| Author | Message | ||
| cosmic
Member Username: cosmic Post Number: 57 Registered: 5-2005 |
I finally added an Alembic to the flock. I bought an '88 Spoiler in black! It needed to be set-up bad, so I followed some of the instructions on the forum, put on a set of my preferred strings and set the nut, bridge, truss rods and intonation. It is in perfect intonation. The strings are a little higher than I'd like, but I play with a pick and fingers and have an aggressive style at times so I had to raise them a touch. I will be slowly lowering them as time goes on. One thing I noticed was the truss rods were not equal. The rod for the low strings had threads exposed, while the high strings did not. I assume this is due to the low strings being under less tension, and the high strings needing a little more support for that side. Make sense? The neck is straight and true with just a little relief. I will keep an eye on it to make sure it does not twist -- but it is a 21 year old bass, this is how the rods were and the neck is fine so I assume the wood has just settled into this configuration. One question -- how can I go about replacing the pickup selector with a pan pot? I am used to this control from my Modulus basses and like the infinite sounds it offers. Is this an easy change? Plug and play or is there a lot of soldering and other stuff involved? | ||
| davehouck
Moderator Username: davehouck Post Number: 8228 Registered: 5-2002 |
Congrats on the Spoiler! A quick search of the board suggests that replacing the selector switch with a pan pot is not a plug and play upgrade. Mica has described it as an advanced do-it-yourself project. In addition to the pan pot, there are some resistors and capacitors to be added as well. | ||
| mario_farufyno
Intermediate Member Username: mario_farufyno Post Number: 122 Registered: 9-2008 |
There is a thread where people discussed this assimetry on dual Truss Rod. As long as I can remember, the idea is to keep them always equal. Check out that thread, Cosmic Bro... http://alembic.com/club/messages/394/49337.html?1224070401 | ||
| adriaan
Senior Member Username: adriaan Post Number: 2251 Registered: 6-2002 |
No, the point is that changes you make to the truss rods should be about the same on both sides. The length of the threaded part sticking out of the nut is irrelevant, since the rods are quite probably not the exact same length to begin with. | ||
| mario_farufyno
Intermediate Member Username: mario_farufyno Post Number: 123 Registered: 9-2008 |
Sure... Now, this made sense. They should be adjusted together, and this doesn't mean both will be at same tension (or same lenght). A matter of common sense: They simply must set the Neck Relief at your needs on each side - and this means more than any relative position. Thanks, Adriaan! | ||
| cosmic
Member Username: cosmic Post Number: 58 Registered: 5-2005 |
Thanks for the info. Sorry I disappeared for a few weeks. I just got back from traveling and seeing some great music and bassists. I saw the Dead headline the Rothbury Festival in Michigan on 4th of July weekend. A lot of great acts played, including Dylan, Willie,String Cheese, Zappa plays Zappa (who are excellent) and a string of others. And last week I went to a festival in West Virginia where Bob Weir & Ratdog, moe, Les Claypool and several other great acts played. Lot's of great music crammed into a few weeks. Now I am back to woodshedding on my bass and trying to nick a few tricks I learned. Thank for the head's up on the truss rods. After my first post I loosened the strings and the loosened both rods completely. I then tighten each equally until they were "just" starting to snug. After settlinag, I reset the rods equally slowly on both sides until I got the relief I like. So far, so good. All seems happy in Spoiler land. I love the bass, love the clear, warm, rich and round sound it gets -- and am digging the 32 inch scale after coming off a 5 and 6 string Modulus. My fingers are flying on this neck. | ||
| cosmic
Member Username: cosmic Post Number: 59 Registered: 5-2005 |
And P.S. An Alembic Spoiler looks absolutely badass in black. | ||
| dannobasso
Senior Member Username: dannobasso Post Number: 1064 Registered: 3-2004 |
Tell me about it! And we get less flak about it nowadays. Trust me on that one. Congrats and welcome. | ||
| serialnumber12
Senior Member Username: serialnumber12 Post Number: 491 Registered: 12-2004 |
All i can say is "Tare into your alembic & beat the shyt out of it, Wood was made to be 'Hammered'  (Message edited by serialnumber12 on July 19, 2009) | ||
| chalie_holmes
Intermediate Member Username: chalie_holmes Post Number: 119 Registered: 3-2009 |
SPANKALEMBIC! IT'S SYSTEMIC, AIN'T NO GIMMICK,TAKE IT TO THE LIMIT. BOOYAH! BABY! PEACE-N-OUT! CUB SCOUT! CHALIE HO! | ||
| hendixclarke
Senior Member Username: hendixclarke Post Number: 879 Registered: 6-2007 |
Why don't you show us pictures? That's a hidden rule... (Message edited by hendixclarke on July 18, 2009) | ||
| cosmic
Member Username: cosmic Post Number: 61 Registered: 5-2005 |
FInally, here are some picks of my black beauty. She was born in 1988 and still sounds and plays great. She has some nicks, dings, rashes from an aggressive picker, but I do not care. I buy basses to play, not look at it. And this one plays nicely -- both with a pick and fingers.    | ||
| davehouck
Moderator Username: davehouck Post Number: 8759 Registered: 5-2002 |
Very nice!! | ||
| pauldo
Advanced Member Username: pauldo Post Number: 278 Registered: 6-2006 |
nice. . . hmmmmm - What does the back look like? | ||
| sonicus
Advanced Member Username: sonicus Post Number: 379 Registered: 5-2009 |
Looks like a good player _ NICE! | ||
| mario_farufyno
Advanced Member Username: mario_farufyno Post Number: 289 Registered: 9-2008 |
Shure you don't choose a Bass just by how it looks, but your Spoiler looks great though... Congratulations! | ||
| cosmic
Member Username: cosmic Post Number: 64 Registered: 5-2005 |
Thanks everyone! I just played her tonight with my buddies. Half with fingers, half with a pick. The sounds was awesome. Pauldo, the back looks fine. A couple dings, typical bit of belt rash, nothing major that wears through the finish. Why do you ask? Should I be looking for something? | ||
| mario_farufyno
Advanced Member Username: mario_farufyno Post Number: 290 Registered: 9-2008 |
Not at all, ha ha ha. That reminds me I didn't showed him my Rogue's back already... | ||
| pauldo
Advanced Member Username: pauldo Post Number: 279 Registered: 6-2006 |
Cosmic - Some people think I have issues . . . I really like seeing the backside of Alembic's. There is a purity of the form to be seen from that side. The front has the strings and knobs, switches, lights, fancy inlays and figure woods (or professional paint jobs). But the back! The Rear is where the fundamental foundation of the instrument is born from,,,, it holds the front together, it supports the front,,, without it the front would be nothing but "the front" - yes the backside complete's the instrument! Seeing the simplicity of the back compared to beautiful fronts satisfies me greatly. Yeah, I DO have issues, but I have come to terms with them and feel very comfortable with my own insanity. :-) Enjoy your bass. . . | ||
| alembickoa
Member Username: alembickoa Post Number: 71 Registered: 5-2002 |
Nice bass and welcome. I had a Spoiler once and just loved it. There was an electronics issue with it, so I moseyed into Alembic, Ron took it in the back, came back out and voyla! These are really underrated instruments...imho. Even I was guilty of Alembic "snobbery" and after finding out that the same love goes into all of them, well...again, welcome. | ||
| mario_farufyno
Advanced Member Username: mario_farufyno Post Number: 291 Registered: 9-2008 |
I knew that I've never could put it better than Paul himself... Not an issue, by the way, to me Paul just wants to get the whole thing. Is to consider what most people simply are not even aware. | ||
| enzo
Intermediate Member Username: enzo Post Number: 134 Registered: 4-2009 |
Paul you're cracking me up ! hahaha ! | ||
| bigredbass
Senior Member Username: bigredbass Post Number: 1300 Registered: 9-2002 |
Since I own a Spoiler and since this is new to you, I thought I'd ask: In the photos, the pickups are really high in their routs, and I wanted to check if you know how to adjust them should you want to change those heights. I have a panpot on my other axes, but I'm spoiled rotten to the 'standby' position on the rotary switch, so I decided to leave it as is. I agree that with age, this bass has most likely settled down into its long-term stage, especially regarding its neck relief. You can double check the double truss rod part by checking with a feeler guage, a pick, anything you can use as a guage: If the relief under the G and the E around the 9th or 10th fret is roughly equivalent, you're in the right spot regardless of what the truss rods look like in terms of how many threads are showing, how tight/loose one feels alongside the other, etc. I love colored Alembics. They do fabulous paint jobs, and there's enough 'brown' ones out there! | ||
| terryc
Senior Member Username: terryc Post Number: 1054 Registered: 11-2004 |
bigred..do you think they are high?..looking at it I would say they are just about right, the bridge is raised to 'catch' more string excursion and the neck one lowered where there is greater string movement. My MK is about the same heights. | ||
| adriaan
Senior Member Username: adriaan Post Number: 2310 Registered: 6-2002 |
Some pics of the pickup heights and action of my Spoiler here - same vintage as this black beauty, by the way. I lowered both pickups just enough for the string not to "fret out" on the shells, with a pretty low action and a fairly straight neck. Looking at the bridge here, the bass side is further up than I have it, and of course the bridge pickup has the same inclination. | ||
| bigredbass
Senior Member Username: bigredbass Post Number: 1301 Registered: 9-2002 |
No, I don't think they're too high; I just wanted to be sure our new friend didn't break them if he didn't know the drill, as happens occasionally. This adjustment, like others has no 'right' answer or 'factory setting'. Just looking out for a newbie. | ||
| sonicus
Advanced Member Username: sonicus Post Number: 388 Registered: 5-2009 |
You are right______ I think once one realizes how well the Alembic pickup adjustment works you feel lucky to own it ! | ||
| mario_farufyno
Advanced Member Username: mario_farufyno Post Number: 293 Registered: 9-2008 |
Changing PU's height and taking off the Knobs are two things that always surprizes any new Alembician... My lucky was to find you guys before doing anything wrong. | ||
| sonicus
Advanced Member Username: sonicus Post Number: 391 Registered: 5-2009 |
Yes ! Same here Mario ____ | ||
| bigredbass
Senior Member Username: bigredbass Post Number: 1302 Registered: 9-2002 |
. . . . and of course, besides pickup and knob school, I did THIS: I bought my first one used, and decided if I was gonna polish the brass bits, I'd have to remove and disassemble the bridge to do a throrough job (thank goodness the bird tailpiece was clear-coated). Took it off, took it completely apart, cleaned it, lubed the threaded rods, etc., put it back on the bass (Looks Like New!), re-strung it, got out the tuner . . . . and realized I'd put it back on BACKWARDS ! I always say idiot-proofing me is a full-time job. | ||
| cosmic
Member Username: cosmic Post Number: 65 Registered: 5-2005 |
THanks for the info guys. I did read about how to adjust the pickups and toyed with them a little to get an even response across the strings. It seems to be working pretty good. I am sure as time goes by I will keep messing around with them and tweaking a few things here and there. So far I have not found too much use of the q switch - a little to harsh for me. I love the low pass filter. I switch between a pick and my fingers. I adjust the filter according to which one I am using. It seems to makes it very easy to keep a consistent tone between the bright pick and the darker fingers. | ||
| adriaan
Senior Member Username: adriaan Post Number: 2317 Registered: 6-2002 |
Ditto on the Q switch for me. I got it converted to a three position toggle with 0/3/6 dB settings instead of the standard 0/8 dB. With the filter wide open, finger-style playing, on a rig with a tweeter, the 3 dB setting adds a little sparkle that you certainly notice, and 6 dB just means more sparkle, without the harshness from 8 dB. I never have the LPF anywhere but fully open, seems like the drop-off rate is too strong for me. You can dismount the cicuit board and the wiring harness, and send it to the mothership for modification. While they're at it, you could also have them replace the pu selector with a pan pot - it will unlock a wide range of tone options that the pu selector is keeping away from you. | ||
| mario_farufyno
Advanced Member Username: mario_farufyno Post Number: 302 Registered: 9-2008 |
Oh, I'd like to do that mod, too. Can't we do this by ourselves? Can you say how much it was? Sorry hijacking this thread, Joey... | ||
| adriaan
Senior Member Username: adriaan Post Number: 2325 Registered: 6-2002 |
Mario - it's been a few years, so costs may have gone up. It can't have been much more than 100 USD for parts and labour, add some for the postage. Then if you forget to clear with customs the package that you send out, customs could well charge import duties on the "replacement value" mentioned on the package on its way back to you. | ||
| mario_farufyno
Advanced Member Username: mario_farufyno Post Number: 306 Registered: 9-2008 |
Thanks Adriaan! |
