I had to make a very small truss rod adjustment and noticed the plate that pushes against the stick body had cracked the finish down to the white ceramic material. I know there are only four of these but, does anyone have advice ? I don't want to loosen the adjustment.

I have advice, Call Emmett at SE. He's the best person you could go to for advice! Especially on a Stick so rare.

You might also want to contact Heiko at Basslab: he manufactured that particular instrument and should be able to tell you what the problem is and how to solve it (my guess is that it is just a chip in the finish: the material itself is extremely durable).
mail to: boss@basslab.de

Shot some pics over to Emmett and he talked me down ,just the finish cracked.
I worry too much.

Considering how unique your Stick is among "normal" Sticks (And all Stick as unique to start with) I'd suggest using Emmett as your 1st resource on most issues relating to the construction and upkeep of your Stick.

Anyway that's good news!

I'm not 100% sure, but I believe that those sticks are made of epoxy laminated fabric (carbon, kevlar, high grade fiberglass or an hybrid fabric of those materials) and the finish is a paint similar to those used in cars (maybe multi layered in order to get the metallic glossy finish). So those instruments should be basically indestructible unless you use some specific chemicals that attack the finish and then another chemical that dissolve the curated resin (acetone?). I think you can hit it pretty hard with a hammer without doing any structural damage (only the finish); not that I encouraging to do so
If I'm correct and they are epoxy laminated fabric, they should be even tougher than a graphite stick and your grand grand children will inherit it


Cheers, Daniel.

Emmet,

Why did you abandon the XBLs? Cost? The production process was too complex? I'm just curious...


Regards, Daniel.

When i tried one a long time ago. i personally didn't like the feel of the
glossy car paint type finish on my thumbs at all.
it was too "tacky" for me. not dry/smooth like the the other sticks
i would not get one w/ that kind of finish.

OTOH it was really lightweight which i liked.