SimonK

Both my wife and I have gone through this with our own businesses, starting off using mates rates and "I feel guilty someone is paying me to do something I like doing so I will only charge a token amount", then realising that there is enough business coming in to make a proper go of it, but then realising that in order to have a business the fees need to be three times higher than the original mates rates we were charging. This then leads to awkward conversations, but business (and living) costs money, and at the end of the day people (society?) will lose access to expertise if they do not pay enough to maintain it. I think this is a particular issue for the arts (and in this thread luthiers) in that there seems to be a reluctance to adequately cost the (music) services being produced.

I think there is a difference between running a professional business where you do need to stick to more rigid policies just so the business survives, as opposed to being a hobbyist making a bit of money on the side, but primarily doing it for the love of it. I think if it is the latter that you are doing you could come up with some sort of guarantee period, something like so long as the customer can inspect it at time of purchase they can get a full refund for first 14 days, 50% for up to a month following purchase, but then only warranty repairs (probably worth defining carefully) for up to a year afterwards. Unfortunately I think for this first "problem" customer I would just bite the bullet, take it back, and chalk it up to experience (albeit I would only refund what they paid - no more!). Then next time ensure you have the returns/warranty policy in writing and agreed to.

Sorry to hear this - especially given I work very close by (I'm often at the Queen's hotel in Southsea). I've seen this post while (avoiding) sorting out my own invoices and quotes (not music related), and was just struck by how most of us would probably never do any normal work without formal quotations/invoices, and yet for music this is so common - I don't think I've ever had more than an email/text message agreeing payment, albeit I am very much on the amatuer side of things. Hopefully your agreement is/was a bit more robust!

"that" guitarist 🙂 !!

As a regular train traveller I've found the limiting factor is more what I can carry/cart around. Even on a busy train you can just stand in one of the bike areas with your luggage if there are no spare seats to stack it on.

Alright not a bass player, but I thought very much in theme with this thread - pesky pedal board power supplies!!

Awesome stage presence - isn't quite the same with only IEMs!!

...and that was a bit of a disaster! I don't think I fully appreciated how different a 5 string Warwick feels to play compared to the four string Stingrays that I have been playing for the last twenty years. I really struggled for the whole gig adapting to both the five strings, but also the entirely different feel of the thing. I'm hoping that if I persevere things will get easier as I do think very different instruments can inspire in very different ways, but adapting does seem to be a bit of a challenge. Most notable was quite how big and chunky the stingrays felt to wear after playing the Warwick, albeit the Stingray necks are much slimmer! Mind you the Trace sounded as equally awesome with both - didn't change any settings as signal level, EQ etc. was all fine or at least nothing I couldn't tweak using the controls on the basses alone. Every day's a school day even after 35 years of playing!

Yes I visited PMT in Portsmouth for years and it just got more and more disappointing until it died a rather predictable death. Even a visit to Andertons is not quite as exciting as it used to be mainly because if I want to buy something I normally source it second hand, and while the boutique section is fun to have a gander at I don't think I would ever spontaneously buy something that expensive (famous last words!). I think the trick to bricks and mortar shops is to diversify. I like "Guitar and Beans" in Leiden, and as others have mentioned this is not the only coffee/music shop combination. My business plan would be to open a second hand musical instruments plus coffee (not second-hand!) shop, probably aiming to get 80% of the revenue off the coffee by making it a place for muso's to hang out, although it would probably need to be in a University town to be succesful. Having it big enough to run live nights and maybe have a small bar would probably be needed too. Sadly there is simply too much available on line for a traditional retailer to survive selling new gear anymore.

£75 each is reasonable if they work, or even as a source of replacement speakers for repairs...

This looks a bit Trace like. Cool cab finish!

...so after a bit of detective work I think the Tolex covered GP12 would have been from about 1995, and the carpet covered from 1998 onwards. I don't think I previously realised there was this much variation in the SMX series, but it looks to me that while the preamp stayed the same the power section started off fairly similar to the older Series 6 amps and then they seem to have moved to a newer power amp design. The faceplates are identical. RE the cabs, I suspect the non-ported one is an older series 6 as both the SMX catalogues I have (tolexed and carpeted) show ports on all the cabs.

I'm not convinced its a "totally different" animal - possibly only a couple years older with both being the very last UK manufactured?

You are absolutly correct, the similar one I saw is still on reverb for about £100 or more than I think it worth:

Surely the obvious comment would be to get a PJ bass if you wanted to cover both?

I saw this but passed - generally (in the UK) you can find a GP12SMX for less than £300, and a smaller cab like that for under £100, but looking at various forums it can be double these prices in the US or mainland Europe.

As a scientist I feel obliged to like metric more except for pints of beer and miles/hour. Thus said I was talking to a French chap about this last week who pointed out that given a litre of beer is quite a lot bigger that a pint (by almost three quarters), the Brits were missing a trick with our drinking habits!

Love this... I don't exactly hate changing my strings but can seldom be arsed (or want to spend the money) to - I think two of mine have eight year old strings on at the moment, although I did put d'addario NYXL's for this reason last time I did change them...

I have to admit my "dream" rig was actually the GP12 plus 1048 and 1518 cabs, and a Corvette 5, but the above is close enough due to bargains coming my way and also tastes at least altering a bit with time. The crazy thing is that my rig only cost £1300 in todays prices with the vast majority being the bass, whereas in the 90s it probably would have been north of £2500 in 90s prices, so well over £5k now! Apart from the weight benefit, I struggle to think of a £5k new rig that would be much better than this combination.

Yes I know I posted this picture on the Warwick thread a few weeks back, but I was just running through a few things this afternoon ready for taking the new (to me) Warwick Streamer 5 and TE stack out for their first gig together next week, and the combination just sounds like everything I have ever wanted. It's taken me almost 30 years to finally get the set-up I lusted over as a teenager and it's exactly as I hoped! Has anyone else done the Warwick + TE combination?

...so what happened today???

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/226787499542?_trkparms=amclksrc%3DITM%26aid%3D777008%26algo%3DPERSONAL.TOPIC%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D20250324084321%26meid%3D3429e40cdf604f38892cf4a9547f74fd%26pid%3D101949%26rk%3D1%26rkt%3D1%26itm%3D226787499542%26pmt%3D0%26noa%3D1%26pg%3D4375194%26algv%3DRecentlyViewedItemsV2WithMLRPboosterAndUpdatedFeatures_BP%26brand%3DTrace%2BElliot&_trksid=p4375194.c101949.m162918&_trkparms=parentrq%3A2d7826ab1970ab13560ef8abffff85d8|pageci%3A38f944d7-3f32-11f0-b3eb-c6d89e18e4eb|iid%3A1|vlpname%3Avlp_homepage

Someone posted a "cheap first gigging amp" thread but then bought something within 48 hours so I didn't get a chance to show him this bargain currently on ebay (assuming he was close enough). Killer amp for the price!!

That was quick - less than 48 hours between OP and coming home with something! Mind you still gave me the opportunity to check out the most recent Trace Elliot bargains out there... as someone said above it is pro gear at beginners prices so long as you don't mind the age and weight (I will stick what I found on the TE thread instead of here now you have an amp)!

My 16 year old suddenly decided he wanted to try the old electric drum kit - perfect for the recycled Trace cab! I would have killed to have this in my room at his age!