DaytonaRik

After quitting Think Lizzy I planned on moving my Limelight 60's.70's P-bass replica along...just didn't think it would be quite so quick. So, one trade later, I now have another T'bird. Played it at last night's rehearsal and positive comments from everyone re the sound and how it just fitted with the band better. It has a neck profile that just suits my ham-firsted rock 'n' roll way of playing - I love it! Anyway, as per the rules, photos or it didn't happen.

This guy is an absolute legend - we agreed a trade deal for my Limelight against his 2010 Thunderbird. I noticed a hairline crack on the lower wing near the controls and further investigation once I got the bass home showed the crack to be full length which Al had not previously noticed, thinking it to be a lacquer scratch/mark. We quickly renegotiated a revised trade deal and all is good. I would have absolutely no hesitation in recommending Al - the guy is as honest as they come and good to see that the BassChat community look out for each other. Superb communication throughout and a very easy guy to deal with.

Lap steel plays both lap and bass parts!

Think Lizzy intentionally cut back to about 25-30 gigs last year but a change to my out of hours support regime means I've had to leave. I've set up a rock covers project just for fun/occasional gigs with a strict understanding that we'll be playing no more than 1 gig per month on average as we all have work commitments and/or other musical projects. That will suit me down to the ground after 3 years of 2-3 gigs per month, usually with a 100-120 mile round trip leaving little/no time for a weekend social life!

A bit of a late update to this thread - I played my last Think Lizzy gig on 16th December - but it wasn't without incident! The previous week I spoke to the band leader regarding me finishing and he agreed that I didn't have to play the gig on the 16th, that they would get everything up to speed so imagine my suprise when at 6:30 on 16th I read a text message regarding the gig, the PA being in house, load in and sound-check times etc. A quick call and several expletives later as I had no gear, nothing, not even a guitar pick with me and I was 60 miles from the venue with 60 mins to go before sound check! I glanced into the corner of the g/f's lounge and spotted her LTD Viper bass and quickly hatched a plan! One phone call back confirmed that the venue had a serviceable if not spectacular Behringer 2x10 combo. One quick cross country rally-stage-esqeue trip in the Mini Cooper S later and I arrived at the venue, borrowed a strap, lead and guitar picks to go with the borrowed bass. Band leader admitted he had crossed his wires and thought I was talking about the gig on 16th January, not December!!! Still, all was good with everyone, I got to thank everyone in the band publicly for the last 3 years and my last gig with Think Lizzy was done and dusted.

My personal home practice setup is either an Apogee jam interface into an iPod running iRig or into my iMac running Garage Band. A good set of headphones/earphones is essential but you have the added facility to download tracks from your iTunes library into the iRig software to play along to or to drag .mp files into Garage Band to achieve the same effect.

Organiser, gig booker, promotional materials, PA/lighting owner, sound engineer, techie/repair man, backing vocals...think that's about it!

Well, I don't know if it counts as Black Friday or Cyber Monday - perhaps a P45 for some poor soul at Amazon as they have been selling a £1300 Asus gaming laptop at £130 this morning! Needless to say I've been a profiteering git and bought one to sell on - happy days. That's most of the price of a Maruszczyk Phoenix or used Gibson Thunderbird in the bag. Sadly, as expected, Amazon have cancelled the order!

Absolutely bouncing double-headliner gig with Let There Be/DC at Warsop's Black Market Venue - a nice big stage/in house lighting and PA, great engineer and a very appreciative crowd. I'll definitely miss gigging with these guys when the time comes to say goodbye.

I use Garage Band on my iMac connected via an Apogee interface then plug my IEMs into the headphone port - job done

Mr Big at Nottingham Rock City last night - what a talented band! I've not seen them since 1993 and Sheehan/Glbert continue to be jaw-droppingly amazing. I am now going to make a bonfire from my basses and hide in a cupboard!

Is it band-quitting season then? I've had to leave Think Lizzy due to to work commitments but the rest of the guys took it well - they've converted 7 of next years gigs to a new classic rock (read dad rock!) project leaving me with 5 gigs to play over the course of 9 months. It'll leave me room for my new rock covers project which will only gig once a month at most due to members work/band/personal commitments.

A great Think Lizzy gig on Saturday at The Lion in Basford, Nottingham. We've played there a few times now and we were complimented by the manager about how professional we were and what a great sound we had. The crowd were well up for an evening of Thin Lizzy classics from the word go which made the gig an easy one. I told the guys that I will be leaving TL at some point in the next few months due to increasing work commitments in 2018 but there's no animosity between any of us, just a simple fact of life that means I have to part ways with the rest of the guys. In some ways it galvanised us - we had one of our best performances ever!

Tonight (Mon 13th Nov) It's The Cadillac Three at Rock City,. Nottingham the the simply awesome Mr Big on Thursday (16th) at the same venue at which point I'll probably never want to touch a bass again after watching Billy Sheehan for two hours! Then Monday 20th I may venture into Sheffield for Airbourne at The O2 Academy.

The Cadillac Three - Legacy

Yup - I'm not at all a Thin Lizzy fan but somehow I've found myself fronting a Lizzy appreciation band for the last 3 years! I can listen to the odd track, but a lot of it I find tedious.

[quote name='howdenspur' timestamp='1510228084' post='3404743'] Very nice, always liked the RD's design. They look like the p/ups out of the EB series. [/quote] Well, if you ever feel the need to buy one and want to sell my T'bird back to me to fund it...

Personally - I can be done in 5 mins including loading my gear in! Cab(s), head, rack tuner/wireless. However, If guitard #1 turns up late the rest of us can set up everything in about 45 mins including the load in, kit, PA and lights! If he's on time, about double as he just seems to leave everything everywhere and the rest of us roll our eyes whilst we work around his ensuing spatial carnage!

[quote name='discreet' timestamp='1507326538' post='3384865'] Get a wig to wear when you're with the GF... [/quote] Funnily enough she has suggested this...again, I think not!

When my hair started thinning I just thought bugger that and got the whole thing shaved off!!! G/f wishes I would grow it back but I think not!

Chamsys MagicQ - industry standard DMX lighting condole in a PC - does everything you'll ever need it to do and more besides. Free to download, runs without a licence (4 hours at one stretch IIRC) and you'll need a DMX interface. Job done.

I've never had a band split for family reasons but I have been in bands where relocation, change of job etc have all contributed to it's demise. Take heart from everyone else's posts - you will find a new band in due course that you enjoy playing in, and take the experiences that you've learned so far (both positive and negative) and put them to good effect in your new project.

What a belting gig at Nottingham's Tap & Tumbler - great in house system well engineered and a crowd of mixed-ages that basically were up for a night of Thin Lizzy classics and wanted to be entertained. It was definitely a hot 'n' sweaty one - my gig shirt was still damp 8 hours afterwards! The punters loved my usual walk-around-the-pub during Emerald/Suicide - up on tables, outside, all makes for an entertaining evening. Think Lizzy take their usual August sabbatical to allow for family time but what a great way to sign of the first part of 2017 - looking forward to playing there again soon.

Next up for me is WASP on the Crimson Idol anniversary tour. I was toying with going to see British Lion and FM at Rock and Blues but not sure if I'm going...we'll see. I could be tempted by The Black Star Riders in July too. After that they're thick and fast - Airbourne, Inglorious, The Cadillac Three and (hopefully) Mr Big all in the space of a few weeks.