T-Bay

Why presume it’s professional? I have given talks on subjects that are of great interest to me but I have no professional experience in. Similarly I have played gigs for free (all for charity bar one) but don’t count myself as a professional musician based on that. If no money is exchanged then it’s an amateur arrangement, if refreshments, or possibly even expenses are covered then I don’t see that shifts it over the threshold to be professional.

Still not sure refreshments count as payment. As an example, If someone was booked to give a talk for instance, no payment asked for or received but they get a cup of tea and a biscuit, that would count as payment under your system but I don’t think any reasonable evaluation of it would even come close to that. It’s no different if you play a couple of songs.

I’m barely good enough to be semi amateur!

Not sure on the last one, I got a free beer at an open mic I did last month. I wouldn’t count that as being employed or feel any great need to submit a self assessment tax form off the back of it.

But prices have risen 25% in a day! They will be a grand by Friday (or possibly not)

Really? It looks nothing like it, head is completely different shape, only vague similarity in pick guard -as the case with many basses, and generic bass shape, again common across many many makers

I use a compressor as an always on pedal dialled down pretty low. I don’t use if for the compression as such (hence the setting) but do find it adds a nice extra fullness to the tone. I was sceptical at first but tried it after reading threads on here and pleased I did. I don’t like the way they clip at higher settings, it removed the possibilities that playing finger style allows me.

So I presume you will be posting pics of a £70 Harley Benton’s on every Thread that shows some Fender for £*&#@?

Indeed! He was very nice about it, as is his way, but it must have been a nightmare. She kept trying to get him to go home with her, it was all ‘I only live around the corner’, ‘isn’t it much nicer to drink at home?’ I have some beer in the fridge’ and my favourite ‘don’t you find when it’s get to half nine you just want to go home and sit watching the telly with someone”, Father in law replied ‘nope, I like sitting in pubs with a full pint’. I do feel sorry for the poor old dear as well, she must have been very lonely I think. She was properly soaked by the end though, she tried to leave via the gents first until someone stopped her, then I saved her from falling over the bar. Father in law said she was properly effing and jeffing by the end as well and despite over thirty years in the army I have never heard my father in law swear. We half expected to find her waiting outside to follow us when we left.

I helped out a mate at an open mic night last night and ended up playing about an hour, my father in law came along to watch. He is ex bomb disposal but is a very quiet gentle bloke who is very very shy. After my first 20 minute stint I came back to sit down to find him talking to this old lady, I assumed he knew her and as it was my round I bought her a drink as well. Anyway to cut a long story short it appears he had ‘pulled’ the local drunk. She was with him all night and was hassling me for his phone number by the end. I think he was quite taken aback and embarrassed by it but I found it very funny.

Not a formal gig but helped out a mate with an open mic night, turnout of other musicians was low so we ended up doing a bit over an hour in around twenty minutes slots. I took my own bass but used the house rig. I was keen to do well as we are booked in there in January (Landlord is a top bloke and really wants the pub to become a venue for live music so happy to support where I can). Unfortunately from where I was standing the sound was terrible, having little control over it threw me as well. There were several points when I was thinking ‘bloody hell. If they are hearing what I am hearing we won’t be back’ but the feedback was very positive and apparently FOH sound was very good, where I was all I could hear was a muffled bass heavy sound with the vocals over the top and occasional kick in of the lead guitar. I tried backing my volume down so I could get what seemed a better sound to me but then I was too quiet out front. Luckily my father in law was there with me and he was in a band for years so could give good feedback on the sound. Needless to say when we play there in January I will be taking my own rig.

You bought your girlfriend?

Hmm, that’s what I thought. I have toyed with the idea but love my Thunderbird too much to completely give it up. I have wondered about trying to adjust my technique and start resting my thumb on the B string (except when playing it obviously) but not sure if that will do the trick, I presently do a sort of half arsed floating thumb technique where it floats from the pick up to the E string and back but no lower.

Did you switch exclusively to 5s? Or do you swap and change?

This is where individual taste comes in, as a fellow thunderbird lover I am a self confessed Gibson fan, but I hate clover leaf tuners. They are just so,big and clumsy and look stupid to me (dons hard hat in readiness for fenderclub hate). That would have tipped the balance for me and made it look too head heavy. Gibson and Grover are a match made in heaven. Build quality on the one I had my hands on was far better than the Fenders I was looking at in the same shop which were far more expensive.

Thanks, it’s cheap enough and local so may as well take a look.

I had a go on one a couple of weeks back it played very well, I was impressed with everything about it and had it been a four string it would have been mine now. Still wondering if I should just bite the bullet anyway.

Is it worth going to the Bingley Hall event as well? It’s close to me but wondering if there will be many basses/ bass related stuff there.

Using the thread title idea - Neck Shim

Thanks!

Apologies for the lack of progress, a bug laid me out for three days and then I forgot to take pics of what I have done. The blank glued up very nicely and I have done the basic cut. It wasn’t as simple as it could have been as most of my serious tools are aimed squarely at cutting metal. The bandsaw worked well, if slowly but couldn’t handle the tight corners and I had to a lot of cuts to get into some of the areas without it fouling. It is presently 8mm thicker than my desired thickness. I don’t have a planer/ thicknesser but do have a decent milling machine. I have a nice multi cutter head that can do 80mm wide cuts. I did a test run on some offcuts and it gives a nice finish but that is some risk of breakout at the edges, but I will take that risk. I have also done a first cut on a jig for the neck pocket. I have a question for the experienced folk on here- what sort of fit should I look for? At present it is a gentle push fit, I.e it won’t slide in loosely but slots in nicely with a gentle push. I think this is what I should have but would be grateful for any advice on that aspect. The bridge still hasn’t arrived so until I get that I can’t cut the neck pocket anyway as I want to check heights first.

In my target shooting days we always used photographic film for shims, it’s cheap, very very consistent thickness wise, waterproof and stable over a long time period, especially if changes of humidity are a possibility. I have a small stock of old plates from my PhD which I have saved for future shimming purposes.

Maybe, but it does help to have something memorable and that sounds good. I love an Irish band called The Touts, it makes them very hard to find for all sorts of things and I can’t even search for them at work as for some reason tout is a banned term. And if cannibal corpse had been a boy band aimed at 12 year old girls I fear they may have struggled a bit. Like it or not people make assumptions based on the name which makes it important. i don't think there is any formula beyond keeping it shortish, you just have to keep at it. It took us ages and the name we finished with was almost a ‘no one hates it’ solution but it’s short and works well I think.

Inspired by a small column in bass guitar magazine, what would people’s best set up be for £500, £1000, £1500, £2000, £3000 be? To include bass, amp/cab/combo and any pedals. Assuming all bought new as second prices are all over the place.

U2s earlier stuff like Sunday Bloody Sunday and Gloria were great songs in my opinion. Then they did what you need to do be big -don’t rock the boat, put out stuff that is in the most part what people expect you to make. The sort of stuff that doesn’t cause granny to spit out her false teeth but will have most people humming along if it comes on the radio. Coldplay’s success on the other hand defies any sense or logic I can come up with. Utterly bland songs played in a truly miserable way but sell millions, go figure as the Americans would say.