phil.c60

"onboarded". I'll just leave it at that.

Last Sunday afternoon........ photos taken by a very nice man, Adam White, at The Hoff (The Hothampton Arms).

I had a Chinese one like this and I threw it away.....lol.

I don't believe you need to keep adjusting them either, but when you do need to, you do. And you want it to go smoothly (no pun intended). As I said, YMMV. I have spent my entire working life using tools like this, and the old adage "buy cheap, buy twice" is usually true, plus an awful lot of aggravation along with it. There's nothing like irretrievably rounding off an awkward fastener with a cheap tool to teach you a valuable lesson. I learnt mine a long long time ago. And funnily enough when things get tricky, it's usually my tools that people want to borrow. LOl.

The fact that truss rods don't get adjusted very often is usually why the nut is stuck......so if you need to free it off, by getting it to just start moving and working it back and forth little by little while it's quite stiff, your cheap tool might not work out to be such a bargain. 😜 Plus, if you are on a voyage of discovery regarding string choice, you might be adjusting it quite often!

As with all these things, quality is the (Allen) key. Cheap Allen keys lose there shape after relatively little use, and are often not quite the right dimensions. Considering a lot of truss rod nuts are also not very well made, can be made of quite soft material and access can be restricted experience has taught me that the best tools for the job are the best tools you can afford. Unbrako are great Allen keys (I've been using them for 30 years) and are reasonably cheap. The other issue with ball ended Allen keys is that while they are great for access, the contact area with the fastener is vastly reduced plus they have an inherent weakness due to the undercut to achieve the ball-end. They can round out a stiff fastener quite easily, or snap off. They are really only any good for low-torque applications: as long as the nut is not stuck they're fine, but......... I had to have the access hole in the headstock opened out on my G&L L2000 as there was no straight access to the nut and it was stuck. I could feel the ball end getting "uncomfortable" even with a top quality tool. Once I had a straight line access an Unbrako Allen key worked like a charm. Broken truss rods and rounded out truss rod nuts in L2000's often means a new neck. Best avoided. YMMV.

Not a surprise - I tried a lovely left handed semi-acoustic four string and the neck dive was too much for me. A shame, because it was lovely in all other respects. The lack of a top horn so the trap button is nowhere near the twelfth fret makes it a lovely shape but neck heavy. There used to be an extender plate available IIRC bolts and provides a different strap position but I can't remember where I saw it - yes I can it's here:

I have a very nice American L2000, left handed in natural Ash. Such a range of sounds, it's brilliant.

Run Through The Jungle, Creedence Clearwater Revival .

For me, just too screechy most of the time. Too be fair I'm not really a soprano fan, contralto is more my bag.

Our singer turned up without a mic stand at one gig, and it happened to be the one gig where I was not in my own car (where my spare one always resides). Made one with a mop handle a chair and gaffer tape. As above: always have at least one roll!

"I think it's best to work out a business strategy and have gigs lined up before you even start a band." Nice idea, but wouldn't work here in SE England. Every venue I approach wants to hear you, know about your Facebook/Web page, see some video etc. or at least be recommended by a band they know before they'll consider booking you . Trying to get gigs for an unknown band that doesn't exist yet would be like trying to find a unicorn in the countryside - it may well be out there, but you'll have to be especially lucky to find it.

Hopefully you won't get fooled again.

I'd love one of these: If anyone knows where there's a leftie..........don't tell me or I'll have to buy it!

Saw a multi band thingy in the back garden of The Brasenose during Cropredy festival a few years back. Spent some time hanging out with the sound guy (I was trying to find out how you got on the bill at The Brasenose during the festival): he did really well for everyone and was clearly trying to make everyone sound good, but for the main band he had everything worked out. He'd engineered for them before, and had pre-planned motorised settings on his desk for every song, including variations in sound for choruses, solos, etc. etc. and as he knew their set he rode the desk and paid strict attention throughout. Apparently he worked with them at a lot of their gigs. It wasn't that the sound was bad at all for the other bands, it was just much much better for the main act (if that makes sense).