12stringbassist

Very quickly, without reading the comments above: Homepage - get a head and shoulders shot of the band, or a wide shot that shows you fully. Other pages - the text looks like it is breaking up - except on your gigs page,which is fine. Use that font and size throughout. Gallery page - try to avoid photos with mics in front of the band's faces. The image on the contact page isn't showing. You're welcome to critique my band's site in return! www.wizdomband.co.uk

I'm selling a pretty good full Hartke rig on Loot (and also via FB) and I got the following email via loot from a buyer at a gmail address: Someone is interested in your ad: Here’s their message: - Email: (the email address at gmail) - Message: How much is the last price of your goods.Patrick B***** ------------------------------------------------------- I replied: The Burns Bison bass is £300 as priced. The Hartke rig is £500 as priced. ------------------------------------------------------- Then I got this: [b]From: **** [/b][b]Sent:[/b] 02 July 2016 13:36 [b]To:[/b] Ian [b]Subject:[/b] Re: FW: Loot and Bargain Pages: Interested Buyer! I am deaf and disabled and also am Okay with the price but I will not be able to pick up the goods but I will arrange the pick up with my bank or PayPal kindly pls let me know if you are okay with bank to bank transfer or PayPal transfer so as to proceed with payment.Thank you -------------------------------------------------- I have replied: "I would appreciate confirmation of who would collect and when. Whereabouts are you based? I would take payment via paypal when I do agree a sale. (My paypal ID is [u]not[/u] linked to this email address). I have other people interested in the Hartke gear. Please do not take this as agreement to sell to you yet. Ian" --------------------------------------------------- He's just replied: "I will make payment with PayPal and they will arrange for me on who to collect OK" It reads totally like a scammer to me. What do you guys think?

[url="https://www.facebook.com/eddie.burgess.792/videos/10208066342034083/"]https://www.facebook...08066342034083/[/url]

Reminds me of Dave Hill. He treated his bandmates like sh*t too. His behaviour at soundchecks if he had an audience was so horrible I stopped going to watch the band. I was invited to try out for them at one point when a bassist was leaving and declined.

Post-gig, I load my stuff into my car heavy stuff first - both cabs into rear compartment, then bass amp and monitor onto back seat followed by wire bag, multi-bass stand, mic stand and effects bag. Basses are kept well back on stage til i am going and they go in the car last when I am ready to go. The car is locked between trips. When I get home, the basses come indoors straight away. The rest can stay in the car overnight, as I wouldn't like to try to get past my padlocked gates. Effing big spikes on top. I know that thefts happen to people and it's not always easy to secure a vehicle overnight, or always down to carelessness, but sometimes it is. When I read about someone's acoustic going from the back seat of their car in a city centre. I's just not funny, but hardly unexpected. There but for the grace, etc etc.

After gigs with my regular band, I was called by a guitarist that I do a jam night with on some Sundays, asking if I could play that night as his bassist was indisposed. I'd never met the drummer. And I would have to sing all the songs - a first for me. After an hour or so of printing off a few lyrics (generic classic rock stuff) and wondering what I had let myself in for, I repacked the car, had my tea then set off. I needn't have worried. We went down very well. I must have picked the right songs. One I love Caroline Roll over lay down Don't believe a word slow / fast Boys are back in town Back in USSR Substitute Satisfaction Rebel rebel Shangalang Roadhouse blues Rockin’ all over world Sharp dressed man Walkin' by myself Rosalie Are you ready Rain Tush 20th C boy Purple Rain Born to be wild I saw her standing there Tie your mother down Dakota

I have managed to download a reasonable copy of LOOK LOOK on DVD.

Where to start depends on what you would like - their early, spiky / quirky material, or their more melodic material (from when Dave Gregory joined the band). You could do a lot worse than buying the 2CD set Fossil Fuel as a starter, it has a couple of non-album tracks.

The best money I spent last year..

It's also a good story for your local press. Be all good natured about it if you talk to them, saying you think it's quite funny being confused with a bunch of schoolkids who are learning to play...

On your posters clearly state [b]"NOT TO BE CONFUSED WITH THE INFERIOR *** *** ***"[/b] They will do something about their name at that point. I agree about buying relevant domain names.

I bought the Rockpalast show on DVD last year. The price is now a bit daft on amazon - https://www.amazon.co.uk/XTC-LIFE-BEGINS-AT-THE-ROCK/dp/B004E4FWX8/ref=sr_1_1?s=dvd&ie=UTF8&qid=1465514500&sr=1-1&keywords=xtc I wish they'd get that video compilation together.

My basses are £2k Warwicks down to Squiers and a £75 Westfield P. My playing style and our setlist don't involve beating the crap out of them. If it did, I guess I probably wouldn't have spent the daft money.

The Fender ones will usually fit the screw holes and body shape / other parts on the bass properly if you get the model right.

[quote name='HengistPod' timestamp='1464618877' post='3060826'] 1. Won't learn other people's song suggestions because they're "too niche" (e.g. Aerosmith, [b]Cheap Trick[/b])[/quote] That IS driving me crazy at present. All of my song suggestions are wrong. Itchy feet.

XTC are one of my favourite bands and Moulding remains one of the best bassists I have ever heard. It is sad to think that because of his commitment to XTC - who were pretty much dormant at the time, due to their 7 year recording strike - he turned down the chance to play bass with Pink Floyd, which would have got his talent worldwide exposure, have put some money in his pocket instead of working for a car hire firm recovering hire cars (and possibly have done XTC a world of good too). As for which period of XTC is 'the best', everybody will think differently. I got into them early on as soon as I heard 'Dance Band' and have appreciated them more and more as time went on. I think they have improved the longer they have been together. The album tracks on White Music Go2 never grabbed me as much as the singles, but when Dave Gregory came in, they became much more my kind of band. Now THERE is an unsung hero. I think those three together were a band with utterly incredible potential.

I'm happy to to take any of these out with any of these... I take the very same precautions at gigs with all of them.

NJ series neck thru Mockingbird. Recent purchase.

Early 70's SGII refinished after body damage. The others in my 6-string menagerie:

I'd go to a weekend daytime event.

Website with video page and clear setlist, gallery and dates pages. Flyers for venues containing web address dates, songs, good band photo. Use the internet. Get a template intro message together and message every venue you can get in touch with.

No offence to Dave Swift intended at all, but at least having Jools Holland on the cover lets me know who he plays with. I can find out more by reading the article.

[quote name='Roger2611' timestamp='1464338155' post='3058508'] A couple of sweeping generalizations there! I have a couple of home built Precision's with Fender logo's applied, I have absolutely no "penis envy" to own a real Fender, I already own too many of them, yet choose to gig with the basses I have built myself...why apply the logo, purely aesthetically, it completes the look of the bass, I would never sell the bass as a Fender and as other have already said, it is not difficult to spot that it is not a "real" Fender.[/quote] If you put a Fender logo on a non-Fender bass to 'complete the look', that is to decieve people. Maybe not for a sale. [quote name='Roger2611'] I am not trying to fool anyone with the logo, especially me, I have a Mike Dirnt Squier Precision, totally rebuilt, all replacement parts, custom colour, Fender logo applied again however it was such a good bass originally that I have happily left the "Crafted in China" logo and serial number on the back of the neck, it is lacquered in and could not now be removed without a total refinish of the neck, so it is there for life now. Most people that have looked at the bass simply cannot believe it was a budget instrument! So again not trying to fool anyone.[/quote] Fender logo applied to a non-Fender instrument. Not trying to fool anyone? [quote name='Roger2611'] Most, but not all obviously! Of the copy Rickenbacker's out there are, to me, hugely inferior to the real deal, the Rockinbetter clone is about half as big again as the real deal, I had a couple and got rid because they felt so cumbersome, but it sparked enough interest for me to go and play the real thing, yes, I was hugely impressed with them to the point that I am probably going to buy one...today...yes really![/quote] Rockinbetter's are awful. You'll enjoy a Ric. [quote name='Roger2611'] I do believe that the copy basses create a desire to own the real thing, I think Fender know that and that is why they are not so protective of their trademarks (and I guess the sheer amount of clones out there would make any effort at protection rather futile now) I do think Rickenbacker are wrong in their aggressive pursuit of copy instruments for the same reasons given above, however, you cannot argue that a Rickenbacker bass has better residual values than the majority of Fender basses have. [/quote] Maybe they do create a desire to own the real thing, but mainly they just steal a piece of the market from the real thing. If you were the owner of said copyrighted designs, you would blow your top if people just started putting copies of your design out there. Saying it's ok is an excuse for saying 'I don't care about the copyright owner' (and fair enough, they may not care about you, but is it morally right to re-badge a copy instrument and pass it off as the real thing? Not really. You have a right to your opinion and I respect that right, but...

I got hold of mp3's of the Arctic Monkeys songs they wanted to do. I sat down to work them out and found them utterly unlistenable. The kind of dumb music I really despise. I never got to the end of a single song. I emailed the band and asked if the Arctic Monkeys songs were deal-breakers. They were, so I passed on the band. I have never heard of them since.