# NBD: God of wine... and bass. And DOOM.



## Grand Moff Tim (Feb 26, 2014)

I recently joined a local sludge/doom band on bass, and they play in drop D so far. That gave me an excuse to get a 4 string to tune to drop D, _and_ something more... aesthetically appropriate for a sludge/doom group.

What'd I end up with? Pics first, specs after the jump.
































































Model: Bacchus Japan Handmade Series PJ Woodline Ash 4

Body: Two piece light ash
Body Finish: Brown oil
Neck: Maple
Neck Finish: Satin lacquer
Scale: 34"
Fingerboard: Ebony
Inlays: Pearloid blocks
Neck binding: Pearloid
Tuners: Gotoh GB11W
Bridge: Bacchus DB
Pickguard: Clear
Pickups: Bacchus P/J set
Electronics: V/V/T, flat tob chrome knobs.



Holy shit, you guys. I fvcking love this bass. I mean, look at the goddamned thing. Tell that isn't doom as fvck. It's DOOM AS FVCK. This thing is fvcking mint, and the crafstmanship is ridiculous. Given it's such a quality instrument made in Japan AND available for well under $2k, I'm honestly surprised you don't see more of these things around. There's also a cheaper import line made in the Philippines, which is interesting.

The satin finish on the neck is absurd. I know, I know, I sound like I'm being hyperbolic, but I just love it. When I first started playing it I thought there was talcum powder on the neck or something from being in storage (which of course makes no sense ), but nope. It's just _that_ smooth. Smother than Billy Dee Williams selling you a cold malt liquor. It also has the tightest neck pocket I've ever seen. I'd probably struggle to cram a piece of tracing paper into the "gap."

I'm pretty surprised at how smooth the body finish feels, too. It's my first oiled finish guitar or bass, so I didn't really know what to expect. Happily, it feels great. Smooth, not sticky or rough anywhere, and it looks great on the ash body. Speaking of the ash, I'm pleased with how light the whole thing is. The Bacchus in its gig bag is certainly loads lighter than my BTB5 in its case, which weighs about seventeen thousand tons.

The fretwork, binding, and inlays are impeccable, as you can hopefully see in the shitty pics I took. The action was suitable out of the box, too, once I tuned it up. My little ladyfingers feel much more nimble on a 34" 4 string than my 35" 5 string, too, which makes me feel like I'm suddenly a much better bassist than I actually am .

The tuners are as solid and accurate as you can expect from Gotoh stuff. No complaints there. The bridge is a proprietary Bacchus two piece affair, and I honestly have no idea how to adjust it . I'm sure if I sat down with it for a bit to figure it out I'd be able to, but why do that when I could just play the damned thing? It seems stable enough so far, so I'll cross that bridge when I come to it.

The electronics are... I don't know, adequate? I'm pretty spoiled by the Nordstrands & 3-band active/passive EQ on my BTB, so I'm not really wowed by the OEM pups in this thing. I do enjoy finally having a bass with a P pickup, though (I've only had Js or soapbars so far). Gotta love that P-thump, or rolling back on the tone and playing some muted Jamerson-style lines. I'm sure I'll be more than fine with the OEMs for a while yet, but it's not outside the realm of possibility that I'll drop in some Nordstrands somewhere down the line.


Hmmmm. That was an awfully glowing review. I'd better think of something negative to say about it...


I'm used to the nice smooth rounded edges of my Nordy pups, so the hard edge/corner of the P-pup makes for a comparatively uncomfortable thumb rest. That counts as a criticism, right?



Aaaaaaanyways, yeah. This thing fvcking kills, and I can't believe I don't see more Bacchuses (that looks wrong no matter how I pluralized it) floating around on the webz. If you fellas get a chance to check one out, especially from the MiJ handmade series, do it.


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## alchemyst (Feb 26, 2014)

Wow, looks really nice. HNBD!


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## TRENCHLORD (Feb 26, 2014)

Yes I can!
(I'd only have a 4-string btw , if I had a bass )

Have a blast with it.


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## Winspear (Feb 26, 2014)

Absolutely gorgeous Tim. I find myself wanting one, haha!

With your closeup of the bridge I can see what kind of adjustment it is now, if you didn't figure it out already. It's the same as the ABM saddles on my ViK. Those little screws just create pressure against the bridge frame and hold the saddle in place. You just back them off and then slide the saddle by hand  Kind of annoying bridges because the string usually needs to be loosened to get the tool in there, and adjusting accurately by hand can be tricky especially if the string isn't loose enough.


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## lewstherin006 (Feb 26, 2014)

congrats bro that thing is awesome!!!


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## LordCashew (Feb 26, 2014)

Grand Moff Tim said:


> The bridge is a proprietary Bacchus two piece affair, and I honestly have no idea how to adjust it ... so I'll cross that bridge when I come to it.



 Was that intentional?

Anyway, that's a really sweet bass. Interesting, cool aesthetic all around and I especially love the finish! It reminds me of some bookshelves from the '70s I used to have, in the best way possible.


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## Orgalmer (Feb 26, 2014)

Loving the clear pickup guard... and the whole bass in general. This thing looks killer man!


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## Kaickul (Feb 26, 2014)

HNDB! Absolutely beautiful, perfect for doom! I didn't know they have Bacchus guitars from here, the ones that I know of and have seen a lot here are Brian which is made by Bacchus.


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## Grand Moff Tim (Feb 26, 2014)

widowmaker38 said:


> I didn't know they may Bacchus guitars here, the ones I know of and have seen a lot here are Brian which is made by Bacchus.



Yeah, the Bacchus Global Series (B-Custom, B-Line, W-Line, and Commando models, I think) are made there.


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## pushpull7 (Feb 27, 2014)

I think these were available in the USA a while back and now they are not. Look like a viable solution to my needs (but I have no money)


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## BrailleDecibel (Feb 27, 2014)

That bass is definitely doomy enough to do Gir proud!






Seriously, that looks like such a ridiculously comfortable bass to play, you scored big-time! Happy NBD!


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## Hollowway (Feb 27, 2014)

So are the other people in the band English speaking teachers, or are they locals? I think it would be totally cool if they were locals.


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## Grand Moff Tim (Feb 27, 2014)

English teachers, unfortunately. One Brit and one American, and they're both leaving Korea in August, so I'll be band-less again at that point.


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## Murmel (Feb 27, 2014)

Dude, that is so awesome. Does it have a more modern, or a vintage character?


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## Syriel (Feb 27, 2014)

Bacchuses are awesome. I'm GASSING for one right now, and you're just feeding it. 

HNBD!


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## TemjinStrife (Feb 27, 2014)

Looks like a Sadowsky-style instrument with the headstock and smaller body. Love the P/J setup on the bound-and-blocked Jazz, though.

Basically, looks like you could take it to a death metal gig one day, then turn around and play jazz standards with it the next.


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## TheWarAgainstTime (Feb 27, 2014)

Makes me want to get into bass  and doom  

HNBD!


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## Grand Moff Tim (Feb 27, 2014)

Murmel said:


> Dude, that is so awesome. Does it have a more modern, or a vintage character?



It sounds pretty vintage to my ears, but I'm not really coming from a position of authority on the matter .


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## Grand Moff Tim (Feb 27, 2014)

TemjinStrife said:


> Looks like a Sadowsky-style instrument with the headstock and smaller body. Love the P/J setup on the bound-and-blocked Jazz, though.
> 
> Basically, looks like you could take it to a death metal gig one day, then turn around and play jazz standards with it the next.



Haha, I didn't even notice the body was smaller than a standard Jazz. It'd been a while since I've played one, and just about anything feels smaller next to my BTB5. The P/J setup was definitely a selling point for me, since I've been listening to a ton of music with P-using bassists over the past several months, and I'd never had anything with a P-pup of my own.

It does have a fairly multipurpose aesthetic, yeah. More importantly, though, it's

DOOM.

AS.

*FUCK.*


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## JPhoenix19 (Feb 27, 2014)

It's doom chic


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## Vostre Roy (Feb 28, 2014)

I'd switch to bass in my band just so I could play THAT bass.

Looks awesome man, congrats!


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## Herrick (Mar 1, 2014)

That's very cool, mang.


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## shadowlife (Mar 2, 2014)

One of the coolest basses i've seen in quite a while. Congrats.


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## hairychris (Mar 3, 2014)

Ooooh, swanky!


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