001 Recurve 4.

Spec Level: Custom

Dave’s Recurve delivered and his review

The bass is now in Canada after a bit of a delay somewhere along the way. Dave has been kind enough to supply a review of the bass and the pre-amp. This review is up on several forums Bassworld in the UK. Talkbass,dudepit,bassnutz in the USA.

OK, time for a full-bore review of my ReCurve from AC Guitars in Scotland. Yes, this is the one with the very first production model of Alan’s John East designed filter-based pre-amp. I’ve had the chance to play it out on 3 different occasions now. Twice with my band “The Eradicators” where we only play instrumentals in the surf/rock/garage/spaghetti-western style and once in a jam with some friends where we were just doing the old rockin’ standards like Ozzy, Sabbath, The Tragically Hip (need to have your CanCon!!!), The Cars, Aerosmith, Led Zep, etc.

I should start off by telling you that there was an initial scare with the neck. It had developed a bit of a bow in transit between the cold of being stored/shipped and the difference in humidity between Scotland and Toronto. I think poor Alan almost had a heart attack when I contacted him asking him about adjusting the truss rod and telling him why it needed to be done. But, in speaking to him he promptly picked himself up off the floor and walked me through adjusting it. And now, after about a week of letting it sit and adjust… The action is perfect! It is low like I like it and there is absolutely no fret buzz no matter where I play on the neck.

I know that you can see from the photos that I’ve posted how amazing it looks. But I’ve got to tell you that up close the detail that Alan puts into his work is just phenomenal. Everything is pieced together nicely, the neck pocket is tight, there’s absolutely no give in the pickups, it is amazingly fit together! The ebonized maple accents really enhance the overall affect by highlighting the different woods. The attention to detail is nothing short of superb. I couldn’t be happier! The decision to go with 2 different levels of lacquer (shiny on the body and headstock and low gloss on the neck) was definitely right too. After getting sweaty while playing my hand didn’t slip on the neck like it does on my other basses that have a high gloss finish everywhere.

Let’s talk comfort. The bass weighs in just over 9 pounds so it’s light and easy to play. The beveled edges and sculpted body make it very ergonomic with no hard edges jabbing into my arm or into my leg. The neck is a joy to play! When Alan & I were talking about its shape, the desired radius, the size of my hands, etc. he mentioned that he was experimenting with an asymmetrical curve design and we decided to go with that for a number of reasons. So that you understand it, from my experience the top part of the neck feels exactly like you’d expect it to… But the bottom part has a slight straightening to the curve. I never told him but I was always a little bit worried about it because I’d never played something like that before and I wasn’t going to be anywhere near Scotland while he was carving it. So, I just had to trust in his judgment and to what he believed felt comfortable for himself. Let me tell you, it’s one of the best decisions I made in opting for that style of neck. It fits to my hand better than a glove. I highly recommend it for anyone considering something that sounds “different” but is comfortable beyond explanation.

The bass is 100% active so unfortunately I can’t give a perspective on how the pickups sound in a passive mode. But let me tell you that through Alan’s pre-amp I now have the most versatile bass that I’ve ever owned.

Getting used to the pre-amp and finding a number of settings that I liked took me some time because it is so extraordinarily flexible. I found that I had to deal with each pickup on its own, get a sound I liked individually and then find a blend that I liked. But let me tell you that each pickup soloed is great on its own too. Blended this thing is a monster. Aaron (Armstrong {Kent’s son}) did a great job with the custom winding and providing Alan his signature pickups. Playing around I can get everything from a deep thudding Gibson EBO mudbucker sound to a bright punchy bite like a Rickenbacker through to the growl of a Musicman Stingray and even up to the beefy crunch of my Wal. And yes, I own all of the basses I’ve just mentioned so I’m really familiar with them. But I feel that I’m still discovering what this particular bass is capable of because between the options available through the pre-amp, combined with those of being able have each pickup in single-coil or humbucking in series or parallel position that the possibilities are endless and I’ve only begun to scratch the surface of the possibilities.

Sorry, but I’m not set up to record so I can’t give you a sample of what it sounds like. I know that Alan is trying to do something like that on his website so you may want to keep in touch with him or keep checking back to his site.

Bottom line… I’m impressed as hell!!! Deciding to work with Alan is not only one of the best decisions I’ve made because he makes it so easy but because he exceeded all of my expectations. Give me a couple of months to come up with another down payment and I’ll be right back to him ordering one of his Harlots – probably with 2 Musicman style pickups!

If anyone has any specific questions please let me know and I’ll try and answer them for you to the best of my abilities!

Good on you Alan!!! F*ckin’ amazing!!!!