I feel sad to part with this bass. It means a lot to me, but I have to go on a journey and I can't take anything with me. I hope someone will play it and take good care of it. Rob Allen makes unique, wonderful instruments and I have great respect for him.
This Deep 5 is particularly special. The top is a stunning piece of pin-flame maple. When we started talking about what kind of woods to use for this instrument, I told Rob "I'll consider anything special, but please no flame maple." But later he showed me this piece of maple anyway and I immediately changed my mind. The figuring is tight, deep, and even, and from a distance the bass has an understated, clean appearance. Then you move up closer and are presented with its incredible depth and shimmer. It is so beautiful. The fingerboard is an old piece of Brazilian rosewood that rings like a bell; the bridge is a perfectly matched piece of Brazilian rosewood. The bass is lively and resonant. The alder is clean and creamy, and fat. Altogether the bass feels something like a fine 100 year old acoustic guitar resting on your lap. No fretlines. For the cleanest, most mimimal design, a single volume control is located on the bridge, with the tone controls being a set-and-forget thing in the control cavity.
This bass is a 34" scale instrument, and can be strung B-G or E-C (it's currently B-G).
The instrument does show light signs of use, but it's always been treated very gently so it's in very nice shape. There is some shrinkage of the ivoroid body binding at the cutaway (please see the photos) - it's not the kind of thing that bothers me but it's an easy repair if you wish.
The bass weighs 7.5 pounds. The original faux-alligator (?) form-fitted hardshell case by G&G Quality Case Company (Los Angeles, CA) is also included, and shipping will be $0.00 to anywhere in the U.S. My apologies, but I don't want to ship this instrument to anywhere outside the U.S. Thank you for reading. All questions welcome. :-)
