three

Without wanting to derail the thread, Tinytone have a wide selection of materials including three (I think) versions of celluloid nitrate tort - essentially different base hues from red through to brown. It's at the better end of the contemporary celluloid IMO and has a depth and richness that many lack - probably not quite as detailed and rich as some '60s tort but not bad. I had a couple of control plates made - you can see one here - the depth of the plate implied that the surface was a little proud. Tinytone suggested a bevel as this would reveal the upper white ply and this provides a nice border - not that it's really visible here.

I agree, however, there’s a short ‘production’ video on the Tinytone site (I found it yesterday whilst looking for the link, see below) and it sort of explains the costs involved in creating a hand-made, custom plate. Quite a lot of steps and a fair bit of kit involved. It opened my eyes a bit - the plates I had made were relatively small but non-standard. https://tinytone.co.uk/custom-scratchplates/

I think mine worked out at a reasonable price as I had two control covers and the scratchplate made from the same sheet

If there's no luck with a BC member, it might be worth a look at Tiny Tone in Manchester (a part of Jack's Repair Services). The site is here: https://tinytone.co.uk/custom-scratchplates/ They did some work for me - a replacement celluloid tort scratchplate - for a Wilcock (and some other bits and pieces) and the quality was excellent. Prices are reasonable too.

I realised I’d strayed back on-topic!

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Beautiful bass and images! Love the colour on this: UV and UA have always been my favourite Spector finishes and Nightshade appears to be a gorgeous variation of the former. I’m really impressed with some of the new directions in which Korg is taking the brand (innovation without corrupting essence and values)

Some really good suggestions above - I’m quite a fan of DR Pure Blues and D’addario EXLs. However, the silkiest rounds (by far) I’ve found are Thomastik Jazz Rounds (JR344 and 324). Extremely compliant too (light round core). The tone is very soft - somewhere between nickel rounds and flats in my view. A bit of an acquired taste. Very expensive but beautifully made - one can see where the money went on these.

Eberhard Weber on 'Morning Fog' - Kate Bush's 'Hounds of Love' album. I don't play much fretless (laziness) but tend to prefer a fretless tone. http://www.fretlessbass.com/music-morning-fog-eberhard-weber-kate-bush-hounds-of-love/

Just bought a lovely bass from Mart in a really easy and friendly deal - great to meet-up too. Mart did everything that he could to facilitate an easy handover and drove a considerable distance to meet me. The bass is lovely and in fabulous condition in every respect. An absolute star, thanks Mart.

I do exactly what you do Freddie and it works really well for me. My amp (an Agi DB750) has both a 'return' and a 'preamp in' - I use that latter but it's the same kind of thing. I really like the power amp of the 750 but I'm not a massive lover of valve front-ends/preamps. So, it's either a Hellborg or Mesa solid state pre straight into the Agi's power section. If I want to use effects (which is rare), I can use the send and return of the Hellborg. Lovely and still a fairly simple set up.

I've had a few signature basses over the years but all entirely coincidentally and purchased as they were fantastic instruments in their own right. The sig designation neither turns me on or off, if it's a great instrument that fits my needs, then I'm happy with whatever it might say somewhere on the bass or the accompanying documentation. I have a couple at the moment, a Stanley Clarke and a Wilcock Mullarkey: both outstanding shorties and neither with any kind of identifying logo (not that it would really bother me). Neither with any kind of price premium either as far as I know, though both were bought used. I might hesitate to buy a price-hiked sig bass that was no different/better than its 'standard' counterpart.