Jono Bolton

No jokes please! I've just been intonating my SG and even with the saddle as far back as it'll go, the G is still slightly sharp. All the other strings are near-enough dead on, is there anything I can do to get it in tune?

I had a Blues Jr that I picked up second hand for about £200, though that was about 8 years ago now. It was a great wee amp, lovely tones, even with the crap selection of guitars I had at the time. My only criticism is that there was no line out for an extension can, but that's a feature on the new models. I've been looking at getting a new Blues Jr but can't quite afford it, but I think I've found something altogether more interesting, watch this space!

Beautiful!

Holy smokes, that's awesome!

Cheers for the recommendations guys, I went for the Schallers in the end, there were a lot of good reviews online. I'll not get them til Christmas though, so I'll just have to deal with these crappy Grovers for the next month!

Can anyone recommend a decent set of 3x3 guitar tuning keys? I've got an Epiphone SG and the kidney bean Grovers on it are garbage. Ideally I'd like a set of 'tulip' style tuners, and I've been looking at Schaller 520 ST6Ks and the Kluson M33VNs, but I'd be happy to look at other types just as long as they keep my guitar in tune!

And after. As you can see, the red is a lot more muted. The eagle-eyed amongst you will notice that there's some scratches on there. The process involved attaching a green Scotchbrite scouring pad to the sander and very slowly and gently reducing the shine on it. Afterwards, I used car buffer to bring back some (but not all) of the shine, and get rid of the scratches. The process was quite lengthy, and I ran out of decent light to get some shots after the polishing was done.

On Monday, I did a little bit of work on my SG. Epiphones are notorious for having a thick clear coat, so after a lot of research, I decided to get out my hand sander and flatten the poly for a "worn" look. Below is the guitar before:

I normally don't like white basses, but that's a thing of beauty!

Mr Foxen, I'm afraid this one is Indonesian, but it's still a very nice guitar. For £60 I can't be too picky, and my plan was to remove almost everything from and swap it all out for better quality parts.

Excuse the crap iPhone photo, but it's a bit dark in the living room, I'll get more up when I get a chance. Anyway, I picked this up today off Gumtree for the princely sum of 60 notes. It's my first guitar in over 2 and a half years, which was a worn brown G400, that I believe I sold to another BC'er (was it you? Can I have it back please?) It's in pretty good nick, although it's clearly been dropped as there's a couple of wee dings, and the tone knobs were pretty loose (sorted now though), and the silver top to one of the knobs is missing along with the black switch tip. After I've been paid on Friday I'll get some new strings on it and clean it up, and I fancy a full SG scratchplate rather than the half sized one on it just now. Also, can anyone suggest what to do with the finish? It's a bit too glossy and thick for my liking, I fancy a worn finish like the one I had before.

[quote name='discreet' timestamp='1378731028' post='2203791'] You can't have sonic blue with a tort guard! It's against the law! I do like black gold and maple though, good call. [/quote] Thought someone would mention that! I'd swap out the gold guard for a black one if I ever do pick up one of the Classic 50s P Basses, I'm sorely tempted to flog the P and J I have at the moment to raise funds for one, I think I could safely say I'd be GAS-free for a long time if I did. Also, if a mod could send the link for this thread on to Santa, we'd all greatly appreciate it.

Something like this would be nice, sonic blue, rosewood board, tort scratchplate, blank headstock, close to perfect. I'm not massively GASsy though, I'm quite happy with my P Bass and my amp, although I'd prefer that the neck on the P Bass didn't have the plastic truss rod access that you have on Mexican Fenders, it just looks wrong and a bit cheap IMO. Also, I'm perpetually GASsing for one of these:

[quote name='discreet' timestamp='1378633666' post='2202537'] I'm afraid not - did you know it's actually illegal to use a tort guard with anything but aged olympic white or sunburst? It can result in a fine, community service, a month in prison and a sound lashing across the buttocks with a Minotaur strap. [size=4] [/size] [/quote] I have a tort guard on my P Bass, which is black with a rosewood board. f*** the system! The only thing that should be illegal is the use of cheap, printed tort. I've never understood why, even on a US Standard bass that costs close to a grand, Fender don't use decent celluloid for scratchplates.

[quote name='Ghost_Bass' timestamp='1378467657' post='2200717'] From Sandberg Configurator: I rest my case... [/quote] The last one there is the only one that catches my eye, the rest don't do anything for me. That, and WoT's lovely former Fender are the only examples that I could get on board with, everyone else, must try harder! Also, I realise that some of you might have basses in the colour combos I've previously derided, and it may even be your dream bass, so if I've offended anyone, I apologise! These are entirely my views, and as it's been pointed out, it's horses for courses. As long as you like it, it doesn't matter what I think!

[quote name='wateroftyne' timestamp='1378412009' post='2200038'] I can't deny that rosewood is classic, but maple is lovely with the TV logo. Damn, I want my old bass back SO MUCH.... [/quote] I thought you might chip in with that and I have to hand it to you, that's lovely!

[quote name='discreet' timestamp='1378408215' post='2199946'] Don't think maple works with sunburst and tort, but it can work with olympic white and tort.[/quote] And as a follow up, yuck! That's actually a double whammy, as I don't like white basses, but more so when it's white/tort/maple.

[quote name='discreet' timestamp='1378408215' post='2199946'] Don't think maple works with sunburst and tort, but it can work with olympic white and tort. Maple certainly works with sunburst and gold anodized. I think maple also works with fiesta red and tort. My favourite combinations are oly white and black with maple and oly white with mint and maple. Just to confuse the issue. [/quote] Lord no! Golly gosh yes!

I've devised a theory that tortoise shell scratchplates only work on basses with dark wood fingerboards, rosewood, ebony etc. I've seen a few basses with tortoise shell plates and maple fingerboards, and to my eyes it just looks wrong. I can't quite put my finger on it, so here's a couple of pictures to illustrate my point: Doesn't that look awesome? Classic and cool. And in direct comparison: Isn't it horrible? The tortoise shell scratchplate just doesn't go with the neck at all in my eyes. It's not the contrast of the dark scratchplate with the light colour of the wood, because if the scratchplate was black it would be one of my favourite colour combinations. Naturally people will disagree with me, it's just my opinion, but what I'm asking of you, fellow Basschatters, is to post up your pics to try and convince me that tortoiseshell & maple is actually alright, and not a crime against aesthetics. Go!

I really like the sunburst/maple one, although I'd prefer a BBOT bridge to a Badass, could replace it and flog the Badass to make back some of that £1067

[quote name='Donnyboy' timestamp='1378325987' post='2198766'] yes that's a good idea - i just kinda thought the white didn't show off the lovely wood to best effect- should've left it in the sun - think we've had some this year. I 've got a Farmer's/ Scottish Tan [/quote] Yep, we've had a few days of sun over on the west coast too! I've seen a few '51s with the plates off, if yours has a nice grain to it I'd take it off.

[quote name='discreet' timestamp='1378326814' post='2198780'] Can't really have anything but white on a 51-style burst... except tort? You don't see many 51-style tort guards. The Tele is really a perfect colour combo as it is... you could try mint (see my profile pic) or flat white would work with that body colour and maple. [/quote] Not tort for me, I think tort looks weird with maple, it only goes with rosewood/ebony fingerboard IMO, but then it's not my bass. Black might look good, but faded white or no plate would get my votes.

I think both are fine as they are. If you want something a bit less white for the '51 you could try staining it with tea, I've heard of people doing that before. Or you could leave it out in sunlight to go "off-white", the white scratchplate on my Jazz went very creamy, very quickly just by leaving it in my front room with the curtains open. Alternatively, you could just take the scratchplate off, always looks nice IMO.