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And to the final finish stage of the body - the tru-oil slurry and buff. "But hang on" I hear you say, "it's stained! You can't slurry and buff stained wood. It'll sand all the stain off!!" Well, that was the conventional wisdom - pretty much up to me looking at my LP Junior that I'd stained in cherry red and thought...hmmm...what if...?? And yes you can. But - like all these things - there are a couple of tips and tricks. And so where we had got to was this - actually bad photo because, other than at the edges, you can't really see the gloss starting to build up. But this, with the wood having now drunk in the oil into the grain, each extra coat of tru-oil starts bringing out a gloss finish: To illustrate, based on the number of coats I put on @Jus Lukin 's headless, just one more coat would give me this level of gloss: But that is not the finish that @Fishman is after. He is after more the 'old bass well looked after' look. And for that look, slurry and buff on stained wood is ideal The method is simple: - proceed in the usual way with the initial coats of Tru-oil. Just wiped or brushed on, allowing it to dry in between coats. First few will be sucked into the end grain. - at the point that each extra coat is starting to leave a gloss finish and the end grain is no longer absorbing more oil, stop. - leave it for 2-3 days minimum to harden - I then slurry and buff a coat. But - unlike normal where the slurry is tru-oil mixed with the wood dust - this time the slurry is the new tru-oil mixed with the hardened tru-oil surface sandings. I use either 1500+ wet and dry or 2500+ Micro-mesh - The original hardened tru-oil coat is actually quite tough and it is not likely, with the above grit, that you will break through into the stained wood (if you do, you will lose the stain in that patch) but - the slurrying is a relatively light one and care is taken at any corners and edges where there is a greater danger of breakthrough. - while it is still wet (ie pretty much immediately) I then wipe off the oil with some kitchen roll and then, with fresh roll or a lint free cloth, buff it dry. And that is it! I went from @Fishman 's slightly gloss body above to this in less than 20 minutes: And it's silky smooth to the touch. If feels like a well-cared for 40 year-old bass... ...which is where we came in

Craftmanship: 10/10 Personal taste: 0/10. Would rather play a Harley Benton than this.

So this utterly outstanding build by a certain Mr Cringean is just awaiting final set up before being sent over to me, and dear god it looks simply stunning! I mean the word stunning doesn't do it justice, a new word needs to be invented to describe such glory.. 'Stuntacious', 'Fanmazeic', 'Awestastaciousic'? I know (as most of us do) how well an ACG plays, so I'm confident this will be such a good bass to hold and play - but to look at... it's on another level. It's almost pornographic! In the words of Zoolander, it's just so ridiculously, ridiculously good looking.

Check out Infectious Grooves to see how insanely talented he is 😎

If he hasn’t already sent it, maybe there’s still time to get him to cover up all that crazy bling with a nice Olympic White refin. And add a splendid tort guard. Stick some flats on it? Ooh now you’re talking! Hello, honky tonks! Phwoar, etc

Progress of my "covid safe restricted space rehearsal room" bass..ha

https://www.guitarworld.com/news/les-claypool-faces-off-with-metallicas-robert-trujillo-in-a-bass-slapping-duel-in-new-short-film-precious-metals#:~:text=Les Claypool has unveiled a,bass battle for the ages.

The first lockdown is what prompted me to actually buy a bass instead of just thinking I might want to try it some day. So 100% improvement, I've gone from not having a bass to owning a few, paying for resources to learn from and practicing almost daily.

This will be a massive problem in the next few months as almost everything is coming from outside the U.K. So better be patient and wait until the stocks in the U.K. are high enough to avoid this situation. Don't blame those who are trying to sell these goods, you are shooting the wrong persons.

He could’ve made a trom bone

My timing is definitely better, wot with playing to EZ Drummer for nearly a year; Real Drummer would invariably have speeded up by at least 10bpm per song, as well ad throwing in various bars of 5, 6 and even 7/4 due to many over enthusiastic under executed fill-ins. We called him The Dentist.

And one of the bigger of the remaining jobs done. Frets are fully levelled, recrowned, polished, fretboard is polished up and fretboard edges are rounded off: I've done the fretboard the same way I do for my own guitars that have ebony boards - it's a variation of the tru-oil slurry and buff. With ebony, you can just polish it up but I find that slurry and buff with fine emery (400 grit) gives a glassy smooth feel and stops the grot getting into the teeny grain lines of the wood with hard playing. I got a pleasingly rapid reply from Martin at SimS and he says that shielding the pickup chambers themselves is OK. An interesting reminder - the Superquad cases are carbon fibre and fully conductive and so are themselves fully earthed. So next job will be drilling the holes for the controls and shielding all of the chambers. But while the Tru-oil and rubber gloves are out, I'll just do the slurry and buff on @Fishman 's Wal save. Oh - and that will give me time to check with @Jus Lukin what kind of jackplate he prefers

This is my last J bass for a while before I start on something a bit different! Keep an eye out for 6 string headless Krome bass! here we have alder, maple veneer and camphor burl top. It goes a lovely almost walnut color when wetted. I’m think gold hardware, ebony fingerboard and maybe gold Evo frets.

It took a man with a real back bone to do that....

For me, I can't stand 'standard', the world is a glorious place with so much on offer, why have the same as everyone else? To those that prefer a Fender, cool, no problem! For me - I like something with more identity. This bass creates a conversation that highlights our differences, none of which are wrong, they are just the subtlies that make us an individual. I must say I enjoy the fact this bass causes a conflict of opinion, a Fender would rarely if ever really do that. An instrument can be art in itself, not just a tool to make art, and this is what I love about it. You can say you don't personally like it, and that is absolutely fine, but you can't deny that it can be considered a piece of art in itself!

Speaking partly as a huge fan of Michael Moorcock (which is where the name came from), I thought they had one of the best band names ever.

Cheers. There is enough non bass specific chat on here, as well as friends, to keep me around. Once a bass player always a bass player, so never say never. I handed bass duties over to a mate and the band sounds so much better for this adjustment. We sorely lacked keys so its the right move. I must admit i was getting in to a rut with bass and no gigs/rehearsals during the first lockdown. All this gear and no reason to use most of it. I was getting very twitchy and itching to rehearse again, as i love making music. The keyboard changed all that as i could/can now write again and having to learn all the band songs on keys, as well as re learn how to play etc, has kept me busy and very much sane. I’d say i have more enthusiasm for playing music now than i have had over the past few years.

Personal taste is of course so utterly subjective - for me this is a simply stunning instrument, and an example of real master craftsmanship. It's definitely a polarising body shape and buckeye is quite often a marmite top wood so definitely not for everyone! The world would be a bland place if we all liked the same things!

Personal taste is an interesting thing. I would imagine the build quality to be good but there's not a single element of that that I like. Enjoy your bass and it's great that you're so excited by its imminent arrival.

Why does it have blue led lights mounted in the body, mr show-off? Are you liberace’s love-child?

He'll get a lot of ribbing for that , that's for sure .

https://www.musicradar.com/amp/news/the-beginners-guide-to-dub

This. Also if the communication is done by email there is a written record of everything that was said just in case something goes wrong with the transaction. For my business any important phone calls are followed up with a summary of what was discussed in an email so that can be no confusion at a later date.

He was the best thing about Metallica.

And as you say that I need to this I'm with you all the way To the future 😂😂😂

I'm really surprised by the number of posts here saying that the instrument is a means to an end etc and not there just for the sheer love of playing it. In order to try and stay sane I'll click on a 70's/80's pop compilation, wander over to the back window stare at the garden and let it rip.....after an hour I probably feel as satisfied and knackered as a jogger does after a blast across the park and back. Feels good and weirdly cause work has dried up a bit my stamina seems better, I really feel like I'm playing the best I ever have.

These things are personal. I never ring, can't stand using the phone, I prefer to get things down on email. if they don't want people to email they shouldn't give out an email address. Obviously its up to them how they do business.

The little jam at the end was good. Nice to see Trujillo displaying his funky side. I was a big Suicidal Tendencies fan in the early 90s, I think in many ways he had better opportunities to show off all sides of his playing with them than he has had or is likely to ever get with Metallica.

Im in training for Elon's Mars mission.

I can't see it, where is it?

This is me too. I’ve always (perhaps wrongly) viewed playing bass as being part of a group, and without other people readily on hand I just don’t get the same feeling about jamming along with tracks and on line stuff. I think for me it’s always been about playing live, and currently without the whole touring / band environment it all just feels a bit uninspiring. I have been having the odd hour or two with my Yamaha session cake headphone amp ( about the only good thing I’ve gained from lockdown) , and will need to ramp this up once I find out when our gigs look like recommencing. Bit worried my fingers will need some getting used to bass strings again too.

OK, I give in. What does NWOBHM stand for? North West Old Blokes Happy Memories?

I don't know why. IME it is impossible to make any meaningful decisions about an amp without using it in a band situation (practice or even better a gig). Even if you are able to play it at gig/rehearsal volumes in the shop it still won't give you any indication of what it will sound like with the other instruments in the mix.

You all need to look at the bigger picture, at least our fish are now happy British fish......🐟

I wonder he trade for old squier affinity. it has got a SD qtr pounder it so its worth at least £200 LOL

I was a regular at The Bandwagon in Kingsbury which played a pretty big part in the NWOBHM movement with Neal Kay’s Heavy Metal Soundhouse. Saw Iron Maiden there among many others. When that place closed, Neal moved to The Headstone Hotel at Headstone Lane, and it was at a rock night there that I met Mrs Tut. I too used to love Girl. We went to see them at The Marquee one night where they were supported by some upstarts from Aylesbury called Marillion. The proggers stole the night, bolstered mainly by Fish’s charisma and banter and the coach load of local fans they bought with them - I went on to follow them through their early days and you can briefly see the wife and I on the video EP filmed at Hammy Odeon. I also loved Angelwitch. After watching them at The Marquee one night I briefly appeared in a news article that was filmed there about the perils of head banging and brain damage. The clip later reappeared, to my delight, on Dance Britannia - I’ll see if i can dig it out!! Happy Daze!

Love the wood and burl (and resin). Not a shape I get on with, but I am sure it is going to be fantastic, and also very thoughtful of him to put a spare string on the side in case one breaks!

I forget his name, but he is a vegan edit: Phil collen bag lady is exactly the word for joe Elliot, he looks like my gran, without makeup

I've got one of these basses and I really like it except for the awful checker-plate scratchplate. I replaced that with a normal one from a four string that I modified at the neck and pickup to make fit neatly. Chuffed with how it looks now. Metal flake blue sounds lovely!

His favourite tune?

The opposite for me. Motivation at an all time low, not practicing as much as I should, definitely a negative impact here.

You can but ask him! Drop him a message, I'm sure he'd be able to let you know.

Totally right, each time I see some horrid basses, meaning almost all those old school thingies, I'm just feeling 🤢🤮 , but just don't make any comment. The opposite is, hélas, absolutely not true. A bit sad.

Bass Direct are great I’ve bought a number of things from them and often pop a speculative email to Mark/team about a possible purchase. We have to remember that small independent Bass specialists are very few and far between and they simply don’t have the resources of a chain of general music shops like PMT/Andertons etc. I’d say if you don’t get a response via email give them a call and chase it up. As a bass community I feel we need to support Bass Specialist retailers.

SNAP!

It's possibly a bit late but I am considering taking up Karate which according to Wiki is what Collen does. My six pack is more of a Party Seven.

They are darker yes. They are quite flexible strings with a good mix of thump and defenition. That's how I experience them.