Mr. Foxen

Do the valves have retainers? Easy damage is them coming out and smashing, so if something is holding them in, its OK, otherwise pull them and pack them inside. Loops of rope round the box make handling easier, and thus dropping harder.

Enough speaker there to be ok for bass, in oldschool terms, won't handle much power, doesn't need much power. Work ok for guitar too because drivers are probably guitar drivers for most purposes.

Its superior to paint. But the cab covering stuff is beyond paint. Tolex is not easy to maintain or repair, strip it off and start again is the only way, once you get beyond superficial digs and rips, that can't happen on hard coating. Carpet is all round terrible, too uneven a surface to show damage is its main upside.

Nut makes a difference when fretting because the tensile wave still travels past your finger, and is damped, reflected or passes through the nut depending on frequency, and the nut properties effect where those different frequencies are. Plus the harder nut retains its shape better, so a correctly shaped nut will remain correctly shaped. You can demonstrate the importance of the string below the fretting point to tone but fretting a not and playing it, and still fretting it and cutting the string below the fretting point, then comparing tone, the difference is certainly audible.

[quote name='EBS_freak' timestamp='1376664084' post='2177652'] I've never seen a bass with carpet on? [/quote]

[quote name='stingrayPete1977' timestamp='1376658187' post='2177495'] Are most new basses shot with nitro? [/quote] No, they've moved on to poly, but people still demand the inferior old way of doing it. Kind of like wanting tolex or carpet instead of hard coatings.

Cars used to be painted with nitrocellulose. Situation would be comparable if most cars still were.

Radiussing a DB fingerboard is fairly intense. Think that is a bass guitar type radius though, relatively easy. Don't need a scarf joint with a headstock like that, the slot provides the break angle without the weak point. Laminating the neck is fairly necessary to avoiding having to select woods pretty intensely.

Yeah, awesome amps should be up front as they are the stars of the show. You can go look at scruffy blokes anywhere.

[quote name='chris_b' timestamp='1376558554' post='2175838'] [size=3]Clearly the handles work fine and no owners have reported failures of any kind with the handles so what we are discussing is a difference of opinion about a purely cosmetic issue. [/size] [/quote] That is definitely not the case, there was a massive thread about a handle failure by a well known BCer, the issue was dealt with, but it also wasn't the only handle failure.

How are people transporting their Barefaceds? Think that might make a difference. Lugging it on the tube or on foot is gonna be a lt more handle wear that van touring in a flightcase. Mine is usually in the back of a car, but its just been on a beardies in a van tour and they've beat the crap out of it. Mostly helpers not knowing its a light thing and expecting heavy when they get hold of it. I think a soft cover would have kept it safer without losing the lightness advantage.

I've not found a residue with purple meths.

I have been curious about them, and waiting for a broken one to come in for repair or come up on ebay. This hasn't happened. Which says something.

Finally got all the wood out so can recast it: [URL=http://s17.photobucket.com/user/Incarante/media/DSCF1613_zps635eb709.jpg.html][IMG]http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b69/Incarante/DSCF1613_zps635eb709.jpg[/IMG][/URL]

Bugera is their higher end stuff.

Plain swapping power valves sort of works, but the bias won't be set right, which compromises sound or valve life.

What's with the 'I wouldn't expect this from a Chinese bass'? Course you wouldn't, when did you ever see a Chinese bass with major finish flaws? I've turned over dozens of sub £100 basses and not found issues close to that level, its always the US made stuff with the massive finish issues.

[quote name='neepheid' timestamp='1376334694' post='2172402'] I made one suggestion which would certainly improve things from my point of view [/quote] If you have a preference, that is catered for by countless numbers of other instrument makers, why demand someone who occupies a different and far smaller niche accommodate you?

[quote name='apa' timestamp='1376330864' post='2172285'] Thats got nothing to do with style. A badly chiseled Giant Pretzl isnt 'style' [/quote] they don't all look like that one. But in spite of having a very wide variety of shapes, they remain very recogniseable. That is a style.

[quote name='spaners' timestamp='1376331343' post='2172301'] [u]dose it sound any different with the mullards in there ? [/u] [/quote] It will do if it isn't bias right for the other set. Or if any of them are clapped out.

Chances are you'd new speakers for it to work too.

[quote name='apa' timestamp='1376329759' post='2172254'] No style, [/quote] You couldn't pick the Wishbass out of a lineup?

He put his business up for sale a while back, you could put your money where your mouth is and take over, do it your way. While you are at it you could get higher end woods, and better finishing, and hardware. Then you can have fun competing with every other luthier in the world.

[quote name='neepheid' timestamp='1376128636' post='2169947'] I presumed that $50 would cover the extra 30 minutes or so that this individual piece of extra care and attention would take. [/quote] Not a great assumption. Individual custom work interrupting batched jobs costs quite a lot more.

Can you bias it to suit the other valves? Can you test the mullards?