| Author | Message | ||
| edwardofhuncote
Senior Member Username: edwardofhuncote Post Number: 522 Registered: 6-2014 |
resurfaces on ebay... price lowered. (somewhat) http://pages.ebay.com/link/?nav=item.view&id=262007181888&alt=web I know there's a thread here somewhere on this guitar, but I can't find it... this one should be the next in sequence with the missing #73-44. (which may or may not be the Tiran Porter bass) Maybe there's a clue here one of our residents might pick up on? | ||
| ed_zeppelin
Junior Username: ed_zeppelin Post Number: 41 Registered: 2-2010 |
I'm not good with clues, judging from the people telling me I should get one. (Just ask my wife, the Foghorn). With that out of the way, you seem to be suggesting that they may have turned Tiran Porter's bass into a guitar. I don't think so. | ||
| edwardofhuncote
Senior Member Username: edwardofhuncote Post Number: 524 Registered: 6-2014 |
Hmmm... I guess when read out loud, it did kinda' sound that way, but what really I meant by "clues" was, this guitar is a *known*, as are several documented instrumements made on either side - numbers 43, 47, etc. but this particular bass I mentioned left the shop without a number. http://alembic.com/club/messages/411/114670.html?1434592167 Councidentally or not, the specs of #44 are missing from the old records altogether, so there may not actually be an instrument bearing that number at all, or if there is, it may share some features with this guitar. Just a little unsolved mystery. =) **I haven't quite nailed down all the minutiae of vintage Alembics (like I have say on vintage C.F. Martin) but there are a couple ladies and fellas here with a much sharper eye for those details than me. I spent waaaay too much time in the Showcase section this past year... accidentally memorized a bunch of early serial numbers. | ||
| ed_zeppelin
Junior Username: ed_zeppelin Post Number: 42 Registered: 2-2010 |
** ooh, ooh, I love name-dropping when it involves fairly obscure people. In this case, I'm friends with Dick Boak, since before he founded ASIA http://asiartisans.org/content/ He told me that when he was hired to manage Martin, the first thing he did was perform a technique from "A Passion For Excellence" called "management by walking around." His pet peeve was the "Martin pickguard crack" (between the pickguard and the south edge of the bridge) so ubiquitous that it's actually used by collectors for authentication. In ten minutes, he solved a problem that had existed for over a century: the glue for the pickguards was a holdover from the 1890s. It and the pickguard were inflexible - for a decade or two, when the glue started breaking down - and were glued to a thin sheet of soundboard that was chosen for its flexibility. A half-inch away, the inflexible bridge was glued ... Y'see where this is going? Dick said he went to an ACE hardware in Nazareth, bought a bunch of tubes of a much more flexible glue, brought it back to the factory and said; "here. Use this." Problem solved. (After over a century.) Here's another hot tip you won't see in any book: Dick was walking around - managing - and stopped to watch them laying out headstocks using ancient wood templates. The craftsman proudly noted that the template Dick was holding had been in continuous use since the factory was located in New York, shortly after the Civil War. Dick said that all he saw was that the constant use had worn away the corners of the template, to the point where they were more like half-circles. "Time for a new template," he said. Take a look at the corners of the headstocks on Dreadnaughts. You'll see it, once you know it's there. The old ones are nice and crisp, then... And you'll be able to see when they made a new template, too. (Message edited by Ed_zeppelin on August 17, 2015) | ||
| edwardofhuncote
Senior Member Username: edwardofhuncote Post Number: 525 Registered: 6-2014 |
Yes, like *that kind* of minutiae... you've totally got me pegged Ed Zep... =) I'm pretty sure the crisper cornered headstocks reappeared in 1964, and the older rounded-over ones slowly began to phase out. I've often thought (and posted such) that Alembic in 1973 is very much like Martin must have been in their formative years, the path to greatness was set, but the clearly defined was yet to come. Just within a couple dozen numbers made just before, or right after this guitar, are several variations on tailpieces, logos, body shapes... all very formative. I swear sometimes you can see two headstocks with the same grain pattern in the veneer. It's simply fascinating... must have really been something to see the evolution taking place firsthand. | ||
| ed_zeppelin
Junior Username: ed_zeppelin Post Number: 43 Registered: 2-2010 |
Here's one of my Martins:   | ||
| gtrguy
Senior Member Username: gtrguy Post Number: 912 Registered: 9-2004 |
What was Dick thinking when they created this baby?  | ||
| ed_zeppelin
Junior Username: ed_zeppelin Post Number: 44 Registered: 2-2010 |
Oh sure, blame it on Dick. People have been blaming Dick for a long, long time. But I know Dick like the back of my hand. At the first opportunity Dick rises to the challenge and is pumped to get his head back in the game, unless people just pay Dick "lip service" and the opportunity is blown. Then they have to swallow their pride and Dick hangs his head in shame. That's what Dick must have been thinking with that instrument. They thought they were getting into the real thing, but instead it just sucks. It's certainly not the first time someone has blamed Dick for letting them down, nor will it be the last. Trust me. ;) | ||
| gtrguy
Senior Member Username: gtrguy Post Number: 914 Registered: 9-2004 |
Oh no, I actually like it. And, it is very well built out of nice components. It just sort of looks funny... I am gigging with it in a country band! | ||
| edwardofhuncote
Senior Member Username: edwardofhuncote Post Number: 528 Registered: 6-2014 |
Same here... I liked those EB series, short-lived as they were. It was a radical departure from their solid reputation as a builder of top-shelf acoustics, that's for sure. Gutsy. I'd like to find one some day for a restoration or maybe even a five-string conversion project. Never met Mr. Boak, but I did meet his associate Mr. Longworth once, and talked with him on one occasion when I had an old kinda' rare Martin guitar that needed identification. And several years later met C.F.IV himself at a trade show. Those guys are heros to me, cool that you actually know some of them! Tis a small world... indeed! Wow, this ebay thread went somewhere I hadn't thought of... I'm still hoping someone might chime in here on old #45. | ||
| elwoodblue
Senior Member Username: elwoodblue Post Number: 1671 Registered: 6-2002 |
Cool thread indeed! I'm wondering if you guys could help me identify an old acoustic I have...it's an oddball (I'll start a new thread). | ||
| edwardofhuncote
Senior Member Username: edwardofhuncote Post Number: 529 Registered: 6-2014 |
Sure, I'll take a swing. =) Agree, it would be very interesting to start a potluck guitar/luthiers thread. | ||
| ed_zeppelin
Junior Username: ed_zeppelin Post Number: 46 Registered: 2-2010 |
>>>Same here... I liked those EB series, short-lived as they were. <<< I had a '55 EB-1 ($100, pristine condition) because when I saw it in a pawnshop I immediately thought of "Abbey Road." I was disappointed to find that it sounded nothing like Paul's Hofner, so it went into the "time out corner," until it learned to behave. I decided to use it for a bluegrass gig with a Carvin Stagemate, because it was sorta violin-ish and electric instruments were frowned upon. The caterwaul-a-thon was held in a high school auditorium, and equipment (cases, stands etc.) were stashed in the band room next door to the auditorium. There was a line of Sousaphones and Tubas on the walls of the band room, and having played tuba and string bass since 7th grade, I asked if I could play a particularly nice 4-valve Bb tuba, and permission was granted. I knew instantly at the first flatulant blast that it was precisely the identical tone as the EB-1. Dead on. And so is every EB I've heard since. I'm not kidding. They sound like tubas. So I sold it, for $200, congratulating myself on my cleverness for having doubled my money. But not for long. It had the rare TWO painted f-holes and the original tuners from '54. It was worth about $2,500 when I sold it (up to $5,000 nowadays.) So my advice is; if you're trying to decide between an EB-1 and a tuba, save your breath. | ||
| lbpesq
Senior Member Username: lbpesq Post Number: 6205 Registered: 7-2004 |
You are talking about a Gibson EB-1, correct? Martin produced the above-pictured EB-18, (which, by the way, despite its appearance, was not a neck-thru), and the EB-28 with active electronics! Bill, tgo | ||
| ed_zeppelin
Junior Username: ed_zeppelin Post Number: 47 Registered: 2-2010 |
Oops. What I know about Martin planks would fit in a gnat's behind and rattle around like a BB in a boxcar. When Edward mentioned "EB" my neck crinkled like crepe paper, which I took as a sign to rant about something completely irrelevant. Conclusion: I've finally turned into my dad.  | ||
| gtrguy
Senior Member Username: gtrguy Post Number: 915 Registered: 9-2004 |
I had a Gibson Melody Maker bass (almost just like the Gibson EB) from 1968 in a rare pelham green that I sold last year for $1300. It had the mudbucker pickup and just sounded too farty for me. Some of it was from the cap they used. However, we did recently share a gig with a band where they bass player had a newish Gibson EB that was going through a nice loud bass rig and I was surprised how good it sounded. It had no high end at all and did not compete with anything else in the band. | ||
| hammer
Senior Member Username: hammer Post Number: 734 Registered: 9-2009 |
I've been experimenting with my 1970 EB-3 running it through my SF-2 and Phil Jones cabs. Relying heavily of the tone shaping capabilities of the SF-2 I can actually get it to sound like something other than a tuba. Still thinking about whether I want to make modifications in an attempt to recreate Phil's early EB bass. | ||
| edwardofhuncote
Senior Member Username: edwardofhuncote Post Number: 534 Registered: 6-2014 |
All aboard... a new thread here: http://alembic.com/club/messages/449/212068.html?1440013992 |
