Maude

That seasoning time seems excessive, but as I said, I'm only going on what I've read. I was going to say that I'd imagine the wood would solidify in that amount of time by any resins crystallising, and is that for acoustic instruments, but @durhamboy has suggested the same. My workshop has a 4x5m covered outdoor workspace at the front. It's a metal roof which isn't insulated in the outdoor part. Lots of timber, pipes, all sorts gets strapped under the rafters for starage. After the winter I could strap the beech slab up there to speed up the seasoning. It gets toasty warm with any sun on the metal roof but still has good airflow. The wood has been stored in an open fronted barn for six months of summer already, a winter in my workshop, then a summer under the roof followed by another winter inside. Hopefully it might be usable after that two year period. For the final winter it could go in the spraybooth at work as it'll be far drier by then and less likely to split or warp. This is all great info, thanks everyone.

I'm certainly no expert and have only read a few articles but it seems the seasoning process kills the fungi naturally. Spalting only occurs under certain conditions. When occurring naturally, a wound in the tree lets the fungi invade. Spalting can be forced by human intervention but the correct moisture and temperatures need to be maintained to allow the fungi to thrive, they feed off the naturally occurring sugars in the sap. Unless the wood is kept damp the fungi will naturally die. Kiln drying kills it quicker but naturally seasoning will do the same.

I've not tried a Spector. I know it's shallow but I just don't like the look of them, they always look a bit Wonky. Although I'm sure there must be Spectors without the melted look. On the flip side however, I will know what a 1024 is like by the end of the week. 😁

The baulk of it will be used for my bathroom counter top (and possibly matching window sill) but there'll be at least enough left for one, maybe two, solid bass blanks. He only wanted £50 for this slab and I'm considering getting some more and cutting up and seasoning at the same time. It's cheap because it's just a tree that came down on his farm and he sliced it up and is selling it rather than burn it. He has around twenty or thirty slabs like this, some around 3.5 metres long, and lots of smaller pieces.

Just found this which is interesting... if you're a little sad like me 😁. What is Spalting? Many timbers can spalt but Beech is one of the most common. Spalting is a term used to describe the process by which certain fungi grow on dead or fallen trees and after colonizing the wood via travelling up the wood cells from the ends or from broken off branches, leave a most attractive pattern. The process takes 2 to 3 years to reach the ideal stage to cut & season the timber. The black lines are zone lines created by different species of fungi erecting barriers around their territory! There are primary colonizers who come first and establish territories and then have to defend them against secondary colonizers who are only able to colonize the wood because the primary colonizers have changed the ph of the wood & its structure. A microscopic army! If left unchecked eventually the whole tree is eaten & consumed, part of nature’s process of dealing with dead & fallen trees.

I'm looking to seeing what you find under the black.

Italian Leather Sofa - Cake

🙈

You're more likely to see a clown vomit sparkly green than see any sea foam that is a lovely mint green, rather than the sludgey pale brown it actually is.

I gave it a quick go over with a 40 grit belt sander and wiped a wet sponge over it, just to see what it looks like. It's quite a substantial slab, 225cm long, around 60cm wide and about 4-5cm thick. It's quite mad how different the wood is either side of the black spalting lines. To be honest I'm not sure why the wood changes in colour like this, the black spalting is essentially rot, but is the wood sectioned out like that in light and dark contrasting shades before the spalting, or is it a consequence of the spalting?

Thanks folks. I work in a bodyshop so could leave it in the bottom corner of the spray booth with a cotton sheet over it to keep overspray off but let it breath. Although the booth gets hot, it wouldn't get very hot in a lower corner due to the way the air flows, but I still think the constant hot, cold, hot, cold would do more damage than just putting it somewhere dry.

Blast Cult have long made very nice doublebasses. I love the look of that bass, and I'd be more than happy to declare it's 'Clown Vomit Green'.

Sees five string, left handed fretless... ... mind explodes. 😄

The last time I went to my local shop I said I wanted to try some flats on my Precision. The owner said, "Why, they'll sound like sh!t". That was years ago and I've not bothered going back. For shops like this, saying that the internet is killing them, is like saying the fly in your strychnine will make you ill.

Meant to edit but quoted myself. I keep doing this since the software update moved things around.

Wrong Side of the Tracks - Biohazard

Evening all, not build related yet, but possibly in the future. Today I bought a substantial slab of wood to make a bathroom counter top for a sink. I wanted something figured as most of the room is slate so wanted a feature piece as it'll be the only piece of wood in there. I found a farmer on Dartmoor selling slices of trees that had come down on his farm. He had some spalted Beech with some lovely figuring. I bought an oversized slab for what I need so that I can cut the area with the nicest pattern for the counter top, I then realised I'll probably have enough left for a bass body. My question is how long should it be seasoned for before attempting to make a body, and is a solid Beech body even suitable? It'll be my first first build and won't be happening for a while as I've got so many other things on. It was sliced up about six months ago and has been in an open fronted barn all summer but I'm guessing it'll need a few years, I don't know. What do we think? 🙂👍

South of Heaven - Slayer For me Slayer are the sound of Donnington, takes me straight back to so many drunken, hazy, good times.

Because it's a bloody catchy tune basically. It's non pretentious, ballsy punk pop rock, with an uplifting, call to arms, football terrace, chant-along chorus. It has a familiar feel, almost as if you've known it for ages, which can only help. I hate myself for comparing new songs to things I've heard before but it's only human nature, and I can hear original punk with hints of Rancid and Distillers punk revival thrown in, with a healthy nod to The Ruts' 'Staring at the Rude Boys', all great stuff. Whilst feeling familiar it also feels new and exciting, especially to a generation that hasn't experienced punk and its nineties revival, helping it appeal to a wide age span. Look at me, the music critic 😄. The bass is sounding especially great in the bit between the Clash quote and the lead break. And a link needs adding here because I clicked your screenshot again.

(You're So Square) Baby I Don't Care - Elvis

Die Laughing - Therapy?

What is happening?

I'm still kicking myself that I dithered over, and missed out on, the blue Precision one a few years ago. The only time I've seen Dave the grumpy Canadian YouTube guitar bloke truly happy was playing his red Aerodyne P.

"I am the god of hellfire, and I bring you... ooh, ow, ow, ouch, hot, hot, HOT...........B0LL0CKS!!