Ashdown The Grail bass 5-string, Candy Apple Red

ASHDOWN THE GRAIL BASS, CO-DESIGNED WITH DAN LAKIN

We had a 1962 Candy Apple Red bass that was sadly stolen from the Bass Center in Wapping, the neck however has always been a favourite and over the years we have used it in various forms from T-Basses to Lodestones. This one has a much more classic aesthetic and little less out there in terms of design. We love it and think you will to, with its oiled neck and premium hardware this instrument is perfect. A final set up and quality control takes place in the UK before hitting the road. Our basses only further offer an insight into our passion for bass.

Using Hipshot Tuners, Wilkinson Bridges these basses have been made using the best possible materials for professional use on the road, at home or in the studio the Ashdown range of basses have been built to stand the test of time.

The story: Dan Lakin Luthier/bass aficionado and Mark Gooday, friends for many years have pooled skills, resources and passion for Bass with a line of co-designed Dan Lakin and Ashdown Engineered manufactured Bass guitars, to start it was just going to be one bass but as you can imagine things got a little carried away and we opted to go all out with an impressive range of instruments.

Dan’s passion sees him making basses in Chicago to order and totally USA built. Basses built to order are one thing but getting a brand out there as he had in the past was not of interest to him.

So with Dan in tow Ashdown is taking up that mantra for him as having made basses before and always wishing to do so again, a Chance meeting in Chicago Music Exchange on a road trip for Mark saw the seeds of interest sown.

Months later those seeds come to reality...

Originally our necks were going to be finished with polymerized low-sheen tung oil. This product became increasingly difficult to source. Birchwood-Casey Tru-Oil brand gun stock oil turned out to be the best substitute product to obtain the classic feel of our bass neck.

SPECIFICATIONS:

• BODY WOOD - LIGHTWEIGHT ALDER
• BODY FINISH - HIGH GLOSS POLY
• NECK WOOD - MAPLEFINGERBOARD WOOD – ROSEWOOD
• NECK FINISH - OIL
• FINGERBOARD RADIUS - 10
• TRUSS ROD - 2 WAY - ALLEN ADJUSTMENT AT BODY
• INLAYS - DOT AND OR BLOCKS WITH BINDING
• NUT - BONE
• FRETS NO. - 20
• SCALE - 35
• PICKUPS - 2 -J STYLE SINGLE COIL
• PICKGUARD - WHITE
• CIRCUIT - NONE
• CONTROLS – VOL/VOL/TONE
• POTS - 3 - CTS STYLE 250K
• KNOBS – JBASS STYLESWITCH – NONE
• HARDWARE COLOUR - CHROME
• BRIDGE - 4 STRING THROUGH BRIDGE STRINGING ONLY
• TUNERS - HIPSHOT LICENSED - ULTRA-LTE CHROME
• STRINGS - HIGH QUALITY - STAINLESS STEEL ROUNDWOUND .045-.125
• STRING RETAINER - STRING TREE
• STRAPS - DUAL DESIGN
• WEIGHTS - 4KG