Beedster

That’s a great deal Steve, nice one 👍

Thought I'd post a quick reminder of trade options, happy to talk cash terms also of course 

On 29/12/2023 at 18:50, Beedster said:

Trade/PX-wise I'll look at pretty much anything EXCEPT an electric bass! Of specific interest would be

• Double bass (not EUB)
• Acoustic fretless bass
• Gibson 6-string acoustic guitar
• US/Canada-built Mandolin
• Good quality audio/hifi 

There is a disturbance in the force however, th eusual 'man buys bass, man sells bass, man regrets selling bass, many buys bass back at a loss cycle has been broken?

1 minute ago, philparker said:

It may also be worth checking to see if you can lower your action just a little bit. My action is quite low anyway, especially on my bass that is used mostly for orchestral (I have one set up for Jazz and one set up for Orchestral) and on a recent service and check up by Martin Penning, where he used my bass as a demo model for two prospective buyers (for a new model, not mine) he managed to lower it slightly more again without having any issues.

This is good advice. There's a lot you can do on a DB to reduce tension (well, a lot a decent tech can do if you don't feel comfortable doing it yourself). Absolute and relative positioning and length or bridge, after-length, tailpiece and tail-wire can all affect perceived tension and action. Crtainly loighter gauge strings will help but may introduce a new set of problems around tone, volume feel etc 👍

12 minutes ago, dyerseve said:

Maybe some kind of Stockholm Syndrome going on here...

It’s potentially in the same space, although I was being entirely speculative above.
 

But you don’t have to look far in life to see people keeping feuds alive long past the point at which any resolution is either possible or even the goal of that feud?

8 minutes ago, Burns-bass said:

 

100% this. I'd look for a way to move on. I struggled for about a year to recover a debt I was owed. Did everything I could, and in the end, it never came to anything. I've had to write the debt off and move on. 

 

I'm concerned, like the rest of the guys here, that you're exposing yourself to more heartbreak, upset, and disappointment. I think we all hope that isn't the case.

I’ll be a little more Freudian, consciously or unconsciously keeping this alive is rewarding the OP in some way, I’ve seen a lot of similar cases professionally although usually with more problematic and ostensibly harder to let go objects.
 

Lawrie, your advice is the absolute bottom line here, he has to let it go, the distraction, the time, the stress, and the effects of all of these on his life will cost more than the (in reality) small amount of money involved. It will be the best outcome for him and his family. 
 

The luthier also needs to take a good long look at his life - ideally with professional help both in terms of business and behaviour - and have the courage to either right his wrongs properly with money not promises, and/or walk away from this ‘career’ and find an honest way of earning an income. It will be best for him and his family in the long run also. 

8 hours ago, EddieG said:

As per his request I've emailed him this evening with a proposal for an instrument that would bring matters to a close. The proposed costs come in under the outstanding amount and isn't demanding an Alembic or Ritter level of luthiery, but it would fulfil the needs I have for an instrument now, and is in my opinion extremely reasonable. 

It’s as if you want to keep it all going another 10 years? 

Interestingly Chris Wood records his Hofner miced/unplugged, none of this is helping my GAS 

Chris on his Hofner

Good interview here https://bassmagazine.com/issues/issue-12/chris-wood-beautiful-danger/

Some P/Js just look wrong. That looks SO right 👍

34 minutes ago, Burns-bass said:

 

Without wishing to derail the thread, I love both these bands. I heard the Wood Brothers on the radio once and it was one of those moments where I had to stop the car and write down the name of the band. The tone that guy gets out of a double bass is incredible.

 

Like Chris, I love this bass.

More Chris Wood content here, we should perhaps leave this thread to Jay's Hofner 👍

Chris Wood, bassist in Medeski, Martin, & Wood, and The Wood Brothers. If you like a bit of jazz fusion, the former is worth a listen, a bit of contemporary bluegrass, the latter. Luckily I love both so his playing ticks a lot of boxes for me, not only a great technician, but very inventive and creative in the way he approaches a song. Tone he squeezes out of his upright is pretty special, but his electric playing on occasion sounds beautiful. The Hofner always struck me as an odd choice, not one that's usually associated with a virtuoso player, which CW most certainly is. But given he could probably choose whichever instrument he feels best translates his imagination into musical form, he must see something pretty special in his Hofner 👍

And despite having pretty much got rid of all my electric basses, I'm very keen to own one - even for a while - just to see whether there's some mojo there 🤔

I very nearly applied but I'm looking more for an originals set-list focussed on issues such as contamination of the food chain and the abuses of Big Pharma. Guess the search continues 🤔

19 hours ago, Happy Jack said:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/265838651480?epid=12057734159&hash=item3de537e858:g:b3oAAOSwv-ZjCM2s&amdata=enc%3AAQAIAAAAwGmmkmXZtjm6XRN5FjzUIvjHlXaSGR83maKgrJWOldJdQtXVL%2FxS%2BzSFwE0l%2F2sX9vs4KevFKRU8T%2BcG%2FdlERiNXsD7Fvbdo8QOMinWZ3tdZQE%2BdU1PstIoffkjOlyMf28sWEQ5vlrAuQJJOnajESRvez5KA6sRpwYSAxUh%2BAbiM3kkfYuYoI5LEyyNYTphavmpCtyqUaeloJ3NGz7ermbvA33r%2FZkddkc5agJdenYavYQEw6MLdyOus0SWQ8x4dNg%3D%3D|tkp%3ABlBMUL6k76qrYw

Thanks Jack, quite extraordinary how inexpensive lighting is these days, I looked at the link and thought "Mmm, where've I seen that?', nipped into my eldest daughter's bedroom, and there it was, just tested it and it does the job really rather nicely with a lot of options for intensity and tone. IIRC it cost £9.99 👍 

To my mind there's something rather iconic about this photo that wouldn't be the case if it was any other electric bass....

Good timing, could I take them @Subfeeder?

11 minutes ago, Happy Jack said:

Just buy two Zoom Q2n-4K units, Chris. They'll do a perfectly fine job so long as you take the lighting seriously, they'll also act as a backup for the audio in case your 'main' recorder lets you down, and best of all they'll be available for live gig recordings.

 

Both cameras plus all cables plus two power packs plus two table tripods will fit easily into a standard bumbag, if you're sufficiently tasteless to use one of those. 😂

Lighting is going to be an interesting challenge as a lot of this wil be done in my vocal booth which is about a dark a room as can be imagined! Might be time to but some light coloured acoustic tiles 👍

2 minutes ago, Happy Jack said:

Just buy two Zoom Q2n-4K units, Chris. They'll do a perfectly fine job so long as you take the lighting seriously, they'll also act as a backup for the audio in case your 'main' recorder lets you down, and best of all they'll be available for live gig recordings.

 

Both cameras plus all cables plus two power packs plus two table tripods will fit easily into a standard bumbag, if you're sufficiently tasteless to use one of those. 😂

As you know Jack, I am sufficiently tasteless! Thanks for your recommendation 👍

Slightly OT but I need to get a camera for recording interviews (probably two cameras in fact). I have no idea about video kit so any suggestions welcome?

I've had an offer for the neck of this (Enfield necks are pretty special and this is not only built from pretty special woods - lovely birds-eye maple and dark ebony board - with a very light nitro finish, but it also has the Sims LEDs built in.

If anyone is interested in just the body which is standard Fender fit (which means that for those of you for who fretless is a no-go a nice fretted neck would give you a rather special instrument), please give me a shout.  

6 minutes ago, Burns-bass said:

 

Totally get it – and I'm so sorry to hear of what happened to you at a time of immense personal stress. 

 

The way you conduct yourself and the person you are is really the only measure of success as a human being. On this, Jon has absolutely failed. He is, as you describe, a sad and pitiful figure – something I'm sure he knows. Same as our fraudster friend.

 

I read an interview with Tyson Fury where he was asked how he would react if a cleaner stole £50 from his house. The interviewer thought he'd say something stupid like "I'd beat them up". Instead, he confounded expectations and said he's sit the person down and asked them what had gone so wrong that they would do something like that.

 

I agree that I may feel differently had I been scammed by Jon, but in the end, I'm pretty sure he realises how pathetic he is.

He's got himself in a monkey trap entirely of his own making. Probably the only way out is to get some professional advice/help to structure his debts and obligations to customers, come clean to those customers by opening up authentic and honest channels of communication, and possibly seeks some form of coaching/counselling to help him avoid doing the same thing al over again. But all of that would require a level of bravery that most people don't possess, and the ability to sacrifice short-term security for something perhaps more meaningful. But he may simply see no option. Most people who do bad shit aren't bad people, they just f*** up and fall into a spiral of covering up with each stage making everything worse still. I've seen it happen to some good guys who had real talent but poor business sense, started out trying to do good and ended up hated by everyone. Not saying this is the case here as I don't know anything like enough of the facts, but I doubt he set out for things to be this way. 

I'm not meaning to be insensitive to or in any way critical of those who've lost their cash

25 minutes ago, Burns-bass said:

He’s a Ltd company and these will be owned (one assumes) by a new one, meaning the poster has no claim on it.

 

Instinctively, I feel sorry for anyone who has been scammed.

 

This is going to make me unpopular, but I also have a slight sadness for Jon. He’s obviously got limited business knowledge and priced these basses far too low. He’s then been overcome by demand and simply can’t cope. All the while, he’s working hour after hour and likely making a loss on the instrument.

 

The way he’s handled this is awful and upsetting and it’s terrible people have lost money. 
 

But anyone who has operated a business can tell you of similar companies who have gone through the same thing.

 

I’m personally involved in legal action against someone who is doing *precisely* the same thing as Jon here. It’s sad and pathetic and reflects that person’s total moral failure, but you have to hope there’s a chance for them to redeem themselves (or you’d lose all faith in humanity).

Well put Lawrie 👍

8 hours ago, Rabbie said:

According to the Pirastro site, they only come in 3/4 size…strange but if that’s from the horse’s mouth. Here the link

https://mobile.pirastro.com/public_pirastro/pages/en/Oliv-00006/

Thanks Rabbie, I'll check it out 👍

Might be worth adding the word 'body' to the title Vin 👍