I’m not even sure that the Tele is the best option.

I’d consider looking for a second hand instrument, and as a pointer, if you want a ti single speed 29’er, (to keep up the stw analogy) for budget money, then I’d do a search for Gordon Smith Guitars on ebay. A basic GS1 with its very bdget hardware, but built in England by one man who cares about these things, rather than a production line of Chinese with a target to reach, is likely to be a better “instrument”, and will not lose you any money.

9 Posts and not a single threat of “Marzocchi’s finest”?

What is STW coming to?

I once got a toaster, from my mum. It deemed a bit odd, as I still lived at home, and er, we already had a toaster in the kitchen.

I think thats not a semi acoustic, but a semi-solid.

Ie your still not going to get much volume out of it accoustically, as its only the “wings” that have sound chambers, the central core of the guitar is a plank to which the neck is (hopefully, for a pseudo Gibson glued) in, and then the front and back are attached.

It’s going to be ok, but I really would, like a bike, go to a proper shop, be prepared to pay a proper shop price to reflect the advice you get, and try a few out to see what they all feell like, properly set up, and how they sound and feel.

If you were posting on a musicians site, you’r doing the STW equivilent of “I’ve seen this appollo in halfords, it looks really good because its gor full suspension and 21 gears – what do you think?”

The advise would be, buy cheap, buy twice, and try one out, dont just buy on the interweb.

I have an analogue multi layer organic non power dependent kindle style reader. In fairness, it doesnt have 3g, but it was only £1 in Oxfam.

Ok, the perfect way,is to steam them.

For years, I found boiling to perfection, without them waterlogging and breaking up, or remaing hard, was a bit of a black art, esp on an electriv hob.

Since I discovered peeling, then steaming, til soft inside, I get perfect patotoes every time.

Generally Maris Pipers, and a little butter, cream and black pepper. And then I use a potato masher to crush them, but then use an old fashioned fork to actually whip to a spun flume of carbohydrate goodness after a good crushing, to get the air in and make it light and fluffy.

It’s very pretty.

And the basic rule is every penny spent on “finish” wasn’t spent on wood, electrics or time to build up to precision in the factory.

Think of the level of guitar your thinking of as being “apollo” level. Yuo might lose less, and find it easier, spending at least Carerra, if not Trek/Marin/Orange HT level.

A nice instrument, is like a bike in so many ways. Pride of ownership, functionality and ease of use, ect ect.

I would look for late 80’s to mid 9-‘s Japanese Fender Tele, as you were after a Tele originally, and the Jap ones were well built but cheaper. I got myself a Mexican Strat recently, and it does feel really DFS compared to my Gibson SG I already had.

See, that’s why their nation is doing a lot better than ours right now, cos if they do a job, they do it properly, whereas Brits are lazy half-arsed slackers who can’t be bothered putting in much effort.

Or they just get forced labour from invaded countries and work them to death in Camps?

Jon, you will find that usually the insurer willrefer your details on to a panel of solicitors, if you have legal expense insurance on your motor policy already. Most of the solicitors who sign up people on no win no fee arrangements, sell those people £500 insurance policies, deferred to the end of the claim, to cover for the possibility of not recovering their fees. Although they willonly do so in ooh, 1 in 500 cases. Anjd to add insult to injury, they all get a legally approved 12.5% uplift on fees anyway on every road accident to cover for the ones they lose. No win no fee in car accidents is one big con.

And claiming compensation after an accident is one big con too. The reason they are so desperate to speak to you, is that essentially,the solicitors don’t care if you were not injured. They will send you to their “pet” medical expert, who WILL find you were injured, everytime. The abi reckons 60% of whiplash claims are exaggerated or downright fraudulent, but GPS are up in arms at the accusation that they are dishonest, despite basically finding “everyone” injured.

The doctors are crooks. The solicitors are largely crooks, and the closer you get to the Birkenhead/Liverpool area, the more crooked they are. Oh, and the judges at the courts are as “blind” to fraud, and will always accept the dogiest claimants word, and they are presently awarding huge awards.

Basically, after an accident – its £3k of free money just for a little white lie, supported by all the leeches for their slice of the cash pie, with virtually no risk. Its basically having a lottery win, is a minor RTA these days. Just takes a couple of months to cash in the ticket.

And YOUR ALL PAYING FOR IT!

I had one in the early 90’s. Unlike many other classics, I would say get hte latest one you can afford, I think the last ones were 1100’s. My one was a 998, which kept burning out exhaust valves, had no seatbelts, nor syncromesh on 1 and 2nd, was originally on crossply tyres, semaphoe indicators and a bit too slow.

Mind you, leave the lights on like I used to do a couple of times, and being able to swing a starting handle to get it going is a wondorous thing… The thing about a minor is that you can upgrade the brakes, gearbox, engine, and at least get it equipped for modern traffic conditions without too much expense.

They are fine to drive, fun, but not quick. My advice would be to drive it like you imagine it should be driven, ie sedately, and then its fine. RWD but as soon as you get “sporting” you get axle tramp, and the back won’t skid round, but the rear end starts to judder and skip around. No doubt you can do somehting abot that, but then your really driving outside the envelope of what the car was designed to do. But yes, rowing it along, no its 4 speed box, with that wonderful whine as you change up and down, in a captain of the ship seating position, knowing its a solid lump around you,its great.

Although if I wanted a small,cheap, tax exempt easy to work on car, that does handle, albeit in a slowish (in standard trim)fashion, I’d go for an MG Midget. Think engine similar toa mini 1275, but with a much nicer gearchange as the engine is longditundinal, and rwd on a short chassis, so it will oversteer in a controlled predictible fun fashion, can be upgraded with brakes, suspension, engine mods,and you sit so low that your really “in communication” with the car and the road. And if you need to take a bike, well, the bootlid will probably take a chrome rack for a bike.

Except very bad wet weather, My Midget was always a hoot to drive.

For a HT – Cycle Surgery have Orange Pure7’s for £850 down from £1k.

Now, I loved my clockwork and latter P7’s, and I suspect that the Pure 7 will also be upto their usual standard.

did for me when I was 21 and found my girlfriend who I was living was shaggging the landlord….

For heavens sake why not.

Just do it. They hold value well,you won’t catch a cold on resale…

Its a car. It will get you from A to B. It has Rover/Nissan mechanicals and a non rusting body with minimal electrics inside togo wrong.

If you *need* an estate occasionally, hire one. If you can aford an elise, you canafford a days hire once in a blue moon.

And then you’ll find a room in a house, occupied by 6 a$seholes,and will dream of living on your own, where you can come and go as you please, without the noise of dry humping coming through the walls, or black sabbath at 3:00 am, or weird drop doap dealing in mates of the people you have come to loathe……

I don’t think at 6 days you’ve really given it a good shot, have you? Or do you envisage NEVER buying a property? Can’t you go out or dont you have any mates who might actually want to escape round yours for a sess on the xbox to get away from the missus/others?

I’s say MTFUor own the land lady with bombers after weeing inher shoes,as standard STW advice.

I live on my own. Its bliss. Other people piss me off for spells longer than an evening…

Pro kid?

Pro Dog?

Sorry, don’t send me an invite to your opening night please. The best pubs have neither of these…… although adequate pseudo-restaurants will sometimes cater to these “pub spoilers”. I mean, I dont go and swill whiteligtening in playgrounds, so why should the little sods be indulged in places I go?

And as for dogs – the best pubs have a “no dogs” rule. Its not the dogs, the the owners who spoil it. The dogs just dont know any different.

Perhaps if the British didn’t have the weakest necks in Europe, with the second highest compensation payouts behind Ireland, and didn’t all insist on going to accident management companies at the slightest sniff of “not my fault”, your premiums would be 50% less…..

As an ex estate agentI used to find they can be impossible to sell on again. Often the site owner had “deals” with local agents and your restricted to who you can sellthrough, and that the agent can effectively “veto” your buyers as well.

I’d steer clear myself. I’d rather rent a poky studio flat, after all, its only 4 walls, and if you get out enough…

Trying to centre and get effective, my Dia Compe 890’s on my vintage BMX’s.

I was standing there, hands trembling, my wife due home from work any time now… I reached for my youngest daughter’s top – it came off with little resistance.

Her training bra was my next hurdle. Hands still trembling, I gently unclipped it and unable to control my hands I watched it as it fell to the floor.

Her short little skirt was next, I reached out and slid it off. As I ran my hands slowly over her My Little Pony panties I could feel they were already really, really damp…

Anyway, I’d better finish getting the rest of the washing in – it’s raining and my Parkinsons isn’t making it any easier.

To be honest, Its all in the presentation.

I have heard on a rare occasion. GSTQ, sound utterly fantastic, but it does need to be played, actually a little slower appears usual, and the low/high dynamic needs enhancing. If the anthem starts quietly, say sung as a single choral line, and then builds up from there as the orchestra builds, then it’s great. Don’t forget, it is an anthum, and designed to be sung along to, so I don’t think brass band/military band treatment is particularly kind to the tune, it’s too loud and one note all the way through. A proper conductor, at the right pace, can get a ripple of tension running through the piece, which “explodes” towards the end, turning it into a great tune.

There are however, a large number of people who have never managed to hear a really good rendtion, with some remarkably predictible and frankly tiresomely unoriginal thoughts worthy of any 5th former. I don’t get why someone whouldn’t sing their own, but then moves on to endorse another anthem. Thats being contrary just for the sake of it. Have a principle and stick to it, or don’t.

It also has to be said, all those harping on about “former glories”, are falling into that cliche about GSTQ being some sort of rallying cry for the right wing, or getting all hissy about the history of the nation. Industrialisation happened here first, and to a certain extend, so did parliamentary democracy, and this little nation was a “game changer”. Rather like a child taking its first steps, there were some things that with hindsight were not that great, but the fact is that the queen is largely irrelevant, and that if we can be bothered we can vote out the man with the real power at the top, are principles paid for in blood thoughout the centrries. That people have a freedom to follow whatever religion, again, places us 100’s of years ahead of many states today. We might revile dodgy dave for his cancelling of the bin collection, but Iam free to type this without state police swooping this afternoon on me, and have unfettered access to the internet. Think how many *dont* have that, before you get all upset about singing the anthem. You can rightly still be proud to sing it, without being right wing, left wing or whatever. Jyst remember all the good things, without dwelling too hard on the *mistakes* we, like every nation made along the way in its development.

The next time you hear it, think, despite UK plc appearing a bit tired and run down, and that we have essentially stepped back in the last 100 years from “greaest nation status”, think how many people round the world would much rather it was *their* anthem, for the freedoms it brings.

Aha, lots of advice from people who know nothing….

If its an interim, then its not in full final, and may be cashed without a worry. It is stimply ahelping hand whilst the fill vslue of your claim is quantified.

Many solicitors ask for interims, (the clue is on the word, for all those screaming “dont cash it”).

I would simply pen a brief note back to the solicitors, thanking them for the interim payment and that it is accepted as such and not in full and final settlement.

Another Orange sanfran user. Its very good for £100.

One moment the jar’s in your hand, and the next its tarra-gon….

£500 ins’t actually a lot of cash for a halfway decent stylus these days.

due to the number of decks being sold, parts like these go up anually by a lot more than inflation. I have Linn lp12, its over 2 decades old now, but I paid £700 second hand for it. A new one would be a couple of thousand. The cartidge/stylus I had on it I can’t get anymore (A Linn k9 if anyones got a new boxed one under the bed). To get anything like it now is £300 minimum, yet I recall when they were being cranked out for £59.

They are delicate and she is a silly tart for smashing it up, but it was an accident. I can’t believe that the stylus can’t be replaced, no need for a whole new cartidge? Or are AT33’s built so they can’t be repaired?

Mastiles. Last “non fault ” accident I was in, I was hit in the rear whilst driving an old mini, hard enough to total loss the Fire Engine I was pushed into. Its actually hard to get genuine “whiplash” where the neck really is forced into proper hyper flexion and extension, unless you are not at fault and some duffer selected from a claimant friendly firm of solicitors gets to examine them, who “always” find the claimant genuine, as at £300 a report, at 8 per day minimum its lucrative not to. Sokme experts will see 8 an hour, at those rates. You start writing reports casting doubt and solicitors wont pick you again as you cost them money. Whiplash isn’t about truth, its about a freebee, as was apparent from the op’s insistance that “it wasnt their fault”, which in a real enquiry has no relevance.

And everyones premiums on this forum increase due to the OP or people like him. That and hire cars double everyone elses financial pain at renewal time.

The phrase “not my fault btw” say it all. it has NO relevance to a genuine enquiry for information.

Your just trying to convince yourself, a presumably young fit male involved in a low speed collision, and therefore going against all generally accepted prgnostic factors, that you really were hurt and should seek compensation.

Don;t bring us into your tawdry little con. Sure you’ve been to see a solicitor already, before a doctor, and been assured that “you have a claim”.

Hope you enjoy the new full sus yeti/orange5/whatever is the flavour of the month, paid for out of our premiums.

Funny how being thrown off bikes doesn’t hurt though isn’t it.

Of course, I might be a little harsh in this assessment.

And those kind of bikes are the new “bankmanagers rocket” having decided that Harleys are old hat – they all want to be Ewan McGregor.

I find as a regular biker, that its the adventure riders that dont nod, and want to pass you faster than its sometimes apparently safe to do so…

I live in Redhill, I’ll fill you in properly a bit later…

Or just boycott the crazy medieval delusional ceremony, pointing out there is no god, and the reason they’re there is a dogmatic belief they simply inherited from their parents without using any of the higher critical functions of the brain. Also point out that lightening and thunder isn’t the gods being angry, and that aids isn’t a “gay plague”. Mention in passing its 2011, and we should all have moved on a bit more over the last 1200 years.

Tell them that christianity is the same load of bunkum, wrapped up in a “my crazy belief in a spooky old man in the sky who uses us like his personal trainset is better than yours” cover.

Tell them you dont need crazy books about a guy called Yahweah who wants us to murder our chidren, and that the Jews are wrong as well.

Tell them you dont need books ranging 1200-2000 years old writen and badly translated several times inaccurately from dead languages to know how to be a good neighbour or how to live a good life.

Then leave. For a beer.

If your in Croydon, try “El Sombrero”.

The food may possibly be mediocre, the restaurant a parody of everyhting awful about mexican food, from the happy hour margaritas and sombreros on the wall, but its where they filmed an edition of “peep show”, and you can pretend your meeting “Johnson” for a meeting, whilst trying not to pretend ytou work there……

For that reason alone, its cooler than Planet Hollywood ever could aspire to being.

Hugo Boss designed the Germans SS Uniforms, and his links to the Nazi PArty made him rich…

All I can say from buying bikes on ebay, is that “local pickup only” hammers the prices down……. I picked up a BMX that would usually go for £200+ for £40 because of the awkward location.

If your selling kids items, its likely that the kind of people who will buy this may not be in a position to collect.

People simply won’t bid. Why sell on a national/global site like ebay, if you are rejecting any buyer over 20 miles away?

If they want to pay for a courier, who will pick up at your convenience, why deny yourself ££££?

Sutton is considered fairly ghastly.

Its a small suburban town centre in a built up area that attracts all the violent drinks who can’t be bothered to get to Croydon for a proper fight.

Sutton Library is famous for featuring in the best seller “Boring Postcards”. Its about on par with PReston Bus Depot and Heston Services in that regard.

I do get my motorbike serviced in Sutton, but most of the people I know in Sutton choose to drink elsewhere. Banstead would be nicer.

Peugeot 306 ?

Dont mention cash til right at the death.

You’ll get a far better figure if he thinks he can sell you finance. Thats all he’s interested in. You take a loan out, and the car is thrown in for free as a sweetner these days. You offering cashm or someone offering to buy on a dealer loan, on the last car in the showroom, he’ll sell to the other punter every time. Or to you for £500 MORE!

I’ve seen a recipe, but you might like to add chillies, to make it a little otter than usual.

Fornells, location of the King of Spain’s favourite restautant!

Oh, and if you end up in the decidedly 60’s 70’s timeshare town of Cala N Porter, which is where the Brits tend to end up (actually, to be fair the bay/beach is a nice ptcturesque cove) please do have lunch at El Pulpo, and post up a pic. It’s nothing special, save everyone Iknow who ever went to Menorca, has ended up there, and so it’s just something “that should be done!”.

http://www.ukcider.co.uk/wiki/index.php/How_to_make_cider

I would ignore the rubbish about 2 strokes.

To be honest, if you take to it as a form of transport, in 6 months you’ll be gagging to do your test, and upgrade to a proper bike.

Old 2 strokes are totally rubbish once you’ve grown past impressing pre pubesensts outside the chip shop on a friday night, and need reliability and economy. They are usually suggested by 40 somethings who are recalling things through a haze of nostalgia.

Yes they are a bit quicker, but thats like having the best brass band on the Titanic. Its totally in an a to be comaprison of bikes, totally out of context that if bike a is 10% quicker than bike b, that both a and be are still 50% slower than everyhting else on the road and should be graduated through immediately. Going 2 stroke, for say an Aprillia 125rs (anything else is so old you need to have a dry warm garage and lots of tools) that ooh, 65mph out of a bike, or ooh, nearly 69 mph out of a bike is the kind of comparison.

An aprillia 125 will resemble a rusty mechanno set years before a nasty but venerable Honda cg125, and the latter is easier to sell on when you pass the real test, as you probably will.