lksmks792

So, after a few difficult weeks, my wife decided today that I should have a mandolin. Since I was smart enough not to argue, a few hours later we found ourselves in a music shop I had never been to before: Dijkmans Muziek in Breda (NL). Highly recommended if you're ever in the area: a huge selection of guitars (both electric and acoustic) and basses, and a handful of Eastman mandolins. I already had an Eastman parlor guitar and am very impressed with the value for money of their instruments, even in the more affordable segment. The mandolin (at 460 euros, incl. nice gigbag) is extremely well made, sounds beautiful (to my untrained ears) and plays wonderfully (again, admittedly, given my lack of experience). Off to practice now ...

So just a follow-up for anyone interested: today a beautiful 1980s Kawai K502 in mahogany was bought from and delivered by a local piano tuner/2nd hand dealer. Couldn't be happier!

Thanks a lot for all of the info and advice. I've found a local dealer who sells (or leases out) and tunes a lot of the pianos in the region and has both new and second hand options. Thanks Hellzero! I'm up north (Turnhout) so a quick visit isn't really feasible, but thank you very kindly for the invitation. I'm thinking about visiting Marne as well (I was put off a bit by them being such a 'big name', though that's not necessarily a bad thing).

Playing a squier I think. Awesome

My 20 year old trusty digital Roland died this morning after many hours of suffering my enthusiasm. I've long decided its replacement would be a 'proper' upright, but I've never really thought about which make or even the cost of one. Turns out (who would've thought) there's a lot between different makes and models. I'm not a classical or technically proficient piano player by any stretch of the imagination but I do play a lot (accompanying myself or my wife singing). Therefore I'm not looking for anything 'pro' by any means, a decent base model would do. Are there any recommendations? Ideally I'm looking to buy second hand (I'm in Belgium so recommendations of stores in the UK aren't very useful). Thank you very much!

A couple of years ago I took the 'Simple Steps to Sight Reading' course at Talking Bass (just the volume 1 I think). Helped me out a lot in learning to recognize different rhythms etc. Mind you, I did learn to read music as a kid decades ago, so not all of it was new to me. The Talking Bass course isn't free (and not exactly cheap), but Mark is great and there's a ton of material. He does do discounts now and again. I'm learning the double bass now and I'm reading both treble and bass clef regularly, so I'm very happy I did learn back then.

I'd imagine having it defretted is almost certainly cheaper than getting a new fretless neck, since a decent one would set you back a few hundred pounds. You could look out for second hand parts of course. I'm not sure about the price of a defret, but that should be easy to find out. I've been looking for maple fretless necks as well in the past. Sire have been making fl basses with them (only lined though, I had one which was nice), but they're the only major brand afaik. Fender only did them in the 70s I think.

Could be worse (or is it): Italia Imola 4

+1 for the Hercules

I'm not sure what you mean. They currently have more than 1000 basses listed as in stock. Admittedly they have a lot more listed as currently out of stock, but it's just a matter of scale I think.

An update if someone is interested: Lessons are once a week for about 20 minutes. I worked through a first year's beginner book in about a month, which was great for learning the basics (posture, first and half position, ...) and relearning the bass clef. I've been working on how high the moon for the last week or so (melody, arpeggios in different inversions etc). I'm well aware I'm just scratching the surface, but so far I'm very pleased. There's something about the physicality of playing an actual acoustic instrument. So far so good!

https://www.basschat.co.uk/topic/501258-nhbbd/

Rock with Ewe - Michael Jackson

I'd say sales numbers might be so high it would be impossible to keep up for any retailer. Thomann has been making and selling HB for years (maybe even decades?) now. Quality has risen significantly over the last few years and so has popularity I guess. The Thomann branded bass ukes have been on the website since 2016. Thomann use this brand name for their traditional and ethnic/folk instruments as well. No need to fear the end of HB i'd say ...

Einsturzende Neubauten in a couple of minutes, in Antwerp.