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The ACG Thread


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  • 2 weeks later...

A pair of the finest ACGs ever made. (In my humble opinion of course!) 

Ashamedly, I do not believe the 9 string ACG has EVER been re-strung since the day it was built until today. The original owner sold it to me with the string it had on it up until this morning. I sold it some time ago, then bought it back a year or two later and it still had the same strings! I've had it for 4 years or so since and never got round to re-stringing it, but FINALLY it's been re-strung with a fresh set of Kalium strings and man is it good! Like, crazy good! Feels like a brand new bass. :)

20200516_122455.thumb.jpg.caf1a4c882857d6ef823f4f1d5de9779.jpg

Edited by binky_bass
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2 hours ago, binky_bass said:

A pair of the finest ACGs ever made. (In my humble opinion of course!) 

Ashamedly, I do not believe the 9 string ACG has EVER been re-strung since the day it was built until today. The original owner sold it to me with the string it had on it up until this morning. I sold it some time ago, then bought it back a year or two later and it still had the same strings! I've had it for 4 years or so since and never got round to re-stringing it, but FINALLY it's been re-strung with a fresh set of Kalium strings and man is it good! Like, crazy good! Feels like a brand new bass. :)

20200516_122455.thumb.jpg.caf1a4c882857d6ef823f4f1d5de9779.jpg

Absolutely stunning!

Eude

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Excuse this ramble, it’s as much for me as anything else, thought jotting.

I dropped off the ACG Recurve SS in Warwick for a setup in early February, I was emailed to say it was done and that I could pick it up on 29th Feb. I took the opportunity to drop off the ACG Harlot when I picked the Recurve up and by the time the Harlot was ready for pickup, yes, we were in lockdown.

I’ve been writing and recording quite intensely lately, flipping files of new bass lines over to the singer/guitarist I work with and I have really started to gel with the short scale Recurve. I was unsure at first, I bought it because it was an ACG and because it was short scale but I really didn’t gel with it at first but after this intense period of working with it I have found myself improving as a player and writing stuff I would have thought beyond me just a few months ago. Now naturally this is to do with having acres of time to fill with practicing and writing (I’m putting in roughly a normal 9-5 working day) but after the initial ups and down with it I’ve really come to dig that bass, there’s something very ‘workhorse’ about it, the simple design, the plain woods, I often bang on about basses being tools of work first and aesthetic items second, Alan tends to make basses that are sublime in both ways but there is just something very humble and honest about the SS Recurve, very much my bass of the moment and hopefully the end of my fretted short scale bass search.

So yesterday I finally managed to get back up to Warwick and in a socially distanced  exchange via a porch I picked up the Harlot. I got it home and after so long with just the little Recurve I’m a bit freaked out by the Harlot. I mean it is a ‘freak out’ bass anyway because it looks so incredible but it just felt so alien. I mean, finally, it’s correctly setup and playing great but I just wasn’t getting on with it, perhaps I really am just a short scale man? I will persevere with it and see how it goes.

Edited by Frank Blank
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On 23/05/2020 at 09:47, Frank Blank said:

Excuse this ramble, it’s as much for me as anything else, thought jotting.

I dropped off the ACG Recurve SS in Warwick for a setup in early February, I was emailed to say it was done and that I could pick it up on 29th Feb. I took the opportunity to drop off the ACG Harlot when I picked the Recurve up and by the time the Harlot was ready for pickup, yes, we were in lockdown.

Ive been writing and recording quite intensely lately, flipping files of new bass lines over to the singer/guitarist I work with and I have really started to gel with the short scale Recurve. I was unsure at first, I bought it because it was an ACG and because it was short scale but I really didn’t gel with it at first but after this intense period of working with it I have found myself improving as a player and writing stuff I would have thought beyond me just a few months ago. Now naturally this is to do with having acres of time to fill with practicing and writing (I’m putting in roughly a normal 9-5 working day) but after the initial ups and down with it I’ve really come to dig that bass, there’s something very ‘workhorse’ about it, the simple design, the plain woods, I often bang on about basses being tools of work first and aesthetic items second, Alan tends to make basses that are sublime in both ways but there is just something very humble and honest about the SS Recurve, very much my bass of the moment and hopefully the end of my fretted short scale bass search.

So yesterday I finally managed to get back up to Warwick and in a socially distanced  exchange via a porch I picked up the Harlot. I got it home and after so long with just the little Recurve I’m a bit freaked out by the Harlot. I mean it is a ‘freak out’ bass anyway because it looks so incredible but it just felt so alien. I mean, finally, it’s correctly setup and playing great but I just wasn’t getting on with it, perhaps I really am just a short scale man? I will persevere with it and see how it goes.

Don't worry, you've just settled into one bass, kinda like driving a bus for living and then driving a car at the weekend, it'll feel weird.

As you know, I've got a fair few basses, all ACGs, but that's moot in this, and I found if I play one for a while the others feel odd. Moving from 6 string headed, to 4 string with flats, to 6 string headless fretless to 5 string fretted could be confusing, so I make a point of rotating them often. I don't currently have the luxury of a space to have them all out at the same time, so changing whichever one is in the living room every week seems to work well for me.

I think you need to consider them more like different paint brushes.

Eude

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1 hour ago, eude said:

Don't worry, you've just settled into one bass, kinda like driving a bus for living and then driving a car at the weekend, it'll feel weird.

As you know, I've got a fair few basses, all ACGs, but that's moot in this, and I found if I play one for a while the others feel odd. Moving from 6 string headed, to 4 string with flats, to 6 string headless fretless to 5 string fretted could be confusing, so I make a point of rotating them often. I don't currently have the luxury of a space to have them all out at the same time, so changing whichever one is in the living room every week seems to work well for me.

I think you need to consider them more like different paint brushes.

Eude

Quality common sense there Sir, as always, so cheers. I think it is, however, confirming my penchant for basses no longer that 32” in scale. I will be rotating them regularly in order to make up my mind.

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My current ACG family. A fourth has just been commissioned 😎

All these are 32” scale, but left to right we have:

2015 Finn 4, OPB pickup, passive volume and tone. P bass on steroids. Swamp ash body, maple neck and board.

2017 Skelf 5, two reverse OPB pickups, active P Retro, very versatile sweet sounding bass but can get the Spector growl nailed too. Limba body, Fractal Nero top, ash neck, rosewood board

2019 Finn 5, two FBs, active UniPre pickup, think modern super jazz. Swamp ash body, maple and bubinga neck and maple board

EC443A49-8A5D-4728-A570-288EEAC8A4AF.jpeg

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  • 8 months later...
11 hours ago, binky_bass said:

A new ACG delivery today... that makes 4 in the 'built by Alan' collection. A number no doubt to grow in the future!

20210216_111905.thumb.jpg.5ccb79af030cecbd70bec5c9f56582f3.jpg

20210216_195438.thumb.jpg.87bee5944ebde33dd8d05e8f9709a6d0.jpg

WOW Binky!
That is some collection there!

What a stunning new addition too. Congratulations :)

Eude

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