Grangur

If you don't remove the neck, Nitromores can be relied on to remove some of the finish from the body. Before you do this, what are you trying to achieve? Your bass isn't an expensive one, but by removing the paint you're fairly sure to be removing half the value of the bass. So, what's the problem you're trying tp fix? If it's "sticky palm" on the neck, then this is easily fixed by breaking up the friction of the neck - rub the back of the neck with a soft, old Scotchbrite sponge. It will add small scratches and stop your palm sticking. You can then polish it with Beeswax to put the shine back on and it still won't stick. Don't EVER use Pledge of Mr Sheen - silicon "polishes" these make the bass impossible to re-finish at any later time.

Hi @NancyJohnson, Great minds... The bolt-on or neck through thing is a good point. Yet something worth also adding here, is don't be tempeted to shim the neck on a Warwick. The neck pocket of a Warwick is such a good fit, you can't shim the neck at 1 end only without causing certain damage to the pocket. Please don't do this. Warwicks have a great clarity of the note. It rings clear in a way that simply doesn't happen on many other basses. This is due to the tight fit of the pocket. If there's space to tilt the neck in the pocket, without denting the shape of the wood holding the neck, then the neck/pocket was never a good fit and the sound won't have the clarity.

You can do this any way you want. But be careful about what you do around the foot of the neck and the neck pocket. This bass, of course, has a bolt-on neck. so doing it is easy, but when you remove the paint/lacquer it will make the neck slimmer and the neck won't fit as snuggly in the pocket. To some folk, on some basses this will spoil the sound, as the notes get a more fuzzy, less clear/distinct sound. Maybe it doesn't matter on a Sub? It's just a possible issue to be aware of before you crack on with the Nitromores.

Hi Heimrich, I'd love to see the bass. It sounds interesting. It's obviously seen some action over the years. The issue of not being able to lower the G string to touch the frets is probably a key to this. I've not watched this video, but I've seen and set up a few Warwicks. Have you dropped the bridge right to the bottom, and dropped the saddle? If this won't let the string touch the frets, then, maybe your frets are seriously worn. Please take a credit card/Drivers license/ID card etc and take the edge of this and lay the edge along the neck across 3 frets. 11, 12 & 13 will do nicely, and see if the card rocks. Try this under each of the strings. or longside them. I suspect the card will rock. This indcates there's some fret wear. This happens with bell-brass frets. If I'm right, then the frets will need to be replaced. For this take it to a good tech who won't spoil the neck by cutting the frets through the sides of the neck. One of the nice features of a Warwick is the hidden fret-ends. I have seen some people cut through the sides - this makes the re-fret job easier, but spoils the bass IMHO. I hope this is helpful. Richard

Something we BCers are possibly failing to see here is, this woman whose name escapes me, moves in different circles to us. We've been considering Clapton's history of recorded work. She may, of course, be talking about his current style of playing in concert performances. After 50 odd years of playing, yes, maybe he is less innovative and exciting. But then what people book Clapton for is to see the old stuff.

😄 I've never measured output from a band.... as you've sussed.

I would like to be able to help. But alas we will have to wait...

My Antex soldering iron has been putting up with me for about 40 years now. Anyone want a used soldering iron? I'm thinking I should get an upgrade. I did buy some new tips for it a couple of years ago, but it'll do me well for a few more years yet.

Maybe he was "being Rock n Roll" and prematurely "Punk" by saying something knowingly controversial? Or just off his head and stupid? After all, he's a guitarist, not a politician.

Hmmph... go on bring jazz into it why don't you!?! Actually, just after posting I did think there's probably loads in the jazz genre. I almost revised my post but thought, "what the hell...." Not big on jazz myself, but you're right. Jeff Beck is doing good material.

Isn't this true for so many musicians? They have an era when they create some amazing material, then spend the rest of their lives giging til they drop playing the same old stuff? Look at any artist including the "Gods" of Rock or whatever genre. They all end up being tied to the post that was their youth. Very few carry on with plusatingly earth shattering genius into their dotage. In fact, can anyone name 1? (Genuinely would like to know them all)

Me too. I downloaded to find out which of 2 dust-extract machines was the most noisey. Answer: they're both too @%$£*xx noisey. So they're both going. Well it told me they're both about the same, which is good enough for me. I wouldn't want to stand in court and swear it's accurate, or use it to prove beyond all reasonable doubt that my band was pumping out less than 86db, but it's good enough for me.

I hope nothing I've said has come across as angry or unpleasent. Nothing has been meant that way. I have no bad feelings towards @ClassicVibes He simply has a different experiance of life to my own and is entitled to express his worries and concerns.

50 years ago words were used out of ignorance. In some areas and some areas of society almost everybody used those words. In our house they were never used, but as a 5yrs old kid we picked them up in the playground. When at home I was told off for such language; and quite rightly too. You ask if it was okay to dislike non white. No it's never been okay to show a dislike for anyone for irrational reasons. Those words were often not used out of any dislike or hate. People were called a "N" or similar because you'd learnt from others that was a label for them, the same as a flat piece of wood with 4 legs is called "a table". In this case it was never "right" or "okay". We were ignorant. It wasn't that we disliked anyone for their background of ethnicity, they were simply words. Probably fed into the dictionary of the society by people who did hate for unknown reasons. I look back at my time in school and really feel for the 2 or 3 black kids in the school. They were largely ignored and must have felt cold and isolated. They didn't get bulllied or anything, as far as I know. But it can't have been easy. They lived in a poor areas in a level of poverty. Looking about today, as a society, we have come a long way. Black people in the UK do have a better life than the one I recall. We still have a way to go to get to the point where we have true equality. In an equal world we wouldn't even be having this conversation and for me to refer to a friend as being "black" would mean no more than to say "he's wearing a green shirt". No, I'm not back peddaling. No, I'm not racist. My Mum was. No she didn't tollerate the words, but her attitude was one of superiority and self-righteousness that was always wrong. That's a more invisible form of predjudice. No laws will stop that. It will only stop through keeping on changing our society and teaching the way. As @Dad3353 says, we Brits are a cruel lot. In the past couple of centuries we raped and pilleged other countries and told ourselves we did them a favour by taking "civilisation" to them. We shoved our own children up chimneys and under machines in cotton mills where they would be injured or killed. We forced 5 yrs old kids to work in dangerous damp coal mines where they would manually work the air pump in the dark; because you don't need a light to do that job. What we have done to others and our own was bad. Most is bad because of the rich forcing our poor into bad situations. But to call this "civilisation" was a gross misuse of the word. @ClassicVibes, if you can get to 75 years old, or however old Clapton is, with no regrets in life then you've done nothing in life. When you get to 75 you too will have regrets. I hope they're small ones.

People are created out of the environment we live in. I don't know how old you are, but in the 50s and 60s I remember there were a few "casual slang" terms we used for referring to our dusky bretherin who were beginning to appear in the area. Many theories about their cleanliness and lifestyles were banded about. Move forward 50 and we all have been told the errors and we now know those names are wrong. Totally wrong, not even in jest are they excusable. Many of us who will have used the N word on occasions 50 years back are today's angry protestors on a BLM rally. So, in conclusion, Sir: you are wrong. 50 years is a long time for our environement and view to have changed.

IMHO there are elements of genius in Clapton's music. They're usually shown in some fantastic solos. Well, they move me anyway. The problem for me is I can listen to complete albums (more recent ones) and be disappointed in the over all, result. Yes the solos are great, but the song isn't all that. The best songs probably are the ones from the Cream era and the "Ocean Boulevard" album. All a bit like McCartney really - did some great songs in the past, but now we have the co-writer of Sgt Pepper and The White Album, is now writing "Silly Love Songs" and "The Frogs Chorus"!! Maybe they get complacent and don't really care, or maybe the passion has gone and it's now about the bank account maintenance.

If the neck needs £300 of work; which may well be the case. The body also needs some work if you're wanting it back up to good condition. This could mean stripping re-stain and re-lacqure, plus replacement of knobs... It's possible it's already met it's true value if you're thinking of the bass plus work not costing more than that to buy a good one. Then there's the question of, "do you really want a fretless to sell in this market, if you're looking to move it on?" I'd love it as a project, but I'm out.

Too right, this would be wrecked if the new owner thinks a good rub down with glasspaper and re-lacqure will do for that, unless they really know what they're doing. I've even had a couple of factory fretless basses, let down by a fingerboard that had hills and dips.

https://www.gear4music.com/Guitar-and-Bass/Aguilar-AG-5P-JHC-5-String-Hum-Canceling-P-J-Bass-Pickups-SET/12K0?msclkid=e73fb1eb03ee146d4065eed8c7624200&utm_source=bing&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=DSA | All Website&utm_term=gear4music&utm_content=DSA - All Website £259 as set for 5 string PJ set

Don't know about "reasonably priced", but Bill Lawrence pups are good and the P46 will handle 4-6 strings. https://www.wildepickups.com/products/p-46 https://www.wildepickups.com/products/j-45l I've not used the J pup, but I have a P46 and it's really cool. You could also ask Jess & www.JLGuitars.com if he can make a set for a 5er

Go the Tony Franklin route and put in a pup selector switch? You certainly won't ever want all 3 turned up. What sound do you want? Maybe stick with VVT with the Pup selector switching between the bridge pup and the mudbucker?

Many thanks for the great thread @Christine. I'm a wood turner, so my needs and approach is different in some respects. I use a grinder for my gouges and scrapers. What a would add, for anyone using a grinder, is don't ever use a grey wheel. They eat blades. Get the wheel changed to a white wheel. I have also been using an oil stone. But given what you say, I'll use my Japanese water stones more. I'll also get a diamond sharpener too for my hollowing tools. For stripping what I also use is an MDF wheel with chrome cleaning paste, it really smooths the blade nicely. Thanks again.

If you're going to process freshly cut wood to be useable what you need to do is dry it without getting so many splits that it will only be suitable for the fire. As a wood turner, what I do is keep the logs in 1m to 2m length, paint the ends in PVA glue and stack them in the dry. For a bass body or neck, you will be wanting boards of about 40mn thick. Yet you also need to a low for movement of wood, so I'd have the wood cut into 50mm or 60mm boards for drying. Then paint the ends again with PVA. For valuable timber, I'd paint the entire thing. Then stack the boards with an air-space. The people processing the boards would also take out the central core of the tree for you. This is the part that carries most sap and will cause most splitting if left in. When the boards are dry, in a couple of years, they will then need to be cut roughly to size for your body and go through the thicknesser, to reduce them to 40mm and make them evenly flat. Trim the sides square to the faces glue together, to make a good body blank and you're off on a normal bass build. Now looking at the logs you have: They look to me like a type of pine. Pine often has a serious amount of sticky sap that I wouldn't want for turning. It mad dry ok for a body. Yet with those diameter trunks you won't get much from them in boards. Tree surgeons generally take wood away as part of the service, but the wood is normally more of a problem to them than an asset. They will be only too pleased to give you wood. Their problem with this is the time spent with us, messing about with small amounts of wood, costs their time. What normally happens, in the USA, (don't know about UK on this) is wood gets sent to power energy plants and burnt for power generation as "green" energy. It also probably goes for chipboard and MDF. I hope some of this helps, even if it's not great news.

I've done this. It's something folk who're into woodturning recommend. It's OK. It's better than using a filler of the wrong colour. To be honest, my experiance of this is the glue takes the sanding dust and makes it darker. It also won't have any reproduction of the look of the grain. So, to be honest, given the beauty of the bass in question, I'd not do it in this case. Solution: get a pro in and check the household insurance.