There's no getting around it: the bass is beautiful. The body is an arched 5 layer laminate of great woods, and right through it goes an incredible 13 piece neck. You really have to see one of these necks to appreciate the craftsmanship. There is also a thumb rest and truss rod cover carved right from the neck woods. Brilliant ! The neck is stiffened with inlayed graphite and two truss rods. The electronic cavity plate is also cut from the wood of the bass and carefully shielded with copper foil. Everything is well accessible and smartly engineered.

This bass came drilled for Gotoh tuners and a Kahler bridge. My understanding is that the basses normally sport this hardware, but I also understand that Matt will do anything at all to your bass. In other words, if you want a bridge made from an empty soda can, and Matt can figure out a way to do it, you've got it.

The Kahler bridge is pretty solid and nicely configurable. The saddles float around on tracks and you can screw them down where you want them. It makes setup a snap, but can be a bit tiresome for intonation -- you have to drop the string tension to move the saddles. Of course, you can't go wrong with Gotoh tuners. The peghead is a carved 3+3 setup; very pretty.

The body came routed for EMG or Bartolini soapbars. Like everything else, you decide. I chose EMG 45DC's because they are easily available. The sound is great. The EMGs are very responsive, and the tone is clear and bright. The B is as tight (or tighter) as any 35" scale bass I've played. The C string seems a bit thin, and could benefit from a professional setup, but it sounds well in chords, and that's really all I need it for.

The neck is stiff as a board and straight as an arrow. No bow or movement whatsoever. The neck is as thin as most I've played, but it's a six string, so it's extremely wide. The fingerboard is beautiful East Indian Rosewood; much more figuring than most rosewood boards. The fretwork on my second is fair; the slots are cut somewhat deeper than the frets go, but they are well seated and dressed. I also think that these are not ordinary jumbo bass frets; they seem somewhat smaller. I like them.

All in all, an Acacia can change the way you think about basses. With basses, you reach a point beyond which the builders are approaching perfection. They are approaching perfection in a different way with each instrument they build -- down to the way they shape the sound with wood selections and the way they mix wood grains to come up with a bass you could hang in a museum.

Construction	90%
new basses can withstand a 5 foot drop onto
concrete without structural damage -- mine has
a few cosmetic quirks here and there.)
Aesthetics	96%
Playability	92%
Sound	99%
Value	100%
Cust. Service	100%
Overall	100%