Birthday Bass - ACG Build

[EMG456]

This year it was the big 60 for me. Since the big 40 (LOL) it has been my choice to mark these decades with a new instrument commissioned to my own, often niche, specification.

The hole in my family of basses if there is one, is in extended range fretlesses - I've never had one so this will be the aim. Now I naturally would gravitate towards a Wal for this and that would indeed be nice but I have for many years been an admirer of the work of Alan Cringean at ACG. His woodworking is easily the match of any of the top makers and his development of the Wal philosophy of pickups and active EQ very much appeal to me.

So a couple of initial emails later and off I go to Moffat to speak with the man.

As a long term player of Steinberger basses, I'm not exactly hidebound by convention so my opening gambit is "Do you think a bass would work with the body shape of your Reiver Kompakt six string guitar?" For anyone who doesn't know, Alan also makes guitars under the Reiver name and his most popular model has been the Kompakt which is a headless guitar with a body vaguely reminiscent of the Strandberg Boden.

Turns out that he had been thinking of it and so with the proviso that he would need to work out if that shape would give room for a control cavity big enough to take the preamp and still have a decent control layout, this is what we will move forward with.

Here then is the spec.

Krell Kompakt 6 string 32" scale headless

Body Black Limba with ART Maple Burl top.

Neck bolt on 5 piece maple/ wenge laminate with carbon rods

Fingerboard at that time not chosen.

Pickups MC6 multicoil

Preamp ACG DFM

I picked a nice piece of Black Limba for the body and after some deliberation, threw cation to the wind with the choice of top - it wont be to everyone's taste but I Think it will look stunning! Unfortunately, no pictures were taken that day so we need to wait till Alan offered me suggested fingerboards to see what we are talking about.

[EMG456]

An email arrives from Alan - suggested fingerboards - here they are.

Without seeing them against the top wood, I wasn't so sure but I reckoned 2 was a bit too figured for a fretless board, 3would be very black and plain, nice.. but probably 1 would have a bit of character without being too busy.

So here it is against chosen top, brace yourselves...

And a bit closer...

[EMG456]

Also, by this time Alan had figured out the logistics of the body shape and control cavity conundrum and emailed me a rough sketch of the shape, which I liked very much...

So he went off to make the template and crack on.

[EMG456]

Next, the body has been assembled and preliminary shaping has taken place - this is going to be good...

and the back...

 

And that's where we are at the moment. I can't wait but I just have to. Exciting!

[SpondonBassed]

That's a stunner!

I can't wait for the results of the BC Rorschach test.

[Daz39]

It's a bit like some of the tops Alpher do. Utterly bonkers. Looks really cool - I also can not wait to see progress.

[skelf]

I have been using the ART tops for many years the first to use these type of tops as far as I am aware . I have a deal with Larry the guy that does them. There are now several others doing something along the same lines. 

Edited September 19, 2018 by skelf

[SpondonBassed]

5 minutes ago, skelf said:

I have been using the ART tops for many years the first to use these type of tops as far as I am aware . I have a deal with Larry the guy that does them. There are now several others doing something along the same lines. 

Is that ink stain?

[eude]

14 minutes ago, Daz39 said:

It's a bit like some of the tops Alpher do. Utterly bonkers. Looks really cool - I also can not wait to see progress.

ACG have been using Acrylic Impregnated woods pretty much since Alan started may moons ago, and his fancy ART tops with the dyed wood go back a long way too, way before anyone else.

Have noticed a fair few folks doing similar these days though, including Alpher.

Eude

EDIT: I see Skelf already responded.

Edited September 19, 2018 by eude

[eude]

16 minutes ago, SpondonBassed said:

Is that ink stain?

I believe the tops are treated with acrylic resin, and in the case of the fancy coloured ones, dyes are added to the resin.

[Teebs]

1 hour ago, EMG456 said:

Next, the body has been assembled and preliminary shaping has taken place - this is going to be good...

and the back...

 

And that's where we are at the moment. I can't wait but I just have to. Exciting!

WOW!

[Daz39]

1 hour ago, eude said:

ACG have been using Acrylic Impregnated woods pretty much since Alan started may moons ago, and his fancy ART tops with the dyed wood go back a long way too, way before anyone else.

Have noticed a fair few folks doing similar these days though, including Alpher.

Eude

EDIT: I see Skelf already responded.

Just for clarity - I wasn't meaning to suggest anyone else did them first, just that was another luthier I had seen use them!

[eude]

34 minutes ago, Daz39 said:

Just for clarity - I wasn't meaning to suggest anyone else did them first, just that was another luthier I had seen use them!

No bother dude, sorry if I came across spikey, certainly wasn't my intention  

Eude

[TheGreek]

No doubt you'll be more than happy....I love mine..

[EMG456]

7 hours ago, SpondonBassed said:

That's a stunner!

I can't wait for the results of the BC Rorschach test.

Haha - yes. very good! If you tilt your head to the left, the red area on the top looks like some scary character from Donnie Darko!

In fairness, a lot of those extreme figurings along the centreline will be covered over by tuners, bridge, pickups and fingerboard.

Still going to look pretty amazing though.

[Jimothey]

That top is stunning saying that so is the back you are a very lucky man!! Can't wait to watch this progress!! 

I only wish that I could afford Mr ACG to build me a bass but alas that will never happen unless he would take my missus and kids in part exchange!?! 😁

[SpondonBassed]

8 hours ago, EMG456 said:

Haha - yes. very good! If you tilt your head to the left, the red area on the top looks like some scary character from Donnie Darko!

In fairness, a lot of those extreme figurings along the centreline will be covered over by tuners, bridge, pickups and fingerboard.

Still going to look pretty amazing though.

I was thinking the same.

The band of red down the centreline will not be so stark with the hardware in place.  It should give the effect of a red aura behind the strings.  That's going to look cool.

Edited September 20, 2018 by SpondonBassed

[Merton]

This is going to be a stunner! Alan’s basses are superb

[BassTool]

Always admired AC's work, superb.

For me, I think what sets him apart is the speed at which he shifts progress along, it's amazing how he cracks on with several projects on the go.

One day I'd love to have him build a bass for me, it must be a great feeling anticipating the new arrival after choosing materials and spec etc.

Good on the OP for treating himself  

[EMG456]

14 hours ago, BassTool said:

Always admired AC's work, superb.

For me, I think what sets him apart is the speed at which he shifts progress along, it's amazing how he cracks on with several projects on the go.

One day I'd love to have him build a bass for me, it must be a great feeling anticipating the new arrival after choosing materials and spec etc.

Good on the OP for treating himself  

It is indeed something to look forward to but of course it's also a test of patience.

In fairness to me, I do have form with this so I don't treat the decision to have an instrument built lightly. There has to be a requirement which isn't met by any of my existing instruments and I'm quite careful with the spec and choice of builder so that there's a good chance that it will match what I'm looking for. That has been successful so far and all four instruments I have had built are still with me. Only once did I cave in to the frustration of the wait and that's why I now own two Chapman Sticks!!

[Chopthebass]

what is ART top? Looks great!

[EMG456]

I don’t know the technical details but it’s basically a piece of wood that’s dyed using a vacuum process to draw the dye right into the wood grain. On a figured piece of wood, the different parts of the patterns have different densities and so draw less or more dye, which gives the overall effect that varied,organic,natural look.

[SpondonBassed]

7 hours ago, EMG456 said:

I don’t know the technical details but it’s basically a piece of wood that’s dyed using a vacuum process to draw the dye right into the wood grain. On a figured piece of wood, the different parts of the patterns have different densities and so draw less or more dye, which gives the overall effect that varied,organic,natural look.

I got into a couple of fights at primary school.

One of those ended suddenly when I chucked a kid against the tall cupboard where the ink was stored.  Yes, we were taught penmanship with real ink wells and pens.  It was the late sixties.

We stopped and stared while the cupboard swayed, as if in slow motion, in response to the impact.  It then fell over onto the parquet floor of the class room.  In the fall, all of the ink bottles fell off their shelves and some of them spilt as the cupboard landed face down in front of us both.  A dark stain emerged from beneath the cupboard.  Navy blue and bright red inks mixed in a random pattern that would make ACG jealous.

The teacher, Mr Spridgeon, grabbed both our scruffs and had us on our tiptoes while he assessed the situation.  He was an imposing figure.  To us nippers he looked like a giant.  We anticipated our punishment.

Instead of sending us to the Headmaster for a caning he made us wipe up the mess.  It was an impossible job.  The ink was already creeping beneath the worn out varnish and it followed the grain of the wood as we worked.  In our childish minds we both though that we were expected to leave the floor as clean as it was before.  It reduced us both to tears because everything we did just made the stain worse!  Eventually we were let off with a reprimand.

I'm so glad that there is a modern method for staining wood these days.  It isn't nearly as traumatic as when I tried it.

Edited September 25, 2018 by SpondonBassed

[EMG456]

What a great story! I also remember the desks with the inkwells to take the little glass jars of ink!

The perfect footnote to your tale would be something like “and later, Brian May built his famous guitar from the wood in that floor and that’s why it has that deep red colour.” 😀

[SpondonBassed]

3 hours ago, EMG456 said:

The perfect footnote to your tale would be something like “and later, Brian May built his famous guitar from the wood in that floor and that’s why it has that deep red colour.” 😀

If only my life were like that.

I'd like to see a bass made from parquet flooring...  Maybe it will feature in a Build Diary one day after I've been to visit my old school in the dead of night with a crow bar.