Gianni "Orlandez" Orlati

Sorry, you believe that spending 3800$ on a Custom Shop Fender is foolish? Uh .. this is weird .. it’s like saying that the guys who invented the stuff that AC is somehow copying are no longer able to do something decent; frankly speaking, I believe your statement is quite exaggerated. Moreover, I’m not saying that AC instruments are bad; what I’m saying is: 1. They do not seem to me an original design at all. 2. They are overpriced for what they are able to yield. These are my opinions, of course, but analysing just the facts without any other scope in mind (typical of fanboy-ism), may surely help to understand why I am of this opinion. Having said that, everyone is free to invest his/her money in the way they prefer.

I haven’t played an AC as to do this you basically have to order one and pay it in full unless you aren’t able to pay a visit to Mr. Coppolo in the US (for a bass? If, by chance, I had to go to the US for business ok, otherwise ... nahhh) or be friend with somebody who owns one. So buying an AC, in my situation, would likely be a matter of faith; my faith only goes to my beloved wife, the rest is relative so much so as I was just recently reading of Addison, the famous TB user who had an argument with Mr. Coppolo, and finally got his money back; the answer of this high-calibre luthier to Addison was awful, for not to use other words. I have maximum respect for manufacturers such as Ken Smith, Fodera, Roscoe, Pedulla (sigh!), F-Bass, MTD and my favourite, Elrick. They really design and make high-end stuff which is priced accordingly. AC no; AC makes FSO = Fender Shaped Objects, which normally use woods which are similar to those used by Fender and the same goes for the finishing options. However, AC’s FSO do cost 5000 if not more USD; ok, the proprietary electronics and pickups are very nice, fine, the factory setup is excellent but to fill the 3000 USD gap between a MIA Fender and an AC bass the extra features of the AC units seem just too few to me. I personally prefer going passive and buy a Custom Shop Fender also because I don’t like the AC headstock, but this is just me.

They haven’t designed anything as they are copies of Fender basses with an ugly headstock. The electronics package is solid but there are many such solid pickup/preamp combos available on today’s market .. so why the hype?

LaBella with red silk? However they seem to be flatwound strings listening to them. Do you know which brand of pickup Limelight uses? The bass sounds fantastic and your playing was very confident and groovy 👍

Which strings did you put on the bass? TI flats?