Aquilina Basses Shelby 5 Acoustic Chamber Olive Ash

Aquilinabasses are crafted in Rennes, in the west of France, near England.

Luctier Sébastien handcrafts these basses in his workshop alone.

The newly arrived model, the Shelby, won the Best Bass Award at NAMM 2013.

Since Sebastian loves cars, each Akulina bass model is named after a famous car.

This Shelby is named after an American monster racing car.

The Bona Model DB5, which arrived at the same time, is the Aston Martin that appeared in 007.

A chambered version of this Shelby was the model that won the award in 2013.

When watching videos of players like Adrien Ferraud playing this model, it sounds effortless and powerful.

Looking at the body, it's made of olive ash.

This appears to be "ash with an olive-like grain."

The single-cut section appears to be ash, while the body itself looks more olive, making this top a perfect example of how to describe wood.

"What do you think?" he recommended, and we went with it.

The back is also made of the same olive ash, making it a luxurious finish that can be enjoyed from the back as well.

The center of the body is chambered red cedar.

It's relatively lightweight and soft, and isn't often used for basses, but this cedar is standard for this "acoustic chamber" model.

It's apparently often used for acoustic guitars, and Sebastian originally trained at an acoustic guitar manufacturer, so this may be the result of his thorough knowledge of cedar's properties and how to handle it.

The neck is sycamore with a strong flamed ash center.

Sycamore is a maple-based wood that is commonly used in France.

The fingerboard is rosewood, which has a strong reddish hue.

This, too, may be a slightly different type of cedar than is used in Japan or the United States.

And, although it's hard to see, the sides of the neck are finished with blackwood binding.

The string spacing, set at 18mm at the bridge, continues to a relatively slim shape all the way to the neck.

It can also be used with a 5-string, making it a friendly design for Japanese people with smaller hands.

The scale is 34.25 inches, which is a little long, but it didn't bother me much.

The lightweight Gotoh heart-shaped pickup is secretly unique.

Now, without getting too long-winded, I'll move on to the next point. The pickups are Italian mama pickups, which are rapidly gaining popularity.

Two single-coil pickups are installed, each with a soap bar, and are positioned closer together than on a Jazz Bass.

The preamp is a 3-band Glockenklang, also a standard in Europe.

So, what about acoustic chambered pickups? When I played it, the sound wasn't particularly acoustic, but it also didn't have the controlled mids of a hollowbody bass...

However, it did have a good response and a clear feel when I played it.

When I connected it to an amp, despite the vintage-style mama pickup, the highs were clear and sparkling like those from the '70s.

Even though it's a soapbar-sized single bass, which tends to produce more lows than a regular single bass, there were no unclear lows and they were easy to hear.

Perhaps this is due to the influence of the chambered bass, or whether it's well-controlled by the chambered bass?

When I ran it through a preamp, it had an even more refined feel, a feel common to European-made basses.

Even when I turned up the highs, it didn't sound harsh, but rather had a crisp higher end.

Even when I turned up the mids and bass, the goal was to deliver a clear sound rather than a driving feel.

The tension you feel when you play it gives the feeling that the entire body is flexible, and compared to a solid body, you don't have to play as vigorously; once you find the right sound, you can play very lightly. Perhaps this is why it's called an "acoustic chambered" bass.

Once you start playing different things, it's so much fun you can't stop.

I think it won the award for these easy-to-understand aspects, and the more you play it, the more enjoyable it becomes.

There's still so much more to discover, so please give it a try.

[Key Specifications]

・Color: Clear Satin

・Body: Olive Ash/Red Cedar/Olive Ash (Acoustic Chamber)

・Neck: Sycamore/Ash 24-Fret 34.25" Set Neck

・Fingerboard: Rosewood (Blackwood Binding)

・Pickups: MAMA Puncher Jazz SB

・Preamp: Glockenklang 3-Band

・Controls: Volume (Pull Passive), Balancer, Treble (With Passive Tone), Middle, Bass

・Tuning Tuners: Gotoh GRL510M

・Bridge: Hipshot A 18mm

・Weight: 3.82kg

・Includes PROTEC CONTEGO gig bag

・Warranty: 1-Year Warranty

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