chris667

If you think you never overplay, it might be you.

Whatever you do, when dealing with any insurance company get the thing you've asked them for in writing.

I might judge you a bit.

Yes, but I honestly think that many musicians won't care. I'm not experienced with basses yet, but I've played lots of other instruments. I've played high end instruments that were just shite. Some high end stuff will always have value, but there is just too much good stuff out there.

That's sort of my point. Honestly, not so long ago a lot of new inexpensive instruments were often junk. Now, brands like Harley Benton make some superb instruments! Far better QC. And if you do get a bad one you send it back and you can have another one the next day. I reckon about a fifth of my ebay purchases work out. It's an expensive gamble.

Yes, but it's always a gamble!

Why bother with secondhand? The truth is cheap instruments are really good now. It's not as if young people can afford vintage stuff anyway.

This is all we will have if we don't support our local music shops.

The Knight had been a school piano for many years. Sadly it was a long way past economical repair. I would much prefer a 1970s Knight in good condition to a new inexpensive upright.

Well, Google vs Meta is a bit like choosing between Charles Manson and Fred West as babysitters, but Whatsapp can do polls which is useful when you have to offer a choice of dates to a group. Nextcloud could do all of this, but you either need to pay someone to host it or host it yourself. I really do like my Nextcloud and it's much more reliable than it used to be. I'd choose Nextcloud if any of my bands were up for using it.

Hello. I have been asked by a friend how to feed a low impedance (mic) output into a high impedance input (a pedal). If it was round at mine I'd just let them plug it into my mixer. But they want their own setup, and I think a line matching transformer like the Shure A85F would be more elegant. Are there any alternative products that come a bit cheaper?

Also, one other thing. My best mate is a pianist. He has a Bluthner grand in is front room (£95,000 new, and 3 months to build!). I think if he was being honest, he prefers his Kawaii MP11SE. It doesn't have the presence in the room obviously, but he can play things on it that he can't play on his Bluthner. It has a better action and it sounds really, really good.

I think you should go to a dealer. Most privately sold pianos are beyond economical repair. Beyond that, you need to go by the sound. Renting a secondhand piano for a few months could save you a lot of money. It's hard to recommend a particular brand because so many of the piano makers merged and just became badges on pianos that were made in anonymous Asian factories. A venue at a place I play at fairly regularly got rid of their ex-school Knight upright which was nearing the end of its life with a three year old piano which was donated to them. It was scrapped as it was unrepairable. Avoid cheap new uprights.

You say that but you should still get checked out. You could have one of those things or something else without realising. It won't cost you anything to try, at any rate.

Yes. It could be linked to quite a few other conditions, and there are therapies that are proven to manage it. The NHS pages on it list a few. https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/tinnitus/

My best mate (a professional pianist of 40 years standing) has recently developed it. The MU sent him to a proper music audiologist in Manchester. They gave him earplugs. So if you're a member, it's worth calling. First step should be a trip to the GP. And a hearing test - many forms of tinnitus and hearing loss can be mitigated. The absolute worst thing you can do is hope it goes away.

I think "tool" is not an unreasonable word to describe the buyer in this moment, but you may not agree and that's fine. Being unhappy with your purchase is understandable, but asking for compensation as well as a refund makes the buyer look unreasonable. I don't think anyone who makes demands of that nature to a business is acting honourably. Amongst a group of their peers ( like this forum) I doubt you'd find many who agreed. And if he is a member of this forum he hasn't tried to justify his reasons for claiming above and beyond. He's just a beginner now, but @Silky999 may well make the best basses in the world in the future. If enough people do things like this, he'll stop. It's bad news for all of us. Either way, he's stopped contacting the seller, so no harm done. @Silky999 - let's see some of these creations!

I really admire your attitude, but I think you have to temper that with having policies in place that protect your business. Asking for a refund and a further £50 compensation is not reasonable. Nor is claiming a fret buzz on the 19th fret makes an instrument "unplayable". You'll never make this buyer happy. If you offer to put things right or offer all the money back, that's perfectly reasonable and you've passed your tests. You shouldn't offer to fix things on a 24hr turnaround though. What if you can't do that? It's entirely possible that he's on this forum and realised that people who know him might see what's happened and realise he's a bit of a tool.

Lovely open mic last night. Two new musicians, both under 20 who had never played at an open mic before! I am always surprised to see what music they like to play. The young woman played a Cranberries song and some Dylan and the man played some Oasis and Squeeze. I think the woman in particular was great, she had really good presence. They were both great really.

I asked this question about my Tascam multitrack recorder. It's great but I can't always read the screen. I asked on the Tascam forum and one member said he solved the issue by putting an old tablet on a stand above his screen and using the camera app to see the display on a bigger screen. You probably already have an old phone or tablet, so it's worth a go!

I have a Yamaha MOXF6 (actually, it's my bandmates on a sort of permanent loan). I can't believe how little money they go for now. Of course it depends what you want but it's such a versatile device.

I've owned a retail business. I think the best policy is either you refund in full or offer to repair at no cost. The buyer is responsible for getting it back to you in the condition it was sold in if he collected it in person. He's not entitled to a refund for inconvenience (how did he lose out, exactly?), he's just trying it on. He will probably complain about it, but then he'll probably also complain if you do what he wants. I think if you want to make a go of it as a business, you have to price accordingly. You can't sell a bass for Harley Benton money with botique luthier service. You also need clear t&cs that fit in with the law where you live.

Interesting. I had a look and have seen items that I know for a fact are no longer available anywhere else as "available in 8 days" on their website. I wonder if they have a secret warehouse of unsold stock or if they're taking orders that they can't fulfil.

The problem with usb audio interface support for Android is gloriously inconsistent support for supposedly class compliant devices and latency. It varies so much from device to device that you can't recommend anything unless you have exactly the same phone and device as the person who you're recommending something to. I know this isn't what you asked and they're unfashionable now, but my little Tascam DP-006 multitrack is the single best piece of music technology I've ever owned. Two mics which are far better than anything you'll get on a phone and two line inputs in a device the size of a paperback book. Zero latency and it always just works exactly as intended. I copy things that I'm learning into it and jam along. Or if I want to do something more technical I can export the tracks to a DAW. It really is so much more straightforward than a phone and there are fewer cables. Simple to use, but not more simple. They go for about £40 secondhand at pawn shops now. The older DP-004 is exectly the same thing but it has two fewer tracks.

And I'm the opposite to you! when I'm about to play I spend 20-30 minutes doing scales and noodling, but no practice of the set on the day. All told, l average about 7 hours a day of whatever I'm working on on normal days though.