skankdelvar

Interesting action on that. And the strings are quite high as well.

Gretsch came up with a solution: Unfortunately, involves affixing press-studs to the back of your axe, thus entirely defeating the object of the exercise.

[quote name='acidbass' post='545567' date='Jul 20 2009, 06:24 PM']As you all probably know, tributes to AC/DC are ten a penny.[/quote] Not wishing to counter-assert - but are they? There's a surfeit of Jam, Beatles, Stones - but can only think of 3 or 4 AC/DC in the UK. Then, I'm probably talking bollocks again. Is it worth it? Well, only time (and some phone calls) can tell, but if you're going to be in the band, then their chances probably just ramped up significantly. As for his style - simplistic, yes. Locked tighter than anyone else in Rawk - even yes-ser. With B Vox.

[quote name='Pete Academy' post='545535' date='Jul 20 2009, 05:53 PM']....The parents commented on fingerprints being all over the bass (!!), so I took it and polished it.[/quote] An argument for human cloning. Imagine how bass shopping would improve. [size=1](While you're at it, any chance you could nip round and change some strings for me? )[/size]

To redress the balance, here are some places, past and present, where I've enjoyed the the "customer / vendor interface experience": Musicmart in Canterbury (deceased, I think) / Peter Cooks, Ealing / Tempo, Ealing / Musical Exchanges, Birmingham in the 70's-80's / Langley Guitar Centre nr Slough / One Man Band - Banbury / Oxford Guitar Centre / Antones in Hull / Some little place under Snow Hill Station, Birm / Reverb, Birm / Hanks - Denmark St / Angel Music, Denmark St - he's frighteningly honest about his stock and good prices / Kings Rd Guitars - Fat Rick / Bass Gallery, Camden / Guitar Village Farnham / Oasis Music, Ringwood, Hants / Absolute Music Solutions - on the phone Some may disagree - like I say - swings and roundabouts. One of us had a good exp at PMT - I didn't, but, in the end, business was done, which is some sort of recommendation, I suppose.

[quote name='EssentialTension' post='545422' date='Jul 20 2009, 04:03 PM']Please don't.[/quote] For 'worst-ever' service experience, I could recount certain events at a tea-shop in Kent.... ...but I won't.

[quote name='Pete Academy' post='545084' date='Jul 20 2009, 07:33 AM']Oops, sorry if I upset you. The whole episode in PMT did seem a bit extreme, if not unbelievable. I know the manager really well, which was why I was so interested.[/quote] Thanks for the correction to your posts - appreciated. I thought the episode pretty unbelievable at the time, which accounted for my extreme response. If I get poor service anywhere - retail, travel, restaurants, whatever - I usually split and leave them to get on with it, reasoning they'll eventually put themselves out of business. But getting an instant faceful from someone you've never met before requires remedial action. I'm just citing this as the most extreme example of guitar shop arrogance I've ever experienced or even heard of. By the same token, I equally appreciate the problems retailers sometimes face in dealing with the public at large. Who was it? No names, no pack drill. He covered his side of the resolution and that's all that matters. Let's drop it now, OK?

[quote name='Pete Academy' post='544862' date='Jul 19 2009, 07:25 PM']Hmm...you seem to have gone a bit quiet.[/quote] Well, that's because I've been out and about, coming back to find your posts above. Yes, it's true. PM'd and awaiting response.

[quote name='pete.young' post='544494' date='Jul 19 2009, 08:53 AM']I'd like to say a bit thank you to the team in PMT in Birmingham, who tick all the boxes - yes , they appreciate being asked to try the gear, yes they have very competent specialist staff, friendly, knowledgeable, not pushy and will do you a good deal if they can. If they're on commission it's clearly on what the team sells, which is how it should be. As a result, I'm now the proud owner of a new piano, that I've been umming and ahing about for ages! Wish I'd gone in there yonks ago.[/quote] It's weird how one's experience can vary. I went into PMT Birmingham asking after a particular [i]tuner[/i] pedal to be told by one of their more 'mature' people that they didn't stock that brand, that the brand was crap, that "[i]only an idiot [/i]would want to buy one" and that he'd rather "step on dog sh*t than one of those". He then followed this up with the observation that "If you still want one of those, you can go somewhere else. If you want a proper [i]fuzz[/i] pedal, you should try one of these". As you might imagine, I was a bit displeased. A couple of his mates were stood in the background having a good smirk while he delivered this peroration, so I suspect it wasn't the first time he'd gone off on one. Having reminded him it was a [i]tuner[/i] I was after, I bollocked him savagely in front of his colleagues for a very long five minutes. As compensation for "your rudeness and stupidity" I then gouged him for a "proper" tuner pedal at 40% of their tag price - what my 'crap' choice of pedal would have cost. Swings and roundabouts.

[quote name='beerdragon' post='544239' date='Jul 18 2009, 07:25 PM']Yeah but their music's s..t though. [/quote] Jean Michel Jarre, Little Bob Story, Johnny Halliday, er... Inspector Maigret - yeah, you may be right. But they still have a cracking blues, r'n'b circuit. Them and the Belgians. Any hot tips from any French BC-ers?

When she worked at Andy's, she was very pleasant when I came in with a stupid question about a microscopically inexpensive repair. She might have changed though. Some people do. I quite fancied her as well.

I've checked that link out [url="http://www.flickr.com/photos/23213730@N03/page2/"]http://www.flickr.com/photos/23213730@N03/page2/[/url] We have a serious craftsman in our midst...love your work, Sir.

Out here in the countryside, there's never been more gigs going. Seems like every other pub or village hall has a weekly or fortnightly gig - full bands too, none of your backing tapes malarkey. And we've even had names like Sherman Robertson (at Brailes Village Hall) and Albert Lee (at Sibford School). OTOH, in nearby Banbury a couple of boozers that used to do music have gone to the wall. More to do with the economy than licensing laws. We should copy our French cousins. They simply ignore the laws they don't like - and their cops have got better things to do than bust folkies and bluesers.

Hi guys - welcome to BC!

[quote name='fatgoogle' post='543250' date='Jul 17 2009, 02:34 PM']So i think shops have to understand thats ts the one place were musicians young and old can actually come and play instruments.[/quote] Rehearsal space, own bedroom, wherever. That's where one goes to play. A shop is there to sell things. If one has the intention of trying before buying, fine. If not, don't finger the goods. Same in any shop where the items on display are sale items, not demo items. Why should a music shop be any different? [quote name='fatgoogle' post='543250' date='Jul 17 2009, 02:34 PM']I dont like playing in music shops now or even buying in them because of the treatment ive had from you adults. Were youve been rudd, snobbish and annoying. Also other people playing their have put me off. Some music shops have refused to let me play through amps or try bass's, because of my age.[/quote] Age thing alone is unfair to you. But they're not doing it randomly or because they don't like you personally. Its based on their previous experience and you're getting caught in the blowback. [quote name='fatgoogle' post='543250' date='Jul 17 2009, 02:34 PM']I dont know any of you people on this site or what your like etc, so i dont know your experiences but you all seem a bit too hard on this subject.[/quote] My experience is that I generally give certain music shops a hard time for their incompetence and bad attitude. OTOH asking someone not to handle the merchandise if they just want to use it for 'a practise' seems entirely reasonable. If someone wants to practise, they should get their bass and go sit in the bedroom. That's what the rest of us do. [quote name='fatgoogle' post='543250' date='Jul 17 2009, 02:34 PM']Does it make a difference that im 16 and have been going and playing instruments in music shops since i was 13-14.[/quote] No - I'd extend the prohibition to anyone who clearly and visibly has no serious intentions to buy now or in the future, irrespective of age. How I'd enforce that is another question! To be fair, neither the prohibition, nor this post, is aimed at you personally - I thought exactly the same thing when I was the same age. Sorry, but it's just tough sh*t and you have to get over it, like all the other nasty things in life. Y'see, it's just a simple fact of commerce. If you let gear get damaged or 'shop-soiled' you lose money and go out of business. In principle, age should be irrelevant. In practice, the OP's identified a particular group who happen to be young people.

I love this forum

I walked this path recently, so can confirm S/H Hartke, Peavey, Ashdown, Laney and some old Trace rigs can all be found at reasonable prices. The 'for sale' section here on BC has stuff that's a lot cheaper than the bay or shops. IMO, £300+ notes should see you clear for some sort of a starter rig - 300w + as mentioned above. My solution turned out to be a 300w Ashdown Mag combo (heavy) on top of a Hartke 410TP (light). Maybe not the most desirable or conventional rig, but cheap (£290) and serviceable if not particularly 'zingy'.

[quote name='TimR' post='542752' date='Jul 16 2009, 11:21 PM']This is what happens if you get your image wrong. Possibly.... [url="http://www.rockandrollconfidential.com/hall/index.php"]http://www.rockandrollconfidential.com/hall/index.php[/url][/quote] Genius. I must be in there somewhere...

It's very simple. If you go into a shop and ask to try something, it's on the understanding that you may have some remote intention of buying it. If it's clear to the meanest intelligence that you have neither the ability nor the inclination to purchase, expect to get shown the door. Frankly, you're an utterly worthless waste of space who could cost the store more than they make. Music Shops are not (or should not be) in the business of providing entertainment to whiny, spoilt, moronic peri-pubertal youths. If you don't like it, go hang out somewhere else, like at a bus stop or outside a fast food store that will hopefully clog your arteries and bring you an entirely well-deserved early death. If this is too much to assimilate, try imagining what would happen if you went into Karpet-rite and asked to walk up and down on their rugs for half an hour. Two large guys in brown uniforms would take you out the back and beat your arse like a gong. IMO, music shops should take a far harder line; rather than bitch about these tiny, irrelevant goons after the event - just don't let them in till they can show you a roll of £50's and the competence to explain what a root note is. In the meantime, Community Support Officers should be deployed to kick the crap out of anyone who even looks squint-eyed at the shopfront. F*** 'em. OTOH, if you walk into a shop with the intention of buying something and they get in your way - snotty attitude / unwillingness to terminate their tedious mobile call to their ghastly partner / pathetic desire to demonstrate their own savagely limited skills / inability to deal for cash and a sidey - then hoosh them firmly in the nuts and go buy somewhere else.

More info on your budget, intended musical genre (jazz, punk, metal, indie etc), any artists whose signature sound you like, current bass guitar, size of venues you intend to play, etc., will all help the worthies here to tailor their advice accordingly. Don't expect any unanimity of opinion, though, particularly on the subject of the inexpensive and ubiquitous Ashdown! Useful guide: [url="http://wiki.basschat.co.uk/"]http://wiki.basschat.co.uk/[/url]

This sounds a bit like going into a curry house and asking for the hottest one they've got - unfortunate farting sounds as an unintended consequence. In summary, the logical options so far seem to be: * Turning the volume down (trade-off between tone and an unplayable sound - life's a compromise) * Turning the amp input gain down * Adjusting the internal trim pot on those occasions when one is playing through a borrowed rig * Reducing the level of the output signal via an external pad or volume pedal * Hump your rig everywhere * Forget the whole idea and use a passive with a colossal pre-amp pedal

In fact, it is almost impossible [i]not[/i] to see a string quartet comprising 4 hotties in some form of 'rocking' attire. I blame Nigel Kennedy.

[quote name='Deep Thought' post='541488' date='Jul 15 2009, 06:02 PM']Which one is you then Skank? [/quote] I'm the weird-looking one. [quote name='peteb' post='541508' date='Jul 15 2009, 06:33 PM']I've always thought ... that the band should look like a cooler version of their audience![/quote] Excellent rule of thumb. Like your audience, but ramped up by a percentage.