NancyJohnson

Well, a few days in, big blister but grinding through the pain. Bought a sheet of adhesive luminous stars and have stuck these on, which has helped immensely. Much as I detest playing along with stuff, oddly I've found Paloma Faith to be quite satisfying. Got a reply from Sims LED; £300 for taking the job, £15 a dot, so we're looking at £600-ish. God knows how they'd do it to be honest. Maybe. Considering what I've haemorrhaged on gear this year, £600 is well within budget for 2022.

I'll just add another thing. Looking forward to a few stills and videos of these models being sported by guys who look like this and haven't done a gig in years. [Edit: I am wuvving the fwuffy bwunnie on the sofa. \m/ ]

Gotta say, given that Korg said (to me, via email) that they categorically had no plans for a Thunderbird-style bass (and as a plus, Gary and I have been pretty vocal on Facebook boards about these), I am a bit rankled that they're building Euro models for the US market. I suppose as a species we just crave for the unattainable and that drives the want for one. Being pragmatic, my money has gone elsewhere this year/generally and consequently I don't have the funds (or perhaps the desire, either) to chase one down. Sure they look nice, but right now, disappointingly, it's a nah from me.

Slowish! I'm just about to do a 2000 grit rub down. Bit disappointed with the lacquer, it's been well applied but a few spots have rubbed back to bare wood (in the scheme of things, not too bad as they're in spits where you'd expect the finish to thin in regular wear and tear.

Just to add to the purchase list, I put a John East preamp in the Hamer, so it's got EMG GZR pickups and the East.

*Should just say that, yes, while I've schlepped a £6k bass to a gig, it was a Lull. Would I pay £6k for a Jazz Bass? Umm, no.

Umm. Guilty.

Two days in, I have a blister. Lots of fun. Only downside so far is the bass could really use some side dots on the neck; the markers on the board aren't particularly visible as you're standing slightly behind the instrument and they pretty much disappear in low light. I'm thinking about putting a call into Simms LED to see whether they could install something.

It's a weird thing. I've played an upright twice before today; this is like going from a tricycle to a bicycle. It's kind of like familiar, but different. Despite how well I play regular basses (*subjective), I was quite shocked how bad I was on this when I first started playing it earlier. If the bass itself, can't fault it. Charging the power cell takes 60 seconds for 16 hours active (why aren't all active circuits like this?). In active mode it sounds gorgeous, thundersome. Right now I'm just sticking it through the Ged/Darkglass set up I use generally, there's no dirt. More later!

Bwahaha!

It's odd, I've rubbed it back to 1200 grit; the body is smooth but not super-shiny and I actually like it as it is now. Conflicted as to whether to keep going up the grits. I think I was too aggressive with the 800 grit. There is, again, a couple of spots on the edges where the lacquer has rubbed through when I've knocked it back, but I know I can fix these easily enough, so this is the plan...restain those spots, reapply the lacquer, be gentler with the wet and dry. No rush, enjoying the process.

Yes! I haven't opened anything yet though!

First rub down. 800 grit we and dry. I bit grr...I had small run and was a bit too aggressive I suppose, so I've got a small patch that's gone back to bare wood. I've reapplied the black stain and I'll start relacquering that area. derrière.

Day after tomorrow. 😀

It's had five coats of Crimson Lacquer. Just using a brush and allowing it to fully harden. I've not buffed it yet, consensus seems to be to get it to at least eight coats before breaking out the wet and dry. Irritatingly, there's a couple of areas where the body has little splits in the grain that seem to suck up the lacquer, so these areas have been over lacquered. Photo below...the lacquer goes on with a slight white finish that fades as it dries.

Next Wednesday. 😘

Second coat way better. More later.

After being laid low by the plague, felt well enough to spend an hour in the garage. Applied a first coat of the lacquer. Small amount of stain lifted, but all ok. It's weird stuff, slow moving, like treacle. Applied with a paper towel, which was an option and fine. Body just sucked it up; going to give it 20 minutes and apply a second coat with a brush, then leave it for a couple of days.

Six days...

2,869. This is insane.

We're over 2,700 plays now in under three weeks and have been put on some Spotify curated playlists. I know compared to The Beatles this is miniscule, but I just have no idea how this has happened.

T-Rex. I haven't listened to Tanx in a long time, so that's on now. Electric Warrior after that.

Tech21 kit. That is all.

I've decided on Crimson wipe on lacquer. It's going to be too cold to start spraying. I'll post photos.

As it's getting too cold to spray clear coat, I've gone with Crimson lacquer. Never used it before.