ZilchWoolham

To be fair, they did have a record called The Gospel According to the Meninblack, which was a concept album about ancient astronauts... Ironically, while Hugh and JJ were both Doors fans, Dave Greenfield had never heard them. Agreed! Always the Sun is a personal favourite. I don't know if we're talking about the same tracks, but I echo the sentiment. They could be quite inconsistent even within the same album, which isn't usually how I feel about bands I like, but for my money you could stick half of Rattus together with half of No More Heroes and make a better album in the process. Also, to me some of their best stuff were singles, even B-sides (like Straighten Out). They also have some very good songs that, I have to admit, make me a bit uncomfortable (like Sometimes). My favourite Stranglers LP is The Raven, though. And if anyone thought Down in the Sewers was prog, have a listen to this one, where Hugh is in a different meter from the rest of the band:

The Smiths... I THINK. There's of course a dedicated following all over the world now, but at the time I don't think they were really that massive across the pond. Certainly nothing to the extent of their UK fame, with constant coverage, the New Morrissey Express, and all that.

If you keep an eye on Reverb and eBay, you can find at least late 60's/early 70's plates for no more than what the Spitfire man charges.

I'm sorry Ricky, but this script of yours is utterly unbelievable. Sting would never call himself Gordon.

There's Shakespears Sister named after Shakespeare's Sister, I'd argue the best single by The Smiths. In turn named after A Room of One's Own, the essay by Virginia Woolf with which it seems to have little in common.

And while we're thinking clearly, let's not forget that the majority of successful UK artists/bands do the same, and have done for a very long time.

Huey, Frankie - and who else?

I recently got a small tomato knife shipped to me in a box about the size of that in the OP. No 2kg out of date catalogue, though. Just the other day I stuck a note on the inside of my front door that says "BRING A BAG" because I always manage to forget it.

Before reading the thread, I just knew I had seen that headstock before, and that the whole thing just screamed cheapo eBay bass for some reason. Seems my instincts were right!

It does sound like the creaking of a ship.

I like the cheddar shaving peeking up from under the A saddle.

If you're looking for used and vintage there are a few in here:

Yes, I'm thinking along these lines, too. My concern is that the luthier might inform me of a more substantial problem, i.e. the guitar needing a neck reset, or the soundboard not being level (it doesn't seem like it from just looking at it, though). In that case it might be better to see if I can return it. Hopefully that won't be the case, though. I'll take it to a luthier and he'll probably be able to tell what work has to be done, before he does it. Thanks!

I posted this over at Guitarchat, but since it isn't very densely populated at the moment, I thought I'd take the liberty to post it here as well. Recently I bought a used/vintage Martin (over 46 years old but not quite vintage by Martin standards) on eBay. This particular model is braced for, and to be strung with, either nylon or silk and steel strings (or compound strings as they're called in the old catalogues) and I noticed from the images in the listing that the owner, as most people do, had it strung up with bronze strings. I notified him of this, in as friendly a manner as possible, in a message and asked if he had noticed any bowing or damage as a result of the higher tension strings. He told me he hadn't and that he played it down-tuned with a nice low action. Finding the price reasonable I bought the guitar. The listing had not included any close-up images of the bridge, and I, rather foolishly had not asked for any. When it arrived and I strung it up with silk and steel strings, I immediately noticed some issues. The strings had really dug into the bridge quite hard, leaving noticeable wear and small cracks by the bridge pins. More importantly, the saddle has at some point been sanded down and is basically flush with the bridge. This probably wasn't an issue with bronze strings, but with the silk and steel strings it was actually made for back in 1972, there is significant buzzing coming, not from the frets, but from the strings hitting the bridge as the saddle isn't giving them enough height. In standard tuning, it's mostly noticeable when hitting the strings forcefully, but it's unplayable in, for example, DADGAD. So, what is the best course of action at this point? It's clear that I need to have a new saddle fitted and slotted, and while a bone saddle isn't expensive, it's something I need a luthier to do for me, as I have neither confidence nor competence nor tools to do it myself. (I also have a fear that doing so will raise the action to an uncomfortable level, but it should be said that I haven't noticed any bowing in the neck or soundboard, with my untrained eyes anyways.) Should I let this go or is it reasonable to request some sort of compensation from the seller? Cheers!

You will - for a couple of days.

The Sex Pistols' gig at the Manchester Lesser Free Trade Hall made musicians out of virtually every other member of the audience, some of them quite significant indeed. I respect the Sex Pistols for the bands they helped get started much more than for their own music. In particular I'd like to thank them for giving me Buzzcocks!

Acoustic 360.

LaBella's Rx series is designed to have a lower tension than other comparable strings. I have a stainless steel 4 string set which was very bright at first, indeed a bit too bright for me; I like them better now that they're, well, deader.

Just added Oasis Music in Ringwood, Hants as well as two French shops.

There's a few (eight, in fact) in this list I've compiled: