AusBonsai

Picked this up today from a friend, assume it is some kind of Elm, Chinese or Japanese I'm thinking?

Hi there,
Pretty hard to tell much from those shots, got anything clearer??
That'll make it a bit easier.

Pretty hard to get a good look at any parts of this tree but from what I can make out it looks like a Chinese elm - possibly the variety called 'seiju' which has smaller leaves but very straight growth habit unless you prune lots.

Hey Sorry, I just have an old iphone for a camera, Yes it has very small leaves, I had a google of Seiju Elm and that must be it, many pics of exactly the same looking tree from roots to bark.
This tree has been neglected a bit as the owner is a very busy person. It has very long branches, So you suggest cutting all those long branches short towards the trunk?
Thanks for everybody's help.

If it is a Chinese elm you can cut almost anywhere and it will grow new buds from the branch below and from all around the cut. Seiju is no different.

You could prune it now but all trees bud far better when they are healthy and well fed. May be better to feed it up for the rest of the summer then rootprune well in late winter and cut back all the long branches at the same time. It will look a bit bald for a few months but should respond with masses of new shoots. Then, as they grow, you need to keep trimming (pinching) regularly to get some nice movement and to make it ramify even better.
It has a nice trunk so should not be too hard to make a really good bonsai from this.

even old iphone cameras should be able to focus if you point it properly

Thanks for the info Shibui, also the bottom of the trunk looks like a lot of the bark surrounding it is coming off, kind of crusty and brittle like. This is not root rot is it? excuse the Naivity but I have never had an Elm before and this is not a small young one from the Shopping Centre Store, it's fairly large and Mature from what I can see.

Seiju develops corky bark. The corky bark can be rubbed off if you handle the trunk too hard. It is also prone to coming off if it stays too wet but don't worry - this rarely affects the tree. Just the outer, dead, corky bark comes off leaving the inner active bark still protecting the trunk. It can be a visual issue because the lower area where the bark has gone will be thinner than the trunk with intact corky bark above.

Try to minimise bark loss by allowing the surface to dry out a bit where possible.

If it does end up looking funny the best solution I have found is to rub off all the corky bark above the area so normal taper is re-established. The corky bark starts to develop all over again and will be looking even better than before in less than a year.