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Jimmy Fallon and The Who play Won't Get Fooled Again on toy instruments

I'm not sure whether anyone is interested, but I've just finished a guitar with a brushed nitrocellulose lacquer finish. I always swore that I'd never use nitro - too poisenous both for me and the planet. However, a friend asked me to make them a Tele using a beautiful piece of flamed spalted maple, and nitro was the only finish that worked. Polyurethane, oil and CA glue turned the test pieces into a dull splodgy brown mess, not exactly the look I was going for. Nitro though brought out all the beautiful colours and let the flame really sing. Here's the piece of wood before I started.... Although I do spray waterbased polyurethane, there's no way I can spray nitro so I thought I'd try brushing it on. The internet though had almost no information about whether it was possible to brush it on, how to do it, or what the results would look like. So, hopefully this thread will help you decide if you want to do it. It is definitely not an easy option, but.....let me get up some finished pics, and you could decide whether it was worth it. This is what I used: This is Rothko & Frost's standard gloss nitro that they sell neat, ie not in aerosol. This was a 250ml bottle and I used the whole thing plus a bit more on the body. I brushed it on with an artist's brush, a trick I stole from @Andyjr1515. You need to make sure that it's a brush for oil paints, with natural bristles, otherwise the solvents can melt them. I used a Daler Rowney Bristlewhite hog hair fan brush, size 4 (though a size 6 might have made life a bit easier). They are comically long so I cut mine to a more manageable length. Schedule was something like this: 1. Sand to 220 2. Grain fill with Aqua Coat 3. Ignore the fact that the grain fill was pretty poor and crack on with finishing (john, john, john, will you never learn?🙄) 4. Brush on R&K Nitro, thinned with 30% R&K cellulose thinners, probaly about 10 coats. 5. Curse myself repeatedly for failing to grain fill properly. I've made enough guitars to know that preparation is everything, and if you want a smooth finish grain fill is critical. Impatience though sometimes clouds my already pretty poor judgement 5. Wet sand with Wet/Dry paper (water with a drop of Murphy's oil soap) with 600 grit. 6. Another unknown number of coats. It felt like hundreds, but was probably another 5 or so. 7. Wet sand 1000 grit 8. 'wet' sand with Gerlitz Carnauba wax on a piece of Mirka Abralon 1000 grit. This left exactly the satin sheen I was after. I found the key was to brush the nitro on in one stroke, never go back over somewhere you've just painted. Because the nitro dissolves the layer before, I found the brush would start 'sticking' as it got caught in the previous layer. My approach was to do lots and lots of layers, knowing that I would have to go back and wet sand quite a lot of it off to get it completely flat. In reality, because my grain fill was....well, shite.....I had to do many many more layers than I otherwise would have had to have done. If I ever do this again, I'm hoping that 10 layers in total would be enough, assuming a flat surface to begin with. I lay the guitar flat on a 'lazy susan' turntable, did the top and the sides at the start of the day then turned it over and did the back and sides. Would I do it again? Ummm....yes, and no. Yes, if the wood was crying out for nitro, as this piece was. I'd be a bit reluctant to do it again on an entire guitar body though. Even though it was brushed rather than sprayed, the fumes were still pretty bad, and I wore a proper mask with organic filters at all times. On a guitar with a binding like this one, next time I'd probably brush the top with nitro, as above, but do the rest of the body with something else, tru oil probably. The binding would provide a natural break between the two finishes, so the two finishes wouldn't ever touch. And on a flat surface like a guitar top (rather than the fiddly curved inner horns) you could whizz through the process in no time. It's worth mentioning that the Rothko & Frost nitro specifically says it is not suitable for brushing, though I'm not quite sure why, as far as I could tell it went on perfectly nicely. The process also used much less nitro than you would get through if spraying (I think). With a proper grain fill I'm pretty sure I could do a whole body with one 250ml bottle. An aerosol contains about 150ml of nitro, so I used probably the equivalent of two aerosols worth. I've never finished a guitar with rattlecans, but I'm pretty sure it would be many more than that. So all in all I'm pleased with the result (but the next one is going to be Danish Oil, which I can do on the kitchen table😂😁). And some photos.....

Slapping the bass is a lot like like making love to a beautiful woman. There's a time and a place for it. Get it wrong and you'll never get a second chance. You've got to build the mood and, only when it's absolutely appropriate, do you make your move. You can't just whip it out any time you feel like it and whack it off everything in sight.

I love slap. Especially when it’s used sparingly, like a little pop here and there’s within a fingered line. Perhaps that’s the key - start throwing some slaps into normal bass lines to build up a better, smoother technique. Normally people rush it. Lay back with it and make it groove.

Slap has never really left jazz/funk/fusion electronica type styles, it has always been useful addition to have in your bag of tricks along with lots of other technically quite advanced styles of playing which i'm still enjoying learning at 50. As for its popularity in pop/chart music i dont really care and never did .

Maybe playable. Maybe not. You have no right to recourse if it isn't. I'm quite philosophical about the copies of my stuff floating around. I know my basses are better. I know they're copies of the old chinese versions of my basses, although the factory I used to use swears they are nothing to do with it. I can't stop it - so I don't get excited about it. I also know since we moved production our basses are SO much better than the ones we were getting out of China - even before they started knocking them out with cheaper parts etc. Also Aliexpress is just a marketplace. Like Ebay. They don't actually make anything. They just facilitate the sale.

I will perform with literally any instrument regardless of the monetary value. If you like it, it plays well, looks and feels right why change any of it? I often choose so called lesser basses for gigs over big name ones simply because I enjoy using them. At the end of the day whether playing for fun or a living music should always be a joy. The bronco gives you joy. I'd say that's a win.

I can't slap, but nor can I recreate the national flag of Bhutan using spaghetti, which probably has more practical application.

Would you slap a child? No? Then don't slap your bass

Hi all, Just got my new(ish) fretless from a very nice man in Italy. Not only better than I'd hoped it would be, but it seems to have found the right new home. BTW. Didn't buy it for the colour match. That was just a happy accident.

I believe that the famous 'guitar burning' by Jimi Hendrix was an unfortunate accident involving a lit cigarette while he was trying to remove a sticker from his strat. Unfortunately, history doesn't record what the offending sticker depicted.

So, initial impressions... My first instrument, so don't have anything to compare to, but the trbx174 feels nice and solid (without being overly heavy) and well made. The knobs all feel solid and I feel confident I've got a good 'un. Had to tune it as it wasn't close to being in tune... That's fine, I expected that. Lots of fret buzz, but I have mostly eliminated that by adjusting height of the action using allen key included (might get someone more professional to do a proper set up at some point though). Looking forward to getting it hooked up to an amp soon and getting more of a feel for the tone (and checking I don't have crackly pots etc). Had nice time noodling with it yesterday... No time today, as missus has had me working in the garden and now I'm gonna chill watching the FA cup and *cough* Eurovision 😂 Will start the proper learning on it soon!

I cannot understand why people who say they cant play the slap bass syle of bass playing.Then go on to discredit it surely its just another way of playing the bass ? It can be used in certain styles of music with great effect i have even seen it done on a pbass with flats and it sounded great

I love slap but done tastefully , when slap is done like this master it makes more sense as just another technique.. Melvin's use of the technique is just perfect. But lets face it, it depends on the song. Look at Chuck Rainey's part on Steely Dan's PEG. He thought a slap part would work on that certain part of the record. He was right. Then again I love MK. Its just how you apply it in the musical context. There is no way im going to slap over a Carpenter's record.

In the right voice, that sounds like the start of an action movie

The WB100 is in the house! The Polish-Japanese-Dutch triumvirate of tone is assembled. If anyone is mulling over it, I can heartily recommend this amp. It's relatively light, powerful and the EQ is really useable; I was a little skeptical about the Contour rather than the 4 band EQ I'm used to, but it really does the job. The Handbox video on Youtube demonstrates the range of sounds pretty well and is a good reference for experimentation. With the gain up it really distorts nicely; I have no need for additional pedals to achieve a solid rock tone. It's a measure of an amp when you can run straight to it with nothing in the chain and be gig ready. As Alan G Partridge would say: "lovely stuff!"

Me like! Here's a surprisingly restrained and groovy slap solo from him, even though it contains some machine gun stuff and a short bit of tooth playing - starts at 2'30ish

Would love to hear him on a normally tuned bass 😉

Update, having opened up the amp to get a number for the fan I found the negative wire completely chaffed through where the wires rest agents the circuit board. This was repaired with solder and heat shrink tubing, wires have been repositioned to avoid a repeat problem. Quick road test after rebuilding and all working well. I’ll see how it performs on the gig tomorrow but not expecting any problems You can just make out the black wire in the middle of the photo. RH 750 fan should run continuously as such a small powerful amp needs a lot of cooling!

As has been said its just practice to get timing nailed down ...I think slap is a lot harder than people think so they tend to give up but it is well worth persevering as it will help all aspects of your playing ..more or less everyone of the top players can slap even if they don't use it a lot of the time.. I would suggest going back to the originator of slap bass himself and learn Larry Graham ... You can hear his influence on Marcus in this filthy funk rock masterpiece from 1973

I would most respectfully disagree!

Yes. Slapping a bass is like playing the banjo. A gentleman knows how to, but doesn't.

You must have strong elements of taste in your DNA. Thank your parents, I reckon 😉

This is not aimed at BC members, but other advertising platforms. I have a Jazz for sale, and ive had. What nut width is it.? Im used to 38mm Jazz neck width. Me.... its 36mm.. Buyer... oh no that's 2mm too thin for my liking. Whats the weight.? Me.... It's 4.2kg.. Buyer.... Sorry thats 2 pounds over my preferred weight. The bass is £485. Buyer.... Is this a Skyline or a USA Lakland.? "Ive been after a Jazz for ages, love the look and sound". Me... Ok, do you want to come and play it?... Buyer. (2 days later) "Ive decided I dont like Jazz Basses" I can go on. Its staggering how many idiotic time wasters are out there.

Picked this up on eBay last week. Been in the hunt for a P/J or a P/MM. Having played jazz basses for the first 10+ years before moving to P, I knew I'd be comfortable with the jazz shape and neck. It's been kept in great condition with only a few tiny dents. Was a little over budget but I did get a nice tweed hard case and spare scratch plate and pickup so can't complain! Action was quite high so I lowered it a bit and loosened off the truss rod a little based up on some YouTube advice. Plays better now but it's going to be a definite investment to get a guitar tech or Luther to give it a proper once over. Can anyone recommend anyone in west Yorkshire? The model P pickup is nice but it's difficult to blend with the fender noiseless bridge pickup. I may have to have a look at what pick up I have in my squier CV P bass because I love that. In case the chap who sold it to me via basschat in 2012 is reading, can you remember?! Don't rate the preamp that much but I'm a passive guy anyways. I'll leave it in and just run passive. The battery ran out within the first hour of playing so the active/passive switch is now a more convienient kill switch. Some electronic experimentation required! Neck is really nice. The shape will take a little getting used to, it's a little deeper than my pbass but comfort will come in time. Has a lovely satin finish. Anyways ... boring stuff over, here are some photos!

I think so too. Jerry Preston's playing here would seem a perfect example of the blending you describe: I don't see anybody there complaining about the bass.

Yamaha BB300 and an H&H Bass Baby.

If it’s consensual slap bass between two or more people of an appropriate age...leave them be. I’m doing it. You can join in or f*ck off. 😂😉

I played my slap version of Living After Midnight at Friday's rehearsal. The guys didn't prefer it and the guitarist was almost rude... 😪

If white spirit doesn't work try this:

We should all buy a ticket, show up and ask him why he doesn't launch a range of Chinese Rics seeing as they'd be cheaper and better made. Then ask him to sign the Rickenfakers we've brought along. Just saying.

Well I’m going to try my Player Precision and if that goes ok I’ll look to get my US ones trimmed to the same dimensions.

Yep you have to admit that fellow BC'ers do offer their help whenever we need it. Makes you proud to be part of it. One big happy family.......well most of the time anyways. Dave

Ah but my board is pretty much at full capacity... ...so if I manage to identify a couple more of my existing pedals which the B1X-4 is doing a very good job of emulating and sell them on, then I'll have space on the board for a couple of new ones I've got my eye on! (And which I know that multifxs, even of Helix calibre, will have difficulty getting close to )

It is fact the measure of how much GAS pressure you have 😉.

My BAR* has dropped dramatically since I decided to play only six string bass - they are rarely seen out in the wild, so there is very little temptation! * BAR (Bass Acquisition Rate) is closely related to GAS, of course.

"it was for a book, honest."

Once again, a thread on basschat degenerates into an argument over who's got the best Rs

Is Pete just out of Quantanamo Bay? 😍

It’s funny how some see slap as a completely different way of playing. I mean it kind of is but I like my slapping to sound similar to when I dig in, and blend it in with normal playing. I think when people hear the word slap bass they think of super fast nail gun antics rather than something more subtle. Think about a John Entwistle’s typewriter technique. That’s basically slap.

Having rediscovered short scale basses, they are far too good to waste on beginners. Google 'tune bass harmonics'

I'd say that is a good place to start. Counselling can help you find your focus in life again. You've got to have people in your life to hear your ideas otherwise you are just living inside your own head. It can get gnarly in there sometimes.

Not at all. Everyone goes through crises at various times in their lives.

Oh balls, was gonna offer you a brew and a slap lesson for nowt. I did the heck out of it for years and recently have called upon it again. It’s due a resurgence...

Nooooo!!! I'm looking for a shortcut, not sensible advice!! Pah! 😂

Save the slap for the Youtube videos 😅 Seriously though, I've never had any really reason to use it yet according to Youtube, everything has to and indeed must be slapped. I'm with Ped on this. A wee slap or pop here and there can add something new to a song but continuous slap sounds like someone pushing a drum kit down a flight of stairs

Umm- both really. Separate power supplies will give you an isolated feed - but tend to be a bit clunky. A power brick can give you isolated supplies or it may not - some of the cheaper bricks are simply a daisy chain disguised in a nice looking box. It's usually a big marketing piece - if it says isolated outputs, you are ok, if it doesn't say anything about isolated outputs, then it's a daisy chain in a nice box.