NBD ACG Sona

[Stuart1982]

Hi folks 

 

Just wanted to share the joy of this exceptional ACG bass handmade by Alan Cringean. I picked this up from Alan yesterday and it’s absolutely stunning.

 

This particular model is a prototype and I’m sure Alan would be more than happy to build another if this is ur thing. 
 

From top to bottom the quality of the build is fantastic. The way Alan shapes his necks are always super comfortable to play and this is no exception. It balances perfectly either seated or on a strap. I’m really into filter preamps now and this one is fitted with the ACG EQ 01 by John East. Fine tuning your tone is excellent with the EQ01. 
 

Like every ACG I have played ( I have nine!) the quality, the workmanship and  the versatility is in abundance. If you’re looking for a custom build at the highest level then speak to Alan. He’s an amazing luthier as well as a thoroughly nice chap.  Specs down below.

 

Cheers 

 

Stuart 

 

 

Body

Olive Top Wood

Purpleheart Accent Veneer

Alder Body

Neck

Acrylic Impregnated Birdseye Maple Fingerboard

5 Piece Ash/Purpleheart Neck

Luminlay Side Dots

Details

Set-neck Construction

33″ Scale Length

24 Frets

5 String

45mm Nut Width

Satin Lacquer Finish

Electronics

ACG RFB bridge pickup and ACG FB neck pickup

East Uni-Pre 4K Preamp

Hardware

Hipshot B Type Bridge

Gotoh GB350 Resolite Tuners

Black Hardware

Dunlop Dual Design Straplocks

ACG/Newtone Custom Strings

 

Edited yesterday at 20:08 by Stuart1982
Title edit

[Mokl]

Very nice indeed! Enjoy 👍

[eude]

That's is awesome buddy, congratulations!

[Stuart1982]

8 hours ago, eude said:

That's is awesome buddy, congratulations!

Cheers mate 

[simisker]

Love that Olive top! Such an overlooked wood.

 

Welcome to the "ACG 33-inch singlecut with an R-Type lower horn" Club! 🙂

 

EDIT: Oh hang on, you already have NINE ACGs?! You're probably already in the club, then. Hell, you may even be the president 😄

Edited 15 hours ago by simisker

[Stuart1982]

21 minutes ago, simisker said:

Love that Olive top! Such an overlooked wood.

 

Welcome to the "ACG 33-inch singlecut with an R-Type lower horn" Club! 🙂

 

EDIT: Oh hang on, you already have NINE ACGs?! You're probably already in the club, then. Hell, you may even be the president 😄

😀😀Cheers mate. The olive top is indeed very nice and the SC design is very comfortable to play, 

[Merton]

That is super lush

[LeftyJ]

I love how understated and elegant that looks! And I'm an absolute sucker for olive wood. I always drool at those cutting boards they sell at Xenos and Dille & Kamille here (Dutch people will understand ). Beautiful bass! 

 

I'm a bit put off by the lack of a fingerboard radius and the filter pre - but I guess mostly due to never having tried either of those! I'd love to have a go on one some day. 

[Stuart1982]

5 hours ago, LeftyJ said:

I love how understated and elegant that looks! And I'm an absolute sucker for olive wood. I always drool at those cutting boards they sell at Xenos and Dille & Kamille here (Dutch people will understand ). Beautiful bass! 

 

I'm a bit put off by the lack of a fingerboard radius and the filter pre - but I guess mostly due to never having tried either of those! I'd love to have a go on one some day. 

I have always found it much easier to play on a flatter fingerboard. In regards to the filter pre it was something that took me a short while to grasp but now I really prefer the filter preamp 👍🏻

[Terry M.]

5 hours ago, LeftyJ said:

I'm a bit put off by the lack of a fingerboard radius 

You may be surprised how much easier it is to play a bass with a flat board. Leo only put a radius on his creations to mimic classical instruments that were played with bows. Electric stringed instruments are not so the concept is actually redundant even though we've become accustomed to them. Leo as you may know wasn't actually a player.Flat boards are part of the reason I favour Warwicks. Never owned an ACG as of yet but tried a few used examples in Bass Direct. They are something else ☺️

[LeftyJ]

1 hour ago, Terry M. said:

You may be surprised how much easier it is to play a bass with a flat board. Leo only put a radius on his creations to mimic classical instruments that were played with bows.  ☺️

I own basses and guitars with radii varying from 7.5" (my favourite Strat and my '75 Jazz reissue) to 20" (my Warwick Streamers) and I most definitely favour the curvier ones 

 

The Warwicks are comfortable too though, but far from fully flat. 

[Terry M.]

2 hours ago, LeftyJ said:

I own basses and guitars with radii varying from 7.5" (my favourite Strat and my '75 Jazz reissue) to 20" (my Warwick Streamers) and I most definitely favour the curvier ones 

 

The Warwicks are comfortable too though, but far from fully flat. 

That's fair enough ☺️

I own two Warwick Broadneck basses with 47" radius and as I mentioned I tried a fully flat ACG. If I was blindfolded and was handed a 47" radius fretboard and then a fully flat one I would not be able to tell the difference,in fact forget the blindfold! After a certain radius size (I can't say which but for the sake of this conversation let's call it 16") you'd be hard pressed to tell the difference between that and a fully flat one. I definitely notice the difference between 9.5" and 12" but after that(to me) it becomes imperceptible. I totally favour flatter boards where I don't have to go searching "downhill" for the outer strings 😂So my Warwicks although technically not flat feel just like the ACGs in my experience.

[Killerfridge]

The issue I have with fully flat radius boards is that because I'm so used to having a radius (9") that flat feels almost concave to me. I'm sure I'd get used to it, but I found the AGC Graft at Bass Direct a bit too odd. 20" is about where I feel a board as "flat"

[Killerfridge]

I'm super interested in seeing/hearing some sound clips though

[Terry M.]

3 minutes ago, Killerfridge said:

The issue I have with fully flat radius boards is that because I'm so used to having a radius (9") that flat feels almost concave to me. I'm sure I'd get used to it, but I found the AGC Graft at Bass Direct a bit too odd. 20" is about where I feel a board as "flat"

Exactly that with regards to what we get used to 👍Do you mean the greenburst J Type there? I also tried it and fell in love with the fretboard 😂  Yes 20" definitely feels flat to me too.

[Killerfridge]

4 minutes ago, Terry M. said:

Exactly that with regards to what we get used to 👍Do you mean the greenburst J Type there? I also tried it and fell in love with the fretboard 😂  Yes 20" definitely feels flat to me too.

That's the kiddie. Really nice bass to play, B string to die for, and the asymmetric neck was lovely. Unfortunately the Mayones HF Jabba stole my heart