anyone here used them, uploaded tracks and had airplay etc? How was it, did it take a long time for you to get contact from them after uploading tracks, or did you get no contact from them at all? I am based in the East Midlands and I was also wondering if there is differing experiences dependant upon geographical location? All experiences and viewpoints are welcome and I open my ears to your collective wisdom. Thanks in advance, C.

Following on from last weeks appearance on the Cafe Salam stage at the YNOT festival in Derbyshire we will be joining the same guys at this weekends Lakefest near Tewkesbury. We are scheduled to play at 5:30 pm on Friday but this may change to a later slot if we are lucky. Come and see us if you are in the neighbourhood, and feel free to buy me a beer as it is my birthday on the Sunday.

Couple of gigs this weekend. First off, Brassington Wickerman festival. Got a great reception, just as we did last year unfortunately the weather was not our friend. It certainly wasn't the friend of the guys running the FOH as the rain tipped into the PA desk. The right hand channel kept distorting and cutting out which meant we didn't sound great but it was fun anyway and our hosts provided a great selection of food and drink for the artists which was nice. Also sold a few CD's so not a bad night all told. From there it was back to the Y Not festival where we were camping for the weekend. We played the Cafe Salam tent on Sunday afternoon and whilst it may not have been the most organised we have ever been the sound was great, the vibe was great, the sun was out and people were coming in while we played and dancing was aplenty. What was cool was the people coming up to us later in the afternoon around the site "saw you guys earlier, I have never heard anything like it - FANTASTIC" Off to Lakefest next weekend with Cafe Salam again. Cannot wait.

Play loud enough and you don't have neighbours for long. Problem solved. Being serious for once in my life though, I am fortunate in that my house has walls made of good, honest, Derbyshire stone almost 18 inches thick. I had been playing my sax and basses for over a year when one of the neighbours came round on a party night and said "I didn't know you played..." she was going to apologise for her playing Metallica loud late at night; our response was "do you? we've never heard it". Old buildings are good for this sort of thing it seems. I do stop playing at 9pm anyway as I consider that a fair and considerate cut off time, however if anyone ever had a problem with it I would take their comments etc into consideration. Live and let live.

I have to say that I saw that 6-string gee-tar in all it's walnutty glory yesterday. It looks stunning. Is it bad that I want one?

[quote name='KevB' timestamp='1436953981' post='2822252'] Should have bought my precision deluxe last year Chris, would have walked away with it in hand, no fettling required [/quote] ..and if you had let me have it for €67 then I would have...