EddieG

I can only go on the results I've personally had having tried both colours, and settled on the blue. I've also got both colours in Luminlay "black pipe" material, and the blue definitely lasts longer. Nowhere near scientific, but here's a couple of quick phone photos, taken directly after charging with an UV torch, and then 5 minutes later. The blue definitely holds its intensity for longer

I've got Luminlay markers in a couple of my basses but I decided I wanted to try them a bit bigger and maybe with material a little more intense, so I cast some of my own. I first made a silicone mould of some 5mm rods. I then got some blue strontium aluminate powder (blue glows the longest), mixed it with some epoxy resin, a little drop of Elmer's Clear Glue to ensure that the powder didn't immediately sink, and then moulded them. Getting the resin into the mould can be a little tricky, especially making sure you don't have voids anywhere, but I managed to figure it out. I then installed some in a J&D 5-string I bought as a short term backup and experimentation ground (amazing bass for the money, btw!), and they turned out really well. As I said, blue glows the longest and I've timed these to still be emitting light visible to the eye around 4hrs later! In daylight they have the appearance of a slight cream colour.

Johnny, from the photographs I've seen from his Instagram (which he uploaded around 4 days ago) the body and neck are now all glued up now and shaped. Letts blocked me a couple of years ago on Instagram, back when I was calling him out and he's never undone that, but my daughter got and sent me the photos. As everyone can see on the YouTube comments, he's already publicly admitted this instrument is supposed to be for me. He even liked the comment on his video where I asked for an update! Which makes the lack of communication quite odd, I would say. All these developments make for a very odd situation indeed, but one that I feel still warrants my updating of this post for prospective customers; Letts is trying to portray publicly that he's rectifying matters, but that only works if he actually DOES. So the attitude of a particular contributor to this thread (who, on looking back at his responses has never really been on my side from the start) is extremely puzzling indeed. But such is life.

👍🏻 To be fair, I don't think you've had a decent thing to say to me at any point, so that's probably for the best.

It certainly does, doesn't it? 😉 Would he be daft enough to do it again, in full view of the worldwide bass and luthier communities? Stay tuned....

A screenshot of the comments from the above YouTube video. Just in case it happens to get deleted.😉

Totally understandable given his past actions. But the design is exactly as I specified (he previously shared a video of him sketching that to my specs), and he'd already sent me photos of the wood stock he received to build it (which I actually should have uploaded when he sent them!🤦🏻‍♂️). I totally understand everyone's scepticism, because until it's actually completed and in my possession, I share that scepticism. I guess time will tell, but I'll be sure to keep this thread updated. It either ends positively for him, or even worse than it did before. The ball's in his court.

Hey all, apologies for the lack of updates. Health and family issues take precedence before bass matters, even for me!🤣🤣 So, Jon Letts has started my bass. He wanted to (and did) leave the glued up neck blank to settle before he did any work to it. But he uploaded a video to YouTube a few weeks ago, showing him doing the neck carve and shaping. He confirmed it is the bass in the comments. I've emailed Jon today (Sunday 17th November) to request some pictures as I believe the body wings and neck are now glued together and it resembles a bass, and when those arrive I will post them here. Cheers all.👍🏻

I twisted for ages on snapping that up myself, but I really don't need a 4-string. But a Rivoli-style would be a good one to noodle about on.

100% sure, so keep hold of your money till then.😉 And yes, it is based off of the orange prototype that was doing the rounds (and was recently sold on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/812157104198329/).

I'm not sure what I've done to you in order to warrant personal jibes, but thanks for your comment.👍🏻

There's no risk of any psychological or financial harm, I can assure you of that much. I think when this is all done and dusted, it will make sense.😉

I've got it on extremely good authority that Harley Benton are bringing out a Rivoli-style semi-hollow short scale later in the year. I'll definitely be snapping one of those up, even though I don't need it!🤣

Thanks to everyone who's contributed to this so far.😉 I'm really quite surprised to see a few people suggesting that I deserve what's happened etc. Everyone's entitled to their opinion, I suppose. In response to that, I would point out that my initial intent was only to clearly make public what had gone on between Jon Letts and I to that point. It was Letts who, following my posts asked me for the chance to rectify matters between us, and it was an opportunity to illustrate almost in real time whether he had turned a corner or was still conducting himself and his business in exactly the same way. Because no matter how this ends, the ball is in his court how he comes out of this looking; better, or much worse. And particularly since he was reinventing himself on YouTube and other social media, I felt it would be appropriate for potential customers to be aware of what kind of luthier he is now, and not just back then. I wish I'd had that kind of info available to me when I first contacted him.

To be fair, I did say when Letts offered a resolution that I would post the developments; I feel that it benefits the bass community to know whether a luthier (who has previously taken others for money and been guilty of extremely dubious business practices, but who is still currently trading to unsuspecting buyers) has actually turned a corner or is still conducting himself in the exact same manner. If that doesn't have any value to you, that's fair enough, I get it. You could just scroll on though. Thanks for your input all the same.

So, further to my post of the other day, there was an email from Jon Letts on Monday. Seems peculiar to me that he wouldn't want to finish it quickly and have things done and dusted, and I emailed as much in reply. Btw chaps, a large motivation for making this public is to draw attention to Jon Letts in particular as a luthier and supposed "business owner", but also to encourage this kind of behaviour to be called out publicly and hopefully eradicated. So if anybody has any other corners of the internet they fancy sharing this to, you'd be doing me a big favour.😉 Stay tuned for more updates!

Perhaps there are "worse things that can happen", but when you're someone who has two disabled children, and really can't afford to hand £1.5k to a thief, I can't really think of much worse than a man who knows all that and would accept the money, and then refuse to provide the instrument. You may see things differently though.👍🏻

👍🏻😉👍🏻

Cheers for that.👍

Hey all! Been a bit busy with family stuffs, but a quick update for you. In the last episode, we were at the stage of Letts glueing up the centre blank and leaving it to settle. So I emailed him late last month to see where we were at with progress. So, promising; Letts has stated he's glued it up at least. Anyway, I left it a fortnight, then emailed again for an update. This time, I got no response. Getting a bit of deja vu here.... As I said, been busy with family stuff etc. But I noticed on Facebook he'd been recently posting about builds, and he's still active on Reverb, so given that it had been a fortnight and no response from him despite assurances otherwise, I decided to leave a comment on his most recent Facebook post, which he responded to. But at of 3pm today, I'd had no response from Letts. So I sent him another email. So as of today, that's where we're at; Letts is avoiding responding to me (most likely he hasn't done anything) and I'm having to chase him again with messages. So what does everybody reckon; has Letts glued up the neck as promised, or is he taking the piss again? Will he actually burn me for the second time, in PUBLIC this time, and almost certainly irreparably wreck his business reputation? Surely not!! Stay tuned for more Happy Days!😂 (Btw chaps, you'd be doing me and the bass community at large a big favour by sharing this out or raising awareness if you can. Jon Letts had a chance here to make amends and rebuild trust in his business, as it stands it seems he doesn't want to do that.)

I'm going to wait and unveil it when it's done.😉 But like you, I hope this is Jon "screwing the nut" as we say in Scotland, and improving the way he conducts his business as well as his luthiery.

So folks, as promised some updates. As I previously mentioned, Jon had agreed to make the bass I wanted to my specs. After a bit of back and forward and faffing around it was clarified that this needs to be completed within a reasonable timescale, so all of the details were sorted, and the wood has arrived. It's going to be a neck-through singlecut 5-string, 33" scale, ash wings with a maple neck and rosewood fretboard. Jon is glueing the neck blank up over the next couple of days, and it's early days but I hope this is the start of regular updates I can make on this project.

Hey folks. Just to keep everyone in the loop, Jon Letts emailed this morning and agreed to accept and adhere to a proposal for a bass. Not a demand for a Stradivarius or anything over what I'm owed, but not a cheap option to get him off the hook either. Now, I know that a lot of folk will be hanging their heads and saying "he's f**kin' mad" , and the Stockholm Syndrome comment did make me laugh!🤣 All I can say out in the open just now is even though it may not look like it, there's a definite method to this madness, having weighed all the factors both past and present and knowing exactly how this could have ended up. And when this finally has ended, I will break things down in detail on these boards. I've no doubt most of you will agree with this action once it is all done and dusted. Just stick with me and trust me here, guys. No matter what happens, it's going to be worth it.😉 And thanks to you all for the support, between here and TB, it really has lifted my state of mind very much. It's easy to get caught in a loop of expecting the bad and being surprised at the good.

Binky, you could well be right on that, I know you've certainly got enough solid experience to base your reply on.👍 As per his request I've emailed him this evening with a proposal for an instrument that would bring matters to a close. The proposed costs come in under the outstanding amount and isn't demanding an Alembic or Ritter level of luthiery, but it would fulfil the needs I have for an instrument now, and is in my opinion extremely reasonable. I can list a cost breakdown later if needs be and I'll retain the email just in case, but the ball is now in his court, and it's down to whether he wants to follow exactly the specs I require, or doesn't.

Just to quickly update, Jon Letts asked me to contact him via email with a view to resolving the issue, which I've done. I'll keep everyone updated as to how this develops, and if it is resolved. I just hope that Jon learns something from this unfortunate experience, and moves forward.