Donovan Banks

Following my last blog about amp placement I feel it necessary to speak more about stage preparation. 

I used to always have my amp standing on the floor when I played. I battled to get my sound right for ages.
What was happening was that the majority of the sound was hanging out on the floor, and what was coming to my ears was only certain frequencies, mainly higher tones.
So I got an amp stand and now I aim the amp at me, much like a monitor.

Being a musician is tough. Not only do we have to find money to buy great quality gear, we have to choose between a myriad of options, then we need to decide who to buy that from.
I paid a visit to Coastal Music in Durban to find out what makes my favourite local store tick.


Is it Stock?
Coastal music is fairly well stocked with everything you would need, guitars, keys, drums, recording gear, microphones, some wind instruments, strings, stands and most other stuff your average musician would need. They keep and can get all the big brands but seeing as it's not consignment stock, but a buy and re-sell operation keeping a R1million Steinway that one would probably buy once in a lifetime doesn't make much business sense. Dieter Bender, who runs the store, is part of a group that owns a few stores around SA, and imports music gear. He tells me that they will stock any instrument or brand that people ask for, provided enough people ask.

Is it Price?
Durban is a very price conscious city. I don't think anybody knows the reason for that and I'm sure the recession hasn't helped anybody. Generally in SA prices of gear is the same throughout. I have bought a very well priced Nylon String guitar from here before, and have also been shown a more pricey PRS that was in store. Dieter told me about a limited edition Takamine that was one of 80 made for the world that was sold for over R50,000, yet you can get a great set of strings for under R100. I'm not sure money matters too much as they seem to cater for everyone.

Is it Experience?
Dieter has been in the game for many years. He tells me that he was a production manager and got offered a job managing a music store, so he took it. Now he runs a very interesting ship, with all the staff being musicians with experience on the instruments. "The biggest challenge is getting people through the door," he tells me,"Everyone who comes in here does so for a reason and we want to make sure they leave having had a pleasant experience. Even if they don't buy something, they will tell a friend about how great it is to be in Coastal Music." As he tells me this I seem to click, and if you have been in the store you will too. How everyone is very approachable, they are all interested in you, even if you don't know what you are looking for.  I'll often pop in just to browse and Lee Loveridge or Ian Swart will show me the latest guitars or effect. We all know that when something bites you, you'll get it. I had a great opportunity to sit and test out the Roland GR20 and in the end I bought it from Coastal Music because they allowed me to experience it for quite a while, making quite a racket in the store.

Compared to the service you receive in other stores in Durban, Coastal Music is way ahead of the game. I remember once trying to look at a guitar in another store. A salesperson approached me, and before I could ask a question about the instrument, he reached behind me and turned the music up so I couldn't hear the guitar. I have never been back there again. I won't mention the name but it was such appalling service I do feel the need to tell all my mates about it.

Community Activity?
They do host in store workshops with the likes of Mike De Jager and Nibs van der Spuy. They have about 4 or 5 a year and invite the customers to attend. They also have a legendary sale once a year. People Wait in anticipation for this sale and even queue up outside the door before they open. I hope to get some video footage of the madness, there is no way I can describe it. The prices are so low and people go nuts for it.

I asked Dieter if he had any wisdom to give to musicians out there. "If you want to make your mark, you need to practice and apply yourself. Even someone who is tone deaf can play music by learning to read music."

Keep an eye on the Facebook group for info on the sale or ask a question, they are always glad to answer.

A friend asked me to restring a guitar for him. It is a fairly old, no brand, Japanese made Nylon string. At first glance it was a nice little instrument in dire need of new strings and some TLC.

There are a few items that I would like to touch on with this guitar that I found interesting. Let's look at it as a before and after exercise.

When I started removing the strings I noticed one of the tuning poles was cracked. I'm not sure how this could happen but it meant that I could not get a new string through the hole. I have all sorts of spares lying around so I could easily replace that part from bits and pieces lying around. It came out looking and feeling a whole lot better. There is a nasty crack on the head/neck that needs attention as well, but it is entirely fixable.