eude

Pure filth. Laaaaavly! Eude

Very nice!

Try some Newtones. Neil makes Alan's standard strings for any new ACG, and they're the best. Bar my shorty, which has TI Flats on it, all my 31.5" ACGs have them. Eude

Congratulations dude, I can't deny I'm more than a bit jealous. What strings are on there? Eude

That is a gorgeous bass dude, looks classy with the tort too.

I don't think there's much margin in instruments themselves, so I expect the shops need to claw a living back somewhere else, maybe amps and cabs are where it comes from? Having insider knowledge of the camera retail industry from a previous design agency role, there is little to no margin on the actual cameras themselves, shops tend to make a living from lenses, accessories etcs. Eude

Congrats mate! I'm afraid you've now arrived at the top of a very slippery slope, the optimum number of ACGs is whatever you currently have, plus 1, Eude

I believe the guy who made Alan's original fretting templates sent him 31.5" instead of 32" and 30.5" instead of 30", literally, what turned out to be a happy accident. My experience with the custom made shorties I've played has always been good, especially compared to off the shelf ones. I also think that string technology has come a long way in recent years too which will certainly help. Did you think the E on even a short scale Alembic was a bit dead? I can send you to some noodles recorded on some of my 31.5" basses on Soundcloud if you want, and if you're even in the South Croydon area, your more than welcome to come try my basses out in person. They're all 5 or 6 strings though, but I do have a 4 string 30.5" which is phenomenal too. Eude

I'd have a look at what Tech21/SansAmp and DarkGlass do, more expensive, but absolutely worth every penny.

Warwick amps have always been very underrated. Their old WAMP stuff back in the day was rock solid, if a little more of the same, but they did the brightly coloured thing long before Mark Bass Their more recent offerings have really good preamp design, super clean and uncoloured, concocted in conjunction with, if not entirely by Mr Jonas Hellborg, and that input has filtered into all of their bass amps, including their tiny practice amps. It's all VERY well built too. Sadly, the stuff still comes across as a little boring if ultimately you're looking for your amp to add some colour to your sound. If you love how your bass sounds though, or get your core tone from pedals, they're definitely worth a look. It's nice to see them doing something "new", but it's nothing new for the market sadly. I expect it'll be just another very small amp, handy, but uninspiring... I hope they come up with something a bit more interesting soon. Eude

I think when we met in Moffat, I'd fully converted to 33" basses, and over the years I loved playing that scale compared to regular and longer scale, but when I talked to Alan about making a headless 6, I fancied going shorter to make it even more compact and playable. I'd played a few 31.5" basses that Alan had made, a scale length I believe he came across by accident, but a happy accident as it works very well. I'd also played a 32" 6 string Alan had made so I knew that scale worked just fine with a low B, so we decided 31.5" was worth a shot. It worked even better than I expected, in conjunction with custom made Newtone strings, there really isn't any noticeable loss in sound or playability going shorter, for my needs anyway. It's been such a success that I sold all my other basses and now have a stable of exclusively 31.5" basses, bar one which is 30.5". I should add, the whole experience doesn't hinge on the custom strings either, going for strings brands and gauges that are a little tighter means I can use those off the shelf with similar results. I've got some La Bella steels on my headed 31.5" just now bad it's extremely playable! The Newtones are certainly my preferred string however. Hope that helps dude, any other questions just shout. Eude

Here's my headless basses, both ACG 6 strings, both 31.5" scale, one fretted, one fretless.. I totally resisted headless basses for many years, thinking that they were a bit "too 80's", turns out I was very very wrong. The ergonomics and design of headless basses makes a hell of a lot of sense, and even better, these little basses even fit into regular guitar gig bags, with them being so much more compact. I love them! Eude

Holy Moly! That is gorgeous! Congratulations mate! Eude

Absolutely stunning mate! Enjoy!

I think you're right, I was very much under the impression that stabilising the wood it the only way to make it any use whatsoever, I guess how it's stabilised might be what we're chewing the cud over here. I believe Alan uses resin to fill the gaps and hold it together while then finishes it with satin lacquer. Can't wait to see this bass, I'm probably as excited as you! Eude

I agree, the design is perfect, but I expect it'll be heavy. If they would make a more lunchbox sized amp with that ABM power stage, that looked a bit like this, I'd be a very happy, but poorer man... Eude

I have indeed got a short scale ACG with a split coil P in it and it's phenomenal! Really P Bassy tone and it's incredible with flats on it. Not quite a proper P Bass tone here, but I have a couple of other vids I shot at the same time which I can dig out. All in, short scale Ps work beautifully and I would absolutely have a chat with Alan about something if you're going custom. Eude

Sweet infant baby jesus! Stunning! Eude

5!

I think you can rest assured it'll work just fine! Eude

That is stunning! Eude

If it's a choice between curved or diamond, curved every time.

On a jazz, I like a straight line, having said that, that's my ACG and I really like the controls following the contour too. From the Jazzes I've seen that Jon makes, I'd vote for a straight line, I reckon that'll look bang on. Eude

Shorter scales have come a long way. Having them expertly made and then great strings to match help too. As much as bass building is getting better, I think strings have really come along recently, having said that though, I've found even regular scale strings feel and sound pretty darned good on my 31.5" basses. Here's a wee snippet on my 30.5" ACG, this is wearing full scale flats too, and the low E string is bloody marvellous! >> I think the bulk of the magic is in the ACG though, something the OP will be realising this week Eude