| Author | Message | ||
| enzo
Senior Member Username: enzo Post Number: 514 Registered: 4-2009 |
http://www.ebay.com/itm/111742673846?_trksid=p2060353.m1438.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT This came up again a while ago and it seemed to have a crack on the fretboard. It was discussed here http://alembic.com/club/messages/395/188318.html?1394777952 | ||
| jazzyvee
Senior Member Username: jazzyvee Post Number: 4620 Registered: 6-2002 |
Yummy....!! | ||
| enzo
Senior Member Username: enzo Post Number: 515 Registered: 4-2009 |
Jazzy would you buy it knowing it can hide a problem (although fixable if you're willing to pay)? I'm tempted myself... | ||
| jazzyvee
Senior Member Username: jazzyvee Post Number: 4624 Registered: 6-2002 |
I dont know enough about wood or even ebony to know if a crack like that will progress quickly or can be stopped/slowed down by some kind of repair. Thats the info i'd need before i would make the decision. Then armed with that I would try to negotiate a discount to fund all or part of the repair. The worst case scenario would be to get a new fretboard which is something alembic or another luthier could do. | ||
| enzo
Senior Member Username: enzo Post Number: 517 Registered: 4-2009 |
I asked seller to take a close up picture of the area or at least tell me if it looks professionally repaired or something but he didn't reply. Not encouraging. | ||
| ed_zeppelin
Junior Username: ed_zeppelin Post Number: 45 Registered: 2-2010 |
That's a screaming deal as it is (don't tell the seller that, though  ) cracks along the grain aren't that big a deal, in my astonishingly humble opinion. Easily repaired and you'd never even know it was there, and like a fractured bone, once it's healed it will be stronger than it was before. Option one: send it to the mothership. It's worth every penny, because afterward, every time you open the case and gaze upon gleaming perfection it'll go right to your backbone. You'll be able to play stuff you never thought possible. People will weep and you'll become rich and famous. You watch. Option two: take it to a repairman of repute. This is the Alembic Club, we can recommend people in your area. We know stuff. If it was a mass-produced plank, me and others would tell you how to patch it back up and get back to playing those Journey covers, but it ain't. It's an Alembic, the highest art in musical instruments, up there with Steinway, D'Angelico and Amati. Just my opinion. I'd snag that baby myself, if I could afford the ensuing divorce. | ||
| fc_spoiler
Senior Member Username: fc_spoiler Post Number: 1772 Registered: 5-2006 |
My '88 Spoiler had a crack like that at the end of the fingerboard, after a thorough Lemon oil treatment it almost completely disappeared :-) (you can only see a tiny hairline now) | ||
| bigredbass
Senior Member Username: bigredbass Post Number: 2427 Registered: 9-2002 |
WARNING BRAZEN THREAD HIJACK IN PROGRESS So Forest, as you've obviously been around the repair bench for a long time, and we were talking about fingerboards, what do you think about PLEK ? Joey | ||
| enzo
Senior Member Username: enzo Post Number: 518 Registered: 4-2009 |
I can tell you something, last year this bass was for sale on Talkbass, the seller was a repair guy with a store in Cicinnati (the guy on Ebay is also from Cincy). I was interested in the bass also back then, but right after I sent him a PM trying to understand the situation about the crack, he closed the thread saying it was sold, but never replied me, just like the guy on ebay. Maybe it's a coincidence. Anyway, if a repair guy refuses to disclose the crack, instead of assuring me the crack was addressed and was stabilized, that's more concerning. What if the truss rod was maxed out and started to crack the fretboard? Sure you can send it to the factory and have it fixed but it's not cheap even though after it's done it would guarantee you to have a great bass for the next 30 years. I'm not an expert and perhaps I'm too worried but I follow my 101 guide on buying instruments from people that don't like to communicate. | ||
| jazzyvee
Senior Member Username: jazzyvee Post Number: 4629 Registered: 6-2002 |
Sold for $1,775 which i think is a fair price if all is well with the bass. | ||
| ed_zeppelin
Junior Username: ed_zeppelin Post Number: 48 Registered: 2-2010 |
>>> if a repair guy refuses to disclose the crack, instead of assuring me the crack was addressed and was stabilized, that's more concerning. ... Sure you can send it to the factory and have it fixed but it's not cheap even though after it's done it would guarantee you to have a great bass for the next 30 years. <<< I apologize if I seemed flip about it. I'm with you. In fact, I joined eBay in its first year, when you could still find screamin' deals and there were no "stores" selling new stuff, and your feedback score really meant something. Now, I've been burned so many times I make it a practice to ask the seller something before I bid, just to see if they reply. If they don't, I don't buy it, no matter how cheap it is. A couple of months ago I found my dream car on Craigslist, a '96 Volvo 960 wagon, the safest car ever made (before Ford bought them and drove the brand into the ground like a friggin' DART, then sold 'em to a Chinese auto dealership that had been counterfeiting Volvos for years ... Grrrrrr) I contacted the seller and asked him if there were any electrical system issues (just to ask something). No reply. Two days later the ad was pulled. I assumed he sold it. A week later it showed up again. I contacted the seller and asked if it had he Nivomat system (never buy a German or Scandinavian car without it). No reply. I called him. He was a real jerk about it. Couldn't even be bothered to open the owner's manual to look, even after I told him what page to look on. I didn't buy it. As far as I'm concerned, he saved me from sending five grand to some jerk with zero integrity. TWICE. I also resolved to never even LOOK on craigslist for anything. I'm done. I've had enough of fakes and flakes. Personally, I think you were right not to buy the bass. Good instincts. Alan Watts said; "you walk into a store with money, and you leave with wealth." (That thumping sound is Alan whirling like a camshaft in his grave, from me turning his 250,000 word essay "Wealth Versus Money" into the literary equivalent to a soundbite.) http://www.beezone.com/alanwatts/moneyversuswealth/moneyvswealth_book.html With something like an Alembic (or late 90s Volvo 960s) the "wealth" is subjective. It's beyond the way it sounds or feels, it's in knowing down to your core that it's the BEST. I pull that bad boy out and play "God of Thunder" for an evening, then pack it in my 1992 Volvo 960 wagon (with 3/4 of a million miles on it, which is why I want a newer one) and drive home at 2:00 AM with the drunks I just played for, and I'm safe in my steel cocoon. I'm a musician and repairman because of my older brother. He was killed by a drunk driver. So feeling safe and secure is my definition of wealth. Another is the feeling I get when I open my Alembic's case, before I've played a note. I'm sending my Series 1 to the mothership soon, to have the knobs rotated and the oil changed. So I'm putting my money where my wealth is. By the way, if you read Alan Watts' 1970 essay I linked, see if you can spot his mention of Alembic. It's not by name, but there's no question of *who he's talking about. * "As far as I'm concerned, 'whom' is a word that was invented to make everyone sound like Butlers." - Calvin Trillin |
