rwillett

The Strat is a lovely guitar, it's a MIJ 87 which appears to be a 62 reissue, thee bolt neck etc. I'm not that up on these things TBH but it's lovely to play, has EMG active pickups, the vibrato is locked with a block of wood and at one time in its life was routed for a humbucker at the bridge. Im trying to write songs, so I use the Strat, my 3d printed headless bass and a macbook. It's hard work but it's very different to my day job so it's a good way to unwind.

I got singing lessons from t'other half. Could be a subtle (or not so subtle) hint. Never has a singing lesson in my life. I used to sing solos when I was younger in primary school and then I grew up or something like that<cough> and can now strip creosote off fences at 10m. Fish wives and RSMs aren't in it.

I printed off four cylinder puzzles for Xmas and put various Xmas presents in. I have managed to keep four people amused for two hours as they have had to crack their locks. I'm sure that constantly saying "Do you need any help?" was well received by one and all.

That's my Strat but I don't recall it looking that big 🙄

There is no stage at the Craven Heifer, we all play in one corner. There is a PA provided by the organiser, everybody uses that single PA including vocalist. No space for your own amps but the BassChat 8" might just fit. PA speaker on a table. The drummer has a toy drum set, that's not a joke, it really is a kids set with a bass, a tom and a cymbal. Thats all that fits so she brings that. She has a Led Zep sized drum kit as well but zero chance of it fitting. I take a headless as less chance of it hitting anyone. I may take the Ibanez Mikro next time as that's even smaller. If anybody moves, it's like The Shadows as we all have to move in sync. We have space for two mikes and possible two music stands so the bass player looks over the shoulder of the guitarist or singer.

Where we play, each artiste has three songs. They are free to come back round at the end of the list. That makes the assumption that they aren't doing Freebird, Bohemian Rhapsody and Moby Dick (live version). This is across a few open mike clubs.

@tauzero is pretty much spot on for the ones I've done.

I've just had flashbacks after watching this. Some songs and videos should have been buried and forgotten a long time ago. That dance with the blokes takes me back to the village hall in Tupton and watching older kids doing it. It looked shite then and hasn't got any better now. Oddly enough Ballroom Blitz isn't one of the songs to be buried and forgotten about (at least to me).

I wouldn't quite go that far about the advertising TBH. It's a bit annoying and it appears on my laptop but not on the mobile. If it was a case of you sorting out medical issues vs advertising, it's 100% clear what you should do. And no it's not the advertising just to be clear 🙄

I have a number of good and bad buys. I have to say (at the risk of being expelled, excommunicated and otherwise labelled as a heretic) that the purchase of an 87 MIJ Strat from here, was one of my best buys of the year for me. Its a dammed fine guitar that just begs to be played. It's no showroom queen and it's all the better for it. It's great for songwriting so I actually play the bass more as well. A songwriting course in Kendal. I learnt so much from Ann Marie I want to do it again. Worst purchases Some crappy Fender guitar cables. Buy a decent cable from @Chienmortbb and just have done with it. The MS1-Vave Bluetooth adapter. Junk. Any purchase that I thought would short circuit me having to learn how to play bass guitar properly. I'm still learning and I expect to keep learning until the day I stop and there's nothing wrong with that. Am looking for a decent acoustic for next year and a decent precision to see what all the fuss is about. I also wouldn't mind a es355 if one fell in my lap. Rob

Not the NW? I feel offended.. 😩 Would have to agree with @neepheid here. We don't have that many Bass Bashes and to have two on the same day seems very unfortunate. Rob

Or better still none at all...

I love "Down By The Jetty". I had no idea it was done in mono after all these years. Shows how much I know. Wonderful album.

I've cut the grill to size and used Gorilla tape on the outside of the frame just to keep it clean tidy. I've printed some riser blocks for the outside of the grill that fit in the corners of the cabinet. The ones in the picture are far too large, but they're to check things out and I'll print some better ones shortly. These will be glued to the front of the baffle (NoNails) and will have a M3 nut embedded in them. The hole for the nut is aligned to the holes in the grille. On top of the riser block will be some adhesive rubber, 1mm thick), to stop vibrations. More riser blocks may be needed, but the principle is set now. I have the "advantage" of not gigging at the moment, as there's only me and the drummer, so little chance or marauding fans rushing the stage sadly. It's very, very likely that I'll design some M3 handbolts to screw into the riser block. These will probably have the felt washers that are on the guitar strap buttons to further reduce vibration (or may not). I designed a lot of hand bolts for astrophotography, you can check them out here (https://starclamps.com/), these are all parameterised so I have lots of options. I also have some nice brass ones somewhere which might look nice. The red corner pieces have been redesigned so that they don't protrude as far into the baffle area as before, to give the grill some some space. The hand bolts should allow the grille to be taken off easily, Once I've painted the baffle board matt black, most of the riser elements will simply disappear, well that's the idea. Lets see how it works. but I'm off from tomorrow to London so nothing will be progressing. Have a good Xmas all Rob

Sorry to hear about your partner. That's a real pain just before Xmas. Pass on our best wishes for a speedy recovery I have no idea what this thread all about, but it's really interesting. Rob