Big_Stu

[quote name='Kev' post='1181526' date='Mar 29 2011, 10:07 PM']What kind of valuations are we looking at here? for Vintage basses? For current stock basses? I have read nowhere that Musicguard require a qualified valuation, and their cover is New for Old so certainly the latter basses would need no form of valuation. If you have a particularly valuable vintage bass (pre cbs stuff perhaps, £4k and above), perhaps look for an insurance company that specialises in this?[/quote] It was MusicGuard themselves who told me they wouldn't cover it until I got a "qualified valuation". Possibly caused by it not having any S/N & the fact that JB is dead so can't vouch for it. MG themselves say they are specialists in all musical instruments; I'm not aware of any other companies which are known to be reliable?

I applied to Musicguard for a quote & ended up in the same boat as the OP; they wanted a "qualified" valuation. Try getting one of them for a John Birch. I did have one from E&L Insurance (who are crap - see previous topics) which said £4500 (edit - yes I know - cloud cuckoo-land). I ended up with a letter from Bonhams but that wasn't good enough for MusicGuard. For the OP, it depends what you have & how far you are from a decent music shop, maybe a luthier, or the manufacturer. Basically all they're after is a Letterhead from a shop, saying in their opinion your gear is worth £££X.

[quote name='Mr. Foxen' post='1180149' date='Mar 28 2011, 10:04 PM']Personally, my policy is to whip out the old tired mullards, and sell them at their silly premium, and use that to fund a nice set of replaceable valves, and a service. Because if you proper run them into the ground, they'll be worthless, and you won't be able to get any more.[/quote] An interesting and good idea, & you'd be able to get the new valves biased along with the service. It would also be a good idea to move the speaker/ohm switch backwards & forwards a few times to rub away any oxidisation that could have built up over the years. I've got a Hiwatt which is a similar build & it certainly happened with mine. Remember to leave it back at 4 though

[quote name='griffonite' post='1179622' date='Mar 28 2011, 03:30 PM']I' m no luthier but I can't see how you could hide repairs on the neck like this unless there was some kind of finish on the wood that would hide cracks but I'm probably wrong about that.[/quote] One of the easist ways is to get another piece of the same wood, sometimes if you're lucky you can take it from the actual wood of the guitar (for eg. make a p/u cavity slightly larger under the plate). Get a saw with the finest teeth you can find & saw that bit of wood to pieces. Then mix the resulting sawdust with PVA glue until it's stodgy sawdust then fill the hole with it. (Having first fixed the actual break with the same glue leaving it a little short of the surface so that you've got a crack to put your filler into). The glue dries clear & if it's off the same piece it can't fail to match, if you chose your bit well it should be preddy damn close.

I would guess that to make a direct comparison you'd have to use one bass, so that all things were constant, then switch the neck over to a maple one. Of course to do this you'd need a [s]plank[/s] Fender or Fender-alike.

[quote name='tomb' post='1176107' date='Mar 25 2011, 05:16 PM']QUOTE 25.03.11 13:46 The shipment could not be delivered interesting... cause ive been home all day and my mobile phone has been on... Last time im doing business with Thomann for sure[/quote] I'd be emailing the guy that last emailed you from Thomann, say that that it's a lie that you weren't in, what are they going to do about it? Then give them a deadline in which to do something about it. You could also tell them that their dealings with this order are currently the subject of an online discussion on a large musicians website.

[quote name='icastle' post='1177360' date='Mar 26 2011, 04:01 PM']The SM57's have a relatively tight polar response (i.e. the are more sensitive head on and quite insensitive from the sides) so that makes them pretty good for miking up cabs in our experience.[/quote] + they've been going for donkey's years & were industry standard for about as long. [i]If it ain't broke etc[/i].

[quote name='zero9' post='1177423' date='Mar 26 2011, 05:17 PM']My guess is that the damage to the neck of the bass looks quite serious, especially considering it's been 'repaired'. I'm not sure of the quality of the 'repair', however, imo, it shouldn't be left which such apparent scars.[/quote] +1, that would be my impression IF I was looking for a KS. I'd be disappointed in any luthier leaving it looking so bad. There's ways & means to hide such things & they haven't been used there.

[quote name='dmz' post='1172666' date='Mar 22 2011, 09:45 PM']Are there any guitar amps out there that could cut the mustard as bass amps - I'm sure there are some Marshall or Hiwatt amps out there that are more than up for the job.[/quote] The old Hiwatts were designated AP for All Purpose. A 200 will be giving about 350 watts on full tilt but the cabs were way underpowered so would need two (the amp itself usually has 4 speaker outs) of the same vintage which means a whole lotta humping gear. The newer MG Hiwatt cabs are rated 400 watts so a single cab would do, though personally I wouldn't give them my cash. [quote name='mart' post='1174823' date='Mar 24 2011, 03:53 PM']The Fender Bassman was a very good guitar amp, but a few people used it for bass too. [/quote] I saw a Bassman in Edinburgh once that was stencilled for Thijs Van Leer Focus. The keyboard player that yodelled.

[quote name='Donnyboy' post='1176446' date='Mar 25 2011, 07:49 PM']Didn't put him off seeing me late this afternoon if he did - what a true gent. sorted my BW speaker that I'd been told to put in the bin & raved about my Hiwatt PA amp- probably a 1970 original & , whisper it , worth a fortune . Feel a bit guilty for leaving lying at the back of the garage for more than 15 years!!Ah, well.[/quote] Hope he showed you his back-stage pass collection in his workshop?

[quote name='Donnyboy' post='1174408' date='Mar 24 2011, 11:20 AM']can you trust anyone? [/quote] Yes, Dennis Marshall in Newmills, just north of Dunfermline. We had a similar conversation on here not so long ago. Lives & breathes Sound City, & therefore Hiwatts too. He's a list as long as his arm of names he's worked for, not least The Eagles & George Michaels Band in recent years. His details are in the Trusted Amp techs in the Repairs section.

What? No Superglue? But it's in the rules!

[quote name='JTUK' post='1110194' date='Jan 31 2011, 09:29 PM']ha ha .. I can't recall who it was I saw with a huge rig onstage plugged into a Marshall backstage which wasn't their band deal... [/quote] Surely not!!!!???

[quote name='Marvin' post='1091306' date='Jan 16 2011, 01:01 PM']Some of the stands I've looked at say they are not suitable for nitro finishes.[/quote] I saw a long time ago on a site that the unsuitability of some stands (& the insides of many cases) is due to the chemicals in the foam padding. Substituting the foam on either if one takes your fancy should cure it. I've got a Fender branded - though I'm sure it's generic - stand, but it has a wide footprint & a high neck support, & folds down quite small. Cost around £25-£30 IIRC.

[quote name='Rich' post='1155273' date='Mar 9 2011, 01:24 PM'][/quote] I don't go for any even remotely Fender-ish styled basses, but damn! - that is a VERY nice beauty!

Most pub & club gigs haven't the space to move much; whether it's a proper stage or the bog standard bit of tape on the floor marking off the end of the bar area. But if you do have a big stage to fill, first thing you gotta do is get yourself a 150ft guitar lead. As in God bless his soul he didn't recognise Chuck Leavell. FF to 5:20 if you just want to see the moving around & check out the roadie feeding the cord along as Albert climbs the steps. The clip is mis-titled, he didn't do "Travelling South" at Seville, this is my fave Albert Collins song, "Put Your Shoe On The Other Foot".

Sounds like the kind of little or no return scam a bloke in a nearby town to me tried a few years ago. He was making pound coins with a mould he'd made. They were excellent copies, detail, weight, the colour which IIRC was from a spray can was right, everything worked ............ BUT ............. he made them out of solder.............. and it cost him more in solder than they were each worth.

I've been using Roto's in guitar & bass for almost 30 years. I've tried Fender (worst of the lot), Ernie Ball & D'addario but never for long, in fact, not of more than a one packet trial. Always gone back to Roto's. Now I just wouldn't bother trying any others at all.

TBH is tickles me when I go into a music shop & hear kids widdlin'. It was the same 30+ years ago when I first started going instrument shops; in one shop I go to it's still the same manager/owner. There'd be something far wrong the day when that racket is missing when you go in. What I do miss is a good range of SH quality guitars hanging on the walls, now it's all Fenders, row after row of them, all identical apart from the colour, and loads more of Fender-alikes. Thank God for relics like Johnny Roadhouse in Manchester, Ebay, MG & Crack Converters have a lot to answer for.

[quote name='Oscar South' post='1165720' date='Mar 17 2011, 01:27 PM']Then this'll be worth catching: [url="http://readytorumbleunsigned.co.uk/r2r/news/nigel-clutterbuck-to-plays-us-out-at-heat-3"]http://readytorumbleunsigned.co.uk/r2r/new...s-out-at-heat-3[/url] Not to mention I'll be pulling some pretty crazy moves with Beta earlier in the night also [/quote] Did you read the reaction to Slap bass on here recently? Sounds like after London many on here are all slapped out!!! Kiddin'! Hope it's a great night!

Was it stored somewhere where it couldn't be knocked about? My guess is pre-amp valve on the way out - or knocked loose if that's possible? Though I am no amp expert, I've had it happen with my valve head.

I mentioned the Tcut method to JayDee & he said "tread with extreme caution. Tcut for that use is very powerful & it's easy to go too far too fast, especially if it's a sunburst finish". I've since found a kit made by Gibson for maintaining Nitro finishes which includes a bottle of polish for taking out scratches, & a finishing polish. I bought mine from GuitarGuitar; it also includes lemon oil for the board & a dinky little brush for cleaning between the saddles etc.

[quote name='Deep Thought' post='1158446' date='Mar 11 2011, 06:48 PM']Yeah I've seen Mike Mills of REM do a similar thing. Fine as long as the tech catches it![/quote] It's the reason Brian May no longer has his John Birch copy of RS1. It wouldn't stay in tune, so he took it off mid-gig & threw it to his guitar-tech in the wings ............ who wasn't where he usually was!

[quote name='ezbass' post='971878' date='Sep 29 2010, 04:08 PM']Yep that's pretty much "the" fix. For a proper pro job a correct sized piece of dowel should be wood glued in, allowed to dry and then redrilled, but who has the time (or the right piece of dowel) for that?[/quote] Wooden kebab barbecue sticks! Only done in once on my SG but it's totally solid. Otherwise I've done the three cocktail sticks trick which is equally good.

[quote name='bassbluestew' post='1152284' date='Mar 7 2011, 10:28 AM']Hey a HUGE plus 1 for Dennis. Buy cheap, buy twice.........Dennis may not be the cheapest, but neither is he expensive in my experience. He does a first class job and as has been said really takes a huge pride in what he does. and is one of the old school ( and I mean that as a big complement ) who will happily go the extra mile to fix your gear and you might not know about it for some time, if ever. [b]I didn't find him at all eccentric[/b]...........very enthusiastic, extremely professional, hugely talented at diagnosing and fixing faults. More power to your elbow Dennis !!! Don't hesitate in using him. Stewart[/quote] I'm mortified to think this might be directed at me? I've used the word "guru" about him many times, but that's entirely down to seeing him as a master of what he does, always having an answer to all amp issues. I readily agree with everything you've said about Dennis.