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In with both feet.

mark555

Entry posted by mark555

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Today was our final practice before our first gig. Thankfully the gig is a friendly environment for us, which is good. We got next weeks gig when we had only been together two weeks and only had eight songs in the bag. So, we have done our best to get as many songs as we can together. The gig will be good for us because we can treat it as a shakedown gig and see what reaction we will get. Our bass players brother got us the gig and actually invited us, we didn't go looking for it. The audience will be perhaps 200 to 300 and will be in the city of Leeds, if we are not ready now then we will just have to do it right on the night. I am looking forward to it, my one fear is getting the sound right. We can be a little loud a rehearsal, I am keen to get things right for our audience who deserve the best we can give them.

 

This week I had my first attempt at making speaker leads for the PA. You have to understand that I am pretty ignorant about doing this kind of thing, having never done it before. We needed some decent length speaker cables for the PA, so I bought a 25 metre reel of twin core heavy duty pa cable, each core of copper being 2.25mm. I didn't realise the soldering such thick core to to a 5mm jack plug was going to be so difficult, and being unskilled, I just had to try until I got it right. The end result was successful, and I am quite proud of myself! I could enjoy doing something with electronics, maybe developing a new skill as a hobby. I have a friend who builds replica AC30 amps that are really excellent - I'd have one from him but he lives in Canada. Mind you, he is really skilled, he builds aneasthesia machines for a living.

 

So today we learned Sultans of Swing, and as it's all bar chords it doesn't half get your left forearm! But we did a great job of it thanks to Dave our other guitar player nailing the guitar parts and the vocals.

 

One thing we did discover though, is that because we have had such a short time to get over twenty numbers together, although we got them down to gigging standard when we learned them, we need to revisit them and replay them. However, I am confident that we will get them right on the night. There's enough talent to make a good night of it.

 

My main two playing guitars, my strat and my Tokai Les Paul both need some attention. The Stop bar is being pulled forward in the Tokai, so I will have to get it to a good tech. The Strat just has some wear and tear issues that are the result of 24 years of good use. It needs a new nut and the frets stoning, along with the thread inside the trem block. The Tokai needs seeing to as soon as I can it done. How ironic that they both need attention a week before our first gig, but isn't that often the case in these things?

 

Thanks for taking the time to read, it's much appreciated.

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rockabilly69

rockabilly69 1605

Posted

Mark I have different stuff breaking all the time, and I have important gigs mostly every week! It's just the nature of the business. I like this blog, keep it going!!! And good luck on the gig.

mark555

mark555 150

Posted

Thanks very much for reading and commenting, and also saying kind things about my blog. I am enjoying writing it, I hope that I can keep it interesting. I am a bit disheartened about the posts for the stop bar moving, but hopefully they can be sorted out soon enough. For some one like yourself who gigs at such a level, I can see that having guitars and amps that can easily replace ones that breaks down is important. Maybe I need to get another amp before I get another guitar.

rockabilly69

rockabilly69 1605

Posted

Mark, I agree if you've got two guitars a backup amp would be smarter. Yesterday the check engine light came on in my car on the way to the gig. It was just bad gas (too low octane), but I thought, oh no, not another expense:) If it ain't one thing, it's another!!!

 

BTW it's fairly easy to replace post studs, Just google it up and you'll see what I mean!

fxdx99

fxdx99 171

Posted

Nice blog, Mark. Enjoy reading of the journey. Do you plan to record? Have been waiting for years for a follow on to Live at Leeds...

mark555

mark555 150

Posted

Ron, Most of Live at Leeds was recorded in the City of Hull! I doubt if we will record because we are a covers band and have no original songs.

 

I don't think there is anything wrong with the post studs, I think that the guitar body has parhas not been as dry as it should have been when it was (probably)kiln dried, and what I am experiencing is some sort of shrinking on a minute scale which is enlarging the drilled holes the posts were fitted into.

 

Thanks for the encouragement about the blog, I enjoy writing it.

Horace

Horace 0

Posted

So ? How did the performance go ?

 

Horace

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