Gasman

We've all paid, so its a good test situation - can we find a replacement member who's prepared to cough up £600? Why he paid his share then decided to leave (or maybe the other way round) is slightly baffling...

Sorry for the delayed response, had a mental, no, dental appointment this morning, NHS so unmissable! There seems to be an even split between those who recommend that the gear is owned by just one person (not necessarily in the band) and those that feel that a shared purchase followed by depreciation calculations to cover departing member pay-offs and (possibly) incoming member buy-ins is best. So what ought we to do? Our old PA was owned by the singer with no charge to use it or buy-in payment required from our BVs guy and my sax set, so that was a clear type 1, with no drums, guitars, bass going through it. Our new PA is now a ownership hybrid. The purchased twin tower Bose set up cost £3000. That excludes the Bluetooth mixer, iPad, cables and drum mics, which the guitarist is loaning to the band free until such time as he leaves, and the active fold back speakers that formed part of the old PA, owned by the singer. All instruments will go through it... We have all dobbed in £600 towards the Bose items. As you can see, this has the makings of a classic flustercluck when people join or leave... I’m minded to focus on just the Bose gear and propose an agreement based on @TimR ‘s depreciation formula, as tbh the mixer, mics, cables, iPad and fold back kit could be replaced easily enough from gear already owned in the background by other band members, or replaced with new stuff at a relatively modest price compared with the Bose setup. It’s still a potential ‘mare, but we’re all reasonable people (I think!)🤓 Oh bu##er, belay that, I’m told that our rhythm guitarist has just handed in his notice!🤪

I guess any reaction to what we play at a gig is better than complete indifference...

This^^!

I don't want to play any song exactly as written/recorded and I imagine very few original artistes play numbers exactly as per their original recording either Perhaps the only people that do go for a carbon copy of a specific original are those in tribute bands - the train-spotters in their audience came to hear a recreation of the music of their youth and wouldn't tolerate anything else!

I think some kind of consensus is emerging here, but I'm too knackered after visiting the three grandchildren tonight to put it into words right now! I'll have a go tomoz - and thank you everyone for responding - but don't stop yet, there's still time for more input!

Thank you for all your input - very helpful. Please keep it coming, I have to put a suggestion to the others in the band tomorrow...

Don't laugh too hard, I feel the need to chill - Mantovani's songbook!

Our guitarist has just got as a deal on a new Bose PA - he has paid for it all, so the rest of us have agreed to reimburse him by paying him 20% each (5 piece outfit)- equal shares. I would like us all to sign up to an agreement that states specifically what happens when members leave and new ones join, repair costs, and divvying up the proceeds if we split and sell it. Has anyone got a template agreement that they would share with me? Here's hoping!

Alas, probably not many bass-players on this site - most of us (although not all) could write virtually identical blogs, only difference being the make of car full of rubbish going to the dump (mine's a Jeep)...

11pm curfew, 500 yards away from any place with children, this must be Chester the Molester trying for a new career...

Wise move! If this thread were music, it wouldn’t be rock n roll, funk, europop, classical or folk; no, it’d be free jazz a la Archie Shepp or late Sun Ra, no discernible structure or theme but a jolly fine mental laxative!

I think this reply is conclusive proof that it was indeed Nilo posting on FB - oh, but wait! Maybe it's the same Chatbot at work in both places!

Was this another Nilorius post?

Please stop reading without posting!

Maybe something lost in translation here, such as meaning, but wonderfully off the wall!

Mustang Sally played the Gillingham dorset music festival on Saturday afternoon, good setup with two outdoor stages and PA provided. Our 75 minute set went well, but the rain that threatened arrived big time for the last three numbers. The stage was well protected but the punters weren’t, didn’t stop them dancing resulting in a lot of wet but happy people!

Yes, looking on the ‘Black Guitar’ vintage guitar website, mine looks like a ‘61 Contrabass. New price £58 for the guitar and £25 for the rather basic (mmm!) case, total £83 in 1961, equivalent of £1910 today!

Impressive packing skills there, I hope the car boot sale was a great success!

Lovely original condition! Interesting - same body and PUPs as mine, different tuner arrangement on the headstock, plus double-layer scratch-plate and some switches! I wonder what year ours are? Yes, the Martian Cricket Bat soubriquet is very appropriate given the neck profile, although maybe it's more like a baseball bat...

After unexpectedly having the chance to try out a Fender Mustang last week I got enthusiastic about buying one for myself, or at least something similar like the Squier Rascal, as a complete change from my conventional J and MM big boys - fast fingering, low weight, what's not to like? Sanity prevailed when I remembered my rapidly diminishing bank account (two privately rebuilt teeth recently = £2k) and the fact that I still had that old Fenton Weill bass up in the loft that I was given in 1974 - vintage even then! - surely that was a shorty and worth another try before splashing more cash? When I was first given it the poor old thing had a very tatty dark maroon finish, a cracked scratch plate and two non-functioning tuners. Nowadays that might have added value by making it 'road-worn' but back then I had no qualms about restoring it. The paint was stripped back to natural wood, the whole thing polyurethane lacquered, the tuners were all replaced, new pot-knobs fitted and I had a new scratch-plate made by Taffy, a very clever tech in Yeovil where I was living at the time. It was my only bass until '79, when I splashed out on a new Jazz, at which point it went into storage. So I recovered it from the loft last week 44 years later, fitted a new set of Tru-Bass strings and plugged it into my Cube 100w combo for a trip down nostalgia lane. Wow! The very punchy sound from those twin PUPs was still there, the 30" neck and floating bridge were a pleasure to play on and it still looks (to me) amazing for a 60-year-old bass. Downsides? Well, it weighs in at 10lb (4.5 kilos)so it's no lightweight and the neck is pretty narrow (40mm at the nut) - not for the sausage-fingered, I think, although fine for my cute little mitts! It's going on-stage this weekend, should be fun. Does anyone else play one of these or anything similar? Here are some pix of the beast...

I say chaps, all this finger-greasing should be unnecessary - surely natural lubrication is best?

Dutifully went to Mrs Gasman’s Rotary party tonight as her guest. Live band was setting up for after-meal dancing. I escaped the table chat and went to ogle the bass player’s gear, particularly the metallic red go-faster striped Mustang, rare beast down here in Dorset. The owner then appeared and we got chatting, she was about 4’ 11” hence the short scale bass, and a sh*t-hot player. I was then most unexpectedly invited to sit in and play a couple of numbers, as we know it’s unheard of normally, I didn’t ask, she just took a gamble on me after a ten minute chat and anyway if a bloke from a band called Mustang Sally can’t play Mustang Sally on a Fender Mustang it’s a poor show! It went fine, but the real revelation was how good that Mustang sounded, and how smooth and easy it was to play despite it being my first short scale dabble for 50 years; I know it was fate, I must get one!

Jona Lewie was also Mr Terry Dactyl of the dinosaurs. I had the privilege of honking some tenor sax at the end of their not-hit ‘On a Saturday Night’ - (well mixed down in the final cut) whereas the bass player was up front and centre - my pal Malcolm Starr on a vintage..... Sousaphone!

Maybe you misheard - she actually had a fascination with Death Metal and hoped she could convert you?