Luthier Sander de Gier is often asked for a lightweight bass, especially in his vintage-styled Soulmate model. In order to achieve a lower weight, he explored different body woods and built three basses that are otherwise identical with the same specs and parts. The three woods he used were alder, cedar, and abachi. This week we’re checking out the Soulmate with the abachi body.
Using abachi helps to shave off about 1.5 pounds from a traditional alder body. It also creates a bit of a different tonal texture.
“From my experience, I can say this: abachi has a fatter midrange, an airy kind of midrange though,” the bass builder notes. “A lot of interesting coloring happens in the mids. Hard to give words to it, but it is fascinating. I think it has the most dirt if you understand me. For a P sound that’s exactly right. But abachi also has less bottom end and is a little less bright. The sub is not there. The low notes are notes, not wooly sub. Some people like that, some don’t. It is interesting wood for a 5 string. Less sub means more note definition for the low B string.”
Other features on the Soulmate are a maple neck, zizicote fingerboard, and an Aguilar pickup. Hardware includes Hipshot tuners and a de Gier/ETS bridge.
Hear the abachi Soulmate plus the alder and cedar variations side by side in this comparison video: