RhysP

Great band, great songwriters, great bass player. Saw them live a couple of times back in the 90's & they were superb. I'm a big fan of Split Enz & Neil & Tim Finns solo stuff too.

That's a cool picture Blue.

Bands have always had to pay to get support slots with name bands. It used to be the record companies that stumped up the cash to buy a band onto a tour & then added that to all the other stuff the band owed them, whereas in these days of self financed & self promoted bands the money has to be paid upfront by the band themselves.

[quote name='Grangur' timestamp='1479657918' post='3178180'] But is it beneficial to do it? [/quote] I found that they are more more stable from a tuning perspective if I stretch them when putting them on. If I don't stretch them they take a lot longer to get to the point where they settle down & don't need frequent tuning.

I do it with my bass & guitar strings & have never had any problems.

I did plenty of gigs in the past that were packed out with drunken morons going nuts & never saw a bloody penny from it, there's no way I'd ever do that again. Give me lots of money & no audience any day.

[quote name='GarethFlatlands' timestamp='1473618646' post='3131721'] I believe Fenders have wider string spacing as some pickup makers offer F spaced options to accommodate the extra width so my suggestion would be a Fender. Maybe something like a Telecaster, the Baja tele I tried had a fat neck which didn't suit me but you might like better. Should be great for blues/rock. [/quote] "F spaced" on a pickup means it's pole pieces are spaced for use with Floyd Rose Tremolo systems, not Fender guitars.

[quote name='niagra' timestamp='1479221752' post='3174844'] I've looked at these before but they don't seem to be well liked from what I've read? [/quote] Line 6 Spiders are pretty terrible amps IMO. I tried one with my Gretsch earlier this year and was astonished at just how bad it was.

I'm currently using an Arturia Microbrute & I'm pretty happy with it. If money was no object though I would be using a vintage MiniMoog.

Swoon would be in my top 10 albums of all time, possibly even top 5.

Really enjoying the new Tim Garland Electric Quartet album "One" at the moment. Saw them live in Manchester last month & they were superb.

I had some Kent Armstrong humbucker sized P90s in a solid body Gretsch a while ago, they were really good pickups & not expensive.

Paddy McAaloon is one of the finest songwriters ever IMO.

Just sounds like some lo-fi old vintage amp to me, can't hear any effects as such.

We used to stock Burman amps in the shop I used to work in in Cardiff. Superb amps. We had a big bass stack at one point which was just awesome.

[quote name='randythoades' timestamp='1479383137' post='3176062'] I could always get the Mustang ii as a smaller on stage amp as I DI anyway. [/quote] The Mustang 3 has a much better speaker than the 1 & 2.

How can it be in mint condition but also have "the usual scuff marks"? Mint means as new, totally unmarked. £400 for the pickup from a 1976 Precision? Really?

I'd have a look at the Fender Mustang 3 v2. combo. I've heard people using these live & they are very impressive, they take pedals well too. Lots of Videos of them on YouTube.

I'm a huge Prefab Sprout fan & love Martins bass playing. He used a Musicman Cutlass a lot too.

[quote name='tedmanzie' timestamp='1479301755' post='3175430'] Not heard of them before , thanks for the tip [/quote] I have hypermobile joints which make holding strings down very difficult as I can't put much pressure on the fingers without the joints just bending all over the place. I've found the Newtone Heritage low tension strings have made playing acoustic guitar much easier for me.

[quote name='tedmanzie' timestamp='1479300668' post='3175420'] If I play [i]any[/i] acoustic guitar for 10 mins I would have to take a week off...! [/quote] You should try Newtone Heritage low tension acoustic strings, they're excellent.

As others have said, some guitarists prefer flatter fingerboards because it stops string choke when bending, not because you can get the action lower on them.

[quote name='josie' timestamp='1479249826' post='3175139'] [attachment=232127:Heathers_veil.JPG] [/quote] Wow, that's really lovely