Burns-bass

We arrived early and went round the festival before anyone else! Bought some naga chilli sauce which was my level. Tried hotter ones, but the flavours weren’t as good.

Back from playing Dorset Chilli Festival. Was a great day and some lovely food. Recommended.

Agreed, try to stop them playing anything below middle C.

Send me your address and I’ll send it to you when I can find a stamp. Don’t have the screw to go with it. Yours if you’ll use it. (These were from a vintage bass that I swapped to Straplocks. I genuinely can’t remember age and all that.)

Waghorn guitars are the bomb. Lovely guys.

Id buy the Ibanez bass. It’s an absolutely brilliant bass, sound s great and plays really well. Whenever you search online you’ll find people who complaining about something. Buy it from a shop and pay with a credit card and you’ll have bullet proof consumer rights. I gigged with the Ibanez, used it for teaching and travelling. Loved it.

I see that Ryannair staff are incentivised to identify bags that are too big to fit in the cabin. I’m cynical enough to imagine the same model applying here.

Totally agree. I read the insurance small print when I was going to send a vintage Fender jazz and, in the end, it was easier and safer for me to drive it to Cardiff. In my most recent sales on here I’ve taken images as the bass has been packed and images of the box (like you have!) I guess the insurers will say the onus is on you to prove that the bass was in good condition before it was sent and that’s what the images do. You also need to establish a fair value and so on. Insurance is always a gamble, but if you follow their rules you give yourself the best chance. I say this after toe convoluted, but ultimately successful, insurance claims this year. (One we had to get the UK consulate involved, but that’s another story.)

You’ll need to ensure you have photos of everything including how you pack the bass and so on. It’s part of their terms and conditions and they’ll likely look for any way to wriggle out of paying you. While I’ve not used them, it’s truism that its a lot easier to buy insurance than claim on it.

Lack of holes for chrome covered strings suggests it’s 80s. Not s criticism as it’s a banging looking bass and likely better than the late 70s ones.

The Pirate business model could be good, and when it started in Bristol, it really was. I used to go to the first one which is literally half a mile from where I’m sat now. Over time, prices creep up, facilities go unloved and equipment falls in quality. The savings are really compromises. When you grow a concept like they have (for light touch engagement with the public) it works in some areas, but not others. The fundamental problem if they don’t own the buildings (which I assume they don’t) they’ll never make a lot of cash. Rent prices will go up where, because if the nature of inflation, mortgage repayments will go down. Finance means you can run a loss making business into the ground for years and extract cash from it. Safestore, for example, operates a similar model (selling space at a relatively low cost). Difference is that the business owns the buildings and the land I believe.

Cheers Steve. Seems about par for the course. I remember hearing Pizza Express followed a VC-led rapid expansion model and is now sat on £1bn of debt. That’s a lot of pizzas!

They operate at a loss or at a tiny margin to scale, take on debt to expand, then ramp up prices as the debt (either to banks or VCs) needs to be paid back. It’s a tale as old as time. I may be wrong and they’re generating a massive profit but I reckon they’re probably heavily indebted. Guess you could check the accounts. Smart option would be to buy the buildings then lease them back to the company. So you have the loss making studio part and the profit making property bit. Maybe that’s what they’ve done. Ultimately, Pirate is like all cut price options, Ryannair, for example. You’re probably better off paying a few quid extra.

Agreed. As the business starts to scale prices will go up so it’s becomes a similar price to other studios, minus all the good stuff.

I’ve got one of these buttons somewhere if you want it? (free obvs)

To be honest, I didn’t look at the first one. If you need to come online for validation of your artistic endeavours you need to reflect on yourself. I tried to put it in the nicest way I could.

It’s not Pink Floyd, Rush, Genesis or Jaco so unlikely to get much support here. If you enjoy doing it, keep doing it. Dont worry about anyone else. Best thing about music is that no matter how bonkers it is, someone will love it. Play music for you not anyone else.

Yes I get that. In Bristol most of the rehearsal rooms have similar systems. The convenience of Pirate is great, but we’ve stopped using the place as it’s just pretty horrid. Equipment is junk and it’s just a poor experience. I did a jazz session in a rehearsal room Saturday and it was about £5 more expensive but light years better in terms of quality.

Bristol is the same, too. (Pirate started here and the head office is literally 100m from me right now). The business model is to keep costs as low as possible and it seems this involves cutting corners. I once did a practice there and one of the guys was locked in a room with the lights and all power cut off. Thankfully we got him out in the end! In my experience, it’s worth spending a few more quid for somewhere decent.

If the place was on fire, that’s have a huge tragedy on their hands, so you’ve done the right thing. If it gets them to reflect on their policies it’s a good thing.

Classic vintage mania. Excessive prices for what it represents (peak Fender) rather than what it most probably is (a knackered old bass that needs a lot of work).