NBD - Nordstrand Acinonyx

[Frank Blank]

A week or two ago I took a drive north to pick up a bass I bought from the BC marketplace. I kept looking at it, passing it by, thinking about it, not thinking about it, continuing with my macrame antimacassars, essentially I was curious but not gassing. I sent a message asking if it was still available and the buying process began. Anyway, the seller was far enough away that after driving up I booked a hotel and we arranged to meet the next morning. On seeing the bass in the flesh so to speak, I was struck by how beautifully made it was, how light it was and yet I remained stoically underwhelmed by it. I paid up, put it on the back seat and set off home. Arriving back I stuck the bass in the rack and left it there to languish, I'm not sure I played it for a couple of days, when I finally did I was, again, just south of whelmed. Another bass bought on a whim that I'm going to lose money on I thought. A few days later I had a jam with a friend of mine, just some songs he's learning with his guitar tutor, some Beatles, Neil Young etc, I plugged the Acinonyx in and kind of forgot about it, and that's the whole point.

 

I have gassed after some lovely basses and, more often than not, I've bought them purely on the basis of aesthetics, not ergonomics, not sound/tone, and, I shouldn't be surprised should I? That a huge percentage of these basses didn't suit me or my needs, they simply satisfied my desire to own something a) because I could and b) because I liked the look of it. Rarely (if ever) did I take my needs as a band member into account. To be honest that was exactly what I did again with the Acinonyx, only this time I wasn't even sure I liked the look of it, after all, it's a funny looking f***er innit.

 

That whole point I was on about.

When I was rehearsing with it I forgot about the instrument, how it looks, how it feels, entirely, I just played it. It was supremely comfortable, ergonomically right for a change and, so comfortable, so 'right' that, well, we just got on. It has a limited range of tones and yet play it in a band setting and those tones are the right ones. Given my druthers I would never set my bass to any of those tones, which is obviously why I've never been satisfied with my tone! The Acinonyx doesn't give you room to fånny about tweaking stuff for ages until you tweak yourself into a sonic corner. I play through an FRFR powered speaker so I just set that to 'default' and then pressed a couple of these crazy buttons...

 

 

...I can't even remember which, and I forgot the bass and just played music. If you push all four pickup buttons down at the same time (easier said than done!) it switches the pickups into series mode.

 

Anyway, I'm no good at technical stuff, it was more how, for some reason, I was almost totally indifferent about this bass until I plugged it in and loved it. We are always looking for something perfect, exactly the right tone, exactly the right look, essentially we are looking for something that probably only exists in our heads and that no physical bass can actually live up to. Inevitably I'll buy a bass, clearly for all the wrong reasons, rush home, plug it in, declare it to be the best bass I've ever had and invariably sell it a fortnight later at a loss because there's a lot more stupid stuff going on in our heads psychologically than any of us is prepared to admit to. I should, at this point tell you all that the Acinonyx is the best thing since sliced Fodera but I'm going to stick with underwhelmed because underwhelming is clearly what I should have been looking for all this time, I'm not even going to say this is a keeper, I'm just going to stop typing and play it.

Edited February 26, 2023 by Frank Blank

[jonno1981]

This is a brilliant review! I’m glad it worked out for you. It sounds like they’ve made a creative tool that means you can forget about what you’re physically playing and concentrate on what you’re playing.

[jonno1981]

Ok that made sense in my head. 🤪

[Frank Blank]

18 minutes ago, jonno1981 said:

This is a brilliant review! I’m glad it worked out for you. It sounds like they’ve made a creative tool that means you can forget about what you’re physically playing and concentrate on what you’re playing.

 

Thank you very much.

 

17 minutes ago, jonno1981 said:

Ok that made sense in my head. 🤪

 

It makes absolute sense in mine, you've summed up exactly what I was thinking, just more succinctly and without my waffle.

[ezbass]

Odd looking things, but they've definitely got something going on, especially in that black/tort combo. I read somewhere that these have a 37mm nut width, which seems very narrow. How does it feel to you, Frank?

[Frank Blank]

3 hours ago, ezbass said:

Odd looking things, but they've definitely got something going on, especially in that black/tort combo. I read somewhere that these have a 37mm nut width, which seems very narrow. How does it feel to you, Frank?

It is very narrow and that was one of my big worries, but, it appears to suit me perfectly. I played it solidly (only two tea breaks) for five hours today, can't put it down!

[grayn]

Nice review and it is genuinely good to hear when someone finds a bass that just does it for them, no fuss or fanfare, just a bass that works.

Congrats.

[Frank Blank]

9 minutes ago, grayn said:

Nice review and it is genuinely good to hear when someone finds a bass that just does it for them, no fuss or fanfare, just a bass that works.

Congrats.

Cheers!

[mr4stringz]

Having switched largely to shorties a few years back I keep considering one of these. I don’t ‘need’ one, but since when did that come into the equation? Nice work and congrats anyway!

 

 

 

[Frank Blank]

5 minutes ago, mr4stringz said:

Having switched largely to shorties a few years back I keep considering one of these. I don’t ‘need’ one, but since when did that come into the equation? Nice work and congrats anyway!

Where are you @mr4stringz? (PM me if you like) you are most welcome to try it out.

[mr4stringz]

2 hours ago, Frank Blank said:

Where are you @mr4stringz? (PM me if you like) you are most welcome to try it out.

Cheers FB! Am in deepest, darkest Birmingham. In fairness, my two Mustangs and my Dano are more than enough to cover my shortscale needs, but I do keep getting intrigued by these.

[Richard R]

Another Brummie 👍

If @Frank Blank keeps the bass lobg enough to bring it up to the Midlands Bass Bash in April*  (and I have a side bet that it will be around for a lot longer than that) then @mr4stringz can join us all  in Nottingham and we can see it in the flesh.

 

* See the Events thread as I forgot to get the link before I started this post.

Edited February 24, 2023 by Richard R

[Frank Blank]

4 minutes ago, Richard R said:

Another Brummie 👍

If @Frank Blank keeps the bass lobg enough to bring it up to the Midlands Bass Bash in April*  (and I have a side bet that it will be around for a lot longer than that) then @mr4stringz can join us all  in Nottingham and we can see it in the flesh.

 

* See the Events thread as I forgot to get the link before I started this post.

I'll definitely be bringing it.

 

 

[mr4stringz]

Sounds rather marvellous.

[Frank Blank]

1 minute ago, mr4stringz said:

Sounds rather marvellous.

Bass Bashes are great 👍 

[TheGreek]

I had no idea what these looked like. For others in the same position:

 

[Frank Blank]

Just now, TheGreek said:

I had no idea what these looked like. For others in the same position:

 

Sorry, I'll do some pics!

[fretmeister]

I love the look of them but the narrow string spacing at the bridge is too tight for me. 😢

[Frank Blank]

9 minutes ago, fretmeister said:

I love the look of them but the narrow string spacing at the bridge is too tight for me. 😢

I'm a man with little hands so it's good for me, but yes, v. narrow indeed!

[Frank Blank]

These are the pics from @castlemaine22's advert (hope he doesn't mind). This is the actual bass I bought..

 

 

 

 

 

[yorks5stringer]

All this chat about it being a narrow nut...I have huge hands yet have no issues with mine (which is weird, -'different strokes' etc).

 

Being a predominately Flats player I swapped out the Roundwounds for a set of LaBella Low Tension Flats which work OK although there are a couple of positions on the neck where the notes seem to disappear, I may have dropped the action down a bit too low?  Regarding the presets there are tangible differences with the pickup position knobs and when the series is engaged, less so in a band situation re the tone settings I find. However I find it great for Open Mics and Jams when you walk in with a guitar sized case and they say 'we really need a bassist'....!

 

To conclude, I was lucky enough to get get the Nordy Mute with mine which can give quite an upright sound if used economically.

[grayn]

I think the black, with tort scratch-plate, is my favourite of the colours these intriguing basses come in.

[Frank Blank]

2 hours ago, grayn said:

I think the black, with tort scratch-plate, is my favourite of the colours these intriguing basses come in.

Agreed. I ordered a black one too just for when I'm feeling particularly goth.

[LukeFRC]

Thats the quality I like in an instrument, slightly underwealming but then you stop thinking about it when you're playing. 
Forums like this are awful for that - the perfectly good and great sounding bass you love playing gets swapped for whatever the flavour of the month is... and you join the gear nerd club. 

 

Sounds great

[Baloney Balderdash]

21 hours ago, Frank Blank said:

A week or two ago I took a drive north to pick up a bass I bought from the BC marketplace. I kept looking at it, passing it by, thinking about it, not thinking about it, continuing with my macrame antimacassars, essentially I was curious but not gassing. I sent a message asking if it was still available and the buying process began. Anyway the seller was far enough away that after driving up I booked a hotel and we arranged to meet the next morning. On seeing the bass in the flesh so to speak I was struck by how beautifully made it was, how light it was and yet I remained stoically underwhelmed by it. I paid up, put it on the back seat and set off home. Arriving back home I stuck the bass in the rack and left it there, I'm not sure I played it for a couple of days, when I finally did I was, again, just south of whelmed, another bass bought on a whim that I'm going to lose money on I thought. A few days later I had a jam with a friend of mine, just some songs he's learning with his guitar tutor, some Beatles, Neil Young etc, I plugged the Acinonyx in and kind of forgot about it, and that's the whole point.

 

I have gassed after some lovely basses and, more often than not, I've bought them purely on the basis of aesthetics, not ergonomics, not sound/tone, and, I shouldn't be surprised should I? That a huge percentage of these basses didn't suit me or my needs, they simply satisfied my desire to own something a) because I could and b) because I liked the look of it, rarely did I take my needs as a band member into account. To be honest that was exactly what I did again with the Acinonyx, only this time I wasn't even sure I liked the look of it, after all, it's a funny looking f***er innit.

 

That whole point I was on about, when I was rehearsing with it I forgot about the instrument, how it looks, how it feels, entirely, I just played it. It was supremely comfortable to play, ergonomically right for a change and, so comfortable, so 'right' that, well, we just got on. It has a limited range of tones and yet play it in a band setting and those tones are the right ones. I would never set my bass to any of those tones, which is, obviously, why I've never been satisfied with my tone! The Acinonyx doesn't give you room to craddock about tweaking stuff for ages until you tweak yourself into a corner. I play through an FRFR powered speaker, I just set that to 'default' and then pressed a couple of these crazy buttons...

 

 

...I can't even remember which, and I forgot the bass and just played music. If you push all four pickup buttons down at the same time (easier said than done!) it switches the pickups into series mode.

 

Anyway, I'm no good at technical stuff, it was more how, for some reason, I was almost totally indifferent about this bass until I plugged it in and loved it. We are always looking for something perfect, exactly the right tone, exactly the right look, essentially we are looking for something that probably only exists in our heads and that no physical bass can actually live up to. Inevitably I'll buy a bass, clearly for all the wrong reasons, rush home, plug it in, declare it to be the best bass I've ever had and invariably sell it a fortnight later at a loss because there's a lot more stupid stuff going on in our heads psychologically than any of us is prepared to admit to. I should, at this point, tell you all that the Acinonyx is the best thing since sliced Fodera but I'm going to stick with underwhelmed because underwhelming is clearly what I should have been looking for all this time, I'm not even going to say this is a keeper, I'm just going to stop typing and play it.

You forgot to mention the secret "all buttons pressed=both pickups in series" mode.

 

But congratulations. 

 

These seem, look and sound like cool, super fun and nice basses.

 

Edited February 25, 2023 by Baloney Balderdash