Norris

Isn't the neck of Brian May's Red Special held on with one bolt?

IIRC in the mid-80s the 70s Fenders were regarded as poop and nowhere near as good as the 60s guitars. But then has been mentioned, they were not the most fashionable guitars around then either. Everyone was after headless, pointy or super-strats. I went for an Aria SB-1000 myself

Or simply a fine brush to "drop fill" the flaws that need building up. (I used my wife's finest watercolour brush!) Then a decent going over with sandpaper and block to get it back to level. Rinse and repeat as required. As you are using nitrocellulouse it will sink a bit (possibly up to 30% from experience) as the solvent evaporates out

There's only a veneer's width between the two

Ooh. That looks nicer than my Stewmac Dremel router base - which doesn't really plunge or have a decent depth stop. I usually have to set it to depth then tighten everything up to stop it vibrating loose. At least it's more stable than the official Dremel offering though

I think we need a photo of your "workshop"

I forgot to mention - ideally you'd hang the bass up for 24 hours between painting sessions, of 2 or 3 coats with at least 30 minutes between each. If you're hanging it up in your car all credit to you, but make sure you ventilate it well before climbing in. The solvent can take weeks to vent off and will be quite strong even after several hours. I can just picture you driving home with a full mask on (?!!!)

Nitrocellulouse rattle cans. Check out Manchester Guitar Tech. Cheaper and good quality stuff I've heard a few comments about you doing woodwork in the car park (We work at the same large company)

Any clear coat will tend to darken the wood - except for the finish that @Andyjr1515 used on the Psilos build recently (which contains a hint of white pigment to keep it light) Make sure the first coat is flattened nicely, then another coat of sealer and gentle sand back should do. You'll then want to apply 2 or 3 coats of lacquer with only gentle sanding between coats. You don't want to burn through to the sealer. Then you can lay on more coats to finish as required. What lacquer are you using? Nitrocellulouse is a bit more forgiving because the coats merge together. Poly will form distinct layers so you need to be a bit more careful with the sanding to avoid burning through - you'll see witness lines if you do. Oil finishes such as tru-oil can also be polished up to a high gloss if you have the patience to do so. Most types of lacquer need careful attention to the health and safety warnings - it's not nice stuff to be breathing in!

Tell that to Jeff Ament (Pearl Jam). They wouldn't sound the same without it

In preparation you can try playing your fretted bass with your eyes closed and aim to get your fingers just behind the fret wire. That's the main difference (apart from slides) - you don't have that margin of error of the full fret width. Where are you based? There may be a fellow member willing to loan you one to try out. I'm in Leicester and you're quite welcome to borrow my Mexican Jazz for a bit

Why are bass players usually the sensible/practical/organiser one in the band?

What do you consider to be essential spares to carry with you? (Or is that a bit mundane?)

I totally agree. For the first pilot I think it should stay focussed. My DB suggestion was really throwing an idea into the pot for the future if it takes off - which from reactions so far seems very positive. (That's why I posted in this thread rather than the questions thread)

It would be nice to have a bit of a double bass discussion from the uprights amongst us. I'm sure there's a few db-curious on BC

Do you really need any other bass than one Precision?

Oh my goodness that's appalling. Evil woman

What IS the best bass for metal? I thought I'd better get that one out of the way!

Any piece of wood must jump for joy when you buy it Jez, 'cos it knows you're going to make it look stunning!

Have you looked through the pinned recommended luthiers thread? There are also a few enthusiasts that post in the Builds forum. Where are you based? There may be someone local that is willing to help, although not many will have a thicknesser. 10mm is quite a bit to plane by hand

That's not restricted to the US

One song we play is Radar Love. It nearly always gets people dancing. In the middle section we play as quiet as possible (ppp for you theorists) and get gradually louder (crescendo) over about 32 bars. The audience doesn't ever stop dancing. The dynamics add tension and the audience can feel it building until we hit the chorus with full force. It's a bit like the long drum roll in dance music before the "release" when the theme comes back in. That's not the only song where we use dynamics. There are several where we'll drop the volume for a section of guitar solo before coming back up to normal volume. It adds interest and certainly doesn't stop people dancing. On most songs it sounds better to back off slightly for the vocals, get louder for the solo or chorus, and then drop back down for the verse. It doesn't have to be quite so dramatic as my earlier example, just switching between mf and f (medium-loud and loud). The audience may not notice what we are doing but do know it sounds good. Playing too loud is a different subject entirely.

Nice idea by @Akio Dāku there. You could feature the composition competition. Maybe talk about the photo competition too - great for audio

Micromesh pads go up to 12000 grit iirc

You can always sand the heavier dyed areas a tad and give it another wipe of dye. You'll always have some variation though as that's the nature of dye on natural wood. Otherwise you may as well have painted it instead