PTB

Thanks for this. I don’t think I have tried them before so will try and get a quote from them.

Thanks Pete, hope you don’t mind if I PM you some questions.

I joined a tribute band a couple of years ago. We do about 40 gigs a year all over the country - Scotland to Cornwall - and we get decent pay per gig. I’m the sort who likes to be open and honest so I called my car insurer to tell them I had taken a part-time role as a musician and needed to amend my policy for business miles. I had heard of a friend’s friend who had difficulty claiming when his car was smashed up on the way home from a gig as he hadn’t mentioned his gigging so I wanted to avoid any such hassle and was prepared to pay a bit extra to avoid it. My insurer’s reaction to my call was to establish whether this was really work or a hobby. Their cut-off seemed to be no more than two gigs a month and little or no overall profit would be a hobby. I confirmed it was a bit more than that but I wouldn’t be getting rich. They then asked when my next gig was and told me they would cancel my policy from the day before as they didn’t insure musicians or entertainers! It was very difficult to get new insurance at short notice. All the household names refused to insure me as a musician but eventually, through a specialist broker, I got some at twice the price of the previous policy. The broker specializes in entertainment clients but could only find one obscure company willing to insure me. This policy is now coming up for renewal in a few months and I am considering my options. Clearly, many people will be within the hobby definition and that’s fine. Some others may be making a profit but not telling their insurance company. You guys and gals don’t need to reply to this. My question is to those of you who are making a living/profit of some sorts from gigging, especially other tribute band members, and have declared this to your car insurers: Who insures you? If you are feeling especially helpful, a DM with some idea of the cost of your policy plus the car you have, annual & business mileage would be appreciated. I’ll happily share my details with you. I understand not everyone will want to make this public and I will keep all such data confidential. I’m guessing there must be more than one company out there insuring working musicians so I’m hoping you can help me find them. Thanks in advance!

Ha ha - already taken. I am their 2nd rate John McVie! 😎

We use BandMule in the tribute band. Never used anything similar before and I like it. It's been very reliable for us. Our Manager updates the gigs section so there's no double counting/confusion and band members just enter our dates when we are unavailable.

Yes, me too. I have a 34” scale Sigma ABG and have the same issue of being 2 frets sharp if I’m not concentrating. The answer for me has just been practice and regular use at our weekly village guitar club where I back local singer - songwriters. I’m usually doing a mixture of playing by ear and watching their hands as I don’t know the songs so it takes my mind off focussing on myself and I’ve just got used to it over time. I doubt a short scale would give me the tone & volume I need acoustically.

I’m late to this but have just stumbled across the SP1 5 string on Bass Direct’s website so I’m looking forward to playing one. I also need a light bass - just under 9lbs ideally - but this is ticking a lot of boxes for me.

I’m playing at The Diamond in Sutton-in-Ashfield last night and this afternoon with Fleetwood Mad. This is the simplest of rigs - a Bitsa P Bass with an EMG pick-up, an EBS Micro Bass 3 and KZ ZAR IEMs. The bass is a collection of bits bought on here plus a new AllParts neck after the previous neck developed a bump at frets 4 & 5. It’s my first outing with the EBS which combines tuner, compressor, pre-amp/eq and DI into one compact but sturdy unit. I’m loving the ease of it all and I’m told it sounds great out front.

Danny bought a bass uke from me in a textbook transaction. Clear and prompt comms throughout and quick payment. Recommended!