NBD: ACG RetroB 5/32

[Merton]

This has been on the cards pretty much since I first discovered ACG 11 odd years ago. It was @eude’s Finn 4 which first drew me to @skelf’s basses and very soon after that I saw a Holly-topped Finn. I’ve been hooked since the first bass I bought, and for a long time had a Holly-topped Finn in my wishlist. It almost became a reality about 5 years ago but I never got beyond the “annoying Alan” phase. Fast forward to last year, an ebony Finn which Alan shared on socials made me hatch a cunning plan for a yin/yang pair of basses - one holly, one ebony. Specs were developed, plans were hatched, then I had to be sensible and drop one of the two. Naturally I kept the holly plan as it has been on the list since day one, and the shape changed from Finn to RetroB. Thus this spec was born and a deposit was paid last July. Today the 5 string bass of my dreams was delivered. She sounds as good as she looks, and I’m over the moon 😎

 

So, the specs:

Limba body, bloodwood accent, holly top

3pc Ash neck with ultra slim profile, ebony fingerboard with bloodwood blocks, 30” radius 

3+2 headstock with holly facing and limba rear veneer

50mm RFB in bridge, 50mm OPB in neck

Passive vol/tone/blend with coil select switch for RFB

Black hardware

17mm bridge spacing (Hipshot A)

Gotoh resolute tuners

 

Honestly couldn’t be happier at this point, I am looking forward to getting her out in the wild with Katy Hurt next month 🤠

First 3 pics are from my “unboxing”, the rest are Alan’s:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited April 24 by Merton
Smelling pistakes

[Hellzero]

Very nice, with a touch of class.

[AlexDelores]

Very, very nice! I met Alan & his wife at the Bass Show and they were lovely. 
 

Tried a 32” 5er and it was superb! 
 

Enjoy! 

[Stuart1982]

Absolutely beautiful mate 👍🏻👍🏻

[ead]

Oooof, beautiful.

[80Hz]

Some very interesting wood choices there (at least in my limited experience).

 

The holly is unique, but it’s the ash neck which has really caught my

eye!

 

A very handsome bass overall. Looking forward to a report once you’ve settled in with it.

[Merton]

16 minutes ago, 80Hz said:

Some very interesting wood choices there (at least in my limited experience).

 

The holly is unique, but it’s the ash neck which has really caught my

eye!

 

A very handsome bass overall. Looking forward to a report once you’ve settled in with it.

Alan has an excellent supply of ash for necks - this will be my third! I find it gives a deeper and more rounded tone than maple, then combined with the ebony you get a beautiful rich harmonic content across the octaves.

Will try to do a demo soon 🤓

[asingardenof]

Beeyooteefool!

[JoeEvans]

Stunning bass! 

[whynot]

Looks amazing, but can only give a score of 9/10 as it's not left handed 🤣

[geoffbyrne]

Absolutely gorgeous!!!  Health to play it.   G.

 

 

[Krikcet]

This is absolutely gorgeous! How does the B string feel on the shorter scale?

[Merton]

5 minutes ago, Krikcet said:

This is absolutely gorgeous! How does the B string feel on the shorter scale?

Fantastic. It’s solid as a rock and doesn’t suffer from the shorter scale at all; I’ve had other 5s in various flavours of 34”, 33”, 32” and whilst all were perfectly fine, none of them have been as balanced as this one. All Alan’s basses are well enough built and thought out that you’ll never be wanting but this just adds “something”; Alan has a theory that the bigger body of this (vs some of his other designs which I’ve had) helps to solidify the bottom end that little bit more.

In terms of the feel of the string, that’s helped by the custom wound Newtones which are brilliant. The tension is absolutely perfect for me; I don’t like too much flexibility/looseness in a string and these are great.

[Merton]

Here’s a clip of a gig from just over a week ago - hopefully it demonstrates the bottom B well enough as I’m sat on a low C for a lot of the song 😅

 

[Krikcet]

40 minutes ago, Merton said:

Here’s a clip of a gig from just over a week ago - hopefully it demonstrates the bottom B well enough as I’m sat on a low C for a lot of the song 😅

 

I think this clip just had a serious impact on my bank account!

[LukeFRC]

52 minutes ago, Krikcet said:

I think this clip just had a serious impact on my bank account!

it's only £10?! https://katyhurt.bigcartel.com/product/gimme-a-break-digital-download-pre-order 

[Merton]

20 minutes ago, LukeFRC said:

it's only £10?! https://katyhurt.bigcartel.com/product/gimme-a-break-digital-download-pre-order 

Thank you for the share - that’s more than I’ve done so far 😂

Do we need to start paying a promotional fee?