| Author | Message | ||
| jason
Moderator Username: jason Post Number: 24 Registered: 1-2007 |
Hello folks, I'm the new guy, sort of Val's replacement plus a bunch of additional duties. First, I do the shipping. It does not matter if it's a web order or if I take your order directly by phone. I prep it and box it, and the nice UPS guy takes it. I guess that leads to another duty, answering phones. We get about 2 cold sales calls for every 1 real call and my job is to intercept them. If you folks call up and get the third degree from me, I must apologize profusely. "Alembic, Jason speaking, may I help you?" "Hi, how are you doing?" Enthusiastically: "I'm Jamming!" "May I speak with Mr. Michael Wickersham?" DING! "No, Never. Bye." Shipping is also about doing quality assurance. I am the last person to touch your bass. Here is what is really cool about that. I can take as much time as I need to do that. I might spend an hour just sitting with your instrument looking at it. What is that speck? Polish? Still there.. Lemon oil? Still there.. Talk to James.. "I can probably buff that out." So I take it apart, so that the buffing compound doesn't make a mess of your brass. No? Send it back to spray. Just me and my bright lights and magnifying glass can delay an instrument 3 weeks. I have never gotten the impression working here that delaying an instrument on an asymptotic approach to perfection was a bad thing. Good takes time. Great takes a while longer. What Alembic is trying to do takes a bit longer than that. I track all the repairs from work order creation to shipping the newly happy bass. I have also been doing all the cleaning and organizing. Everything here gets covered rather quickly with a fine reddish brown dust. CocoBoloEbonyBrassGoldMahoganyPolyurathane dust. It actually smells good. We should bottle it. So, tons of details left out, but that is what I do here. What is my background? Well, I'm from Alaska, and spent 11 years in the Army in electronics and communications. I then got heavily into computers and have even been a writer for theinquirer.net, an online computer news rag with 2.6 million readers. I worked for HSC electronics where I met Ron and Mica several years ago. OK. This has been a bit verbose, but by now you all get the idea. I've actually met or talked with a few of you already. I've had a lot of fun here already, and can answer any questions you all might have. My email is jasonatalembicdotcom. Jason | ||
| 57basstra
Senior Member Username: 57basstra Post Number: 557 Registered: 4-2005 |
Hello, Jason. There is nothing like having a job you enjoy and people you love working with. Congrats! | ||
| dadabass2001
Senior Member Username: dadabass2001 Post Number: 766 Registered: 6-2002 |
Hello Jason, Welcome to the company and the forum. I hope you have experiences to enjoy both. Mike | ||
| lbpesq
Senior Member Username: lbpesq Post Number: 2226 Registered: 7-2004 |
Hey Jason, it was nice meeting you at the mothership on Tuesday. One question though, if you do all the stuff with the basses as you describe above, who does the guitars? hehehehe (you gotta stay on your toes around here!) Welcome aboard Bill, the guitar one | ||
| the_8_string_king
Senior Member Username: the_8_string_king Post Number: 487 Registered: 9-2005 |
Welcome Jason! I got my strap, polish, and polo shirt just fine! Keep up the good work! | ||
| olieoliver
Senior Member Username: olieoliver Post Number: 1201 Registered: 2-2006 |
Hi Jason and welcome. | ||
| adriaan
Senior Member Username: adriaan Post Number: 1368 Registered: 6-2002 |
You call that a job? It must be heaven. | ||
| kimberly
Member Username: kimberly Post Number: 64 Registered: 1-2007 |
Hello Jason.  It was nice to meet you on Tuesday and I appreciated the tour. The ambiance and magic of Alembic was very evident to me, as was likely due to your well founded presentation. In fewer words, (damn this is hard for me to do), nicely done factory tour, thank you very much. Anyway, there is no doubt in my mind you're lucky guy for working there. The rain check on lunch still stands and I look forward to it on my way back home. To any and all. I met this guy in person and he's alright. Best Regards, Kimberly | ||
| bracheen
Senior Member Username: bracheen Post Number: 1180 Registered: 11-2003 |
It smells good? Must not have any Zebrawood dust in that mix. Glad to meet you Jason. Congratulations on the job. If you want to take vacation and need someone to cover for you give me a shout. I had to think about the Michael Wickersham comment. Good one. You make guitars? Sam | ||
| bassjigga
Intermediate Member Username: bassjigga Post Number: 172 Registered: 8-2005 |
Hey Jason... So you spend an hour "looking" at our instruments huh. Come on we all know you're jammin! ;) I think I'm more worried about the "nice UPS guy" being the last person touching it... or throwing it. Dave | ||
| 5stringho
Intermediate Member Username: 5stringho Post Number: 110 Registered: 11-2006 |
Hi, Jason! Welcome to the Mothership. Best of luck in your new venture. Look forward to talking to you. Feel free to "look" ;) at mine all you want B4 you box her up. Just leave a few new licks on it for me! B Cool, Have Fun, Mike (the 'Ho)..... | ||
| jason
Moderator Username: jason Post Number: 25 Registered: 1-2007 |
The People.. they are great. Susan, cat herder in chief for 30+ years. You've got to respect her for that accomplishment. I've seen generals with less command presence. Mica, bubbly and sweet, alembic's princess, and can leave me in the dust talking about electronics (to my consternation at times) then she darts down the rabbit hole talking about wood. Ace accountant too, so I recon' by my paycheck. Mary, Alembic's glue hustling up and down the hall invoices, shipping, keeping shop and office on the same page. She worries a lot so that no one else has to. Always taking care of everyone... except herself. I've made that my job too. I make coffee for her now. James, shy and smart. bikes miles to work everyday. Extraordinary setup guy. I've watched him file a grain of sand for inlay. He makes QA really easy. Did the inlay on the anniversary fingerboards, 500 tiny interlocking pieces. Holy smokes to watch him concentrate on his work. Tony, manufactures and repairs all the electronics. He has turned around a repair 10 minutes after I took it up to him. Another marvel of concentration. Almost all of his work is done with a magnifying visor on his head. I do not work closely with the guys in the shop, but there are some standouts. Bob is the senior wood crafter, and has turned out some objects d 'art. Jaw on the floor-how did he do that stuff. Cody carves. weird thing is, and think about this for a second: he shapes the curves, which is difficult, but if it's a bit off, only a practiced eye could tell. Wood does not arrive to him flat though. He makes it flat. We all know what flat is. If he messes that up we all know. But he never does. And Ron. The first person I met from Alembic. Knew him before I knew what Alembic was. We have talked for hours about computers. He can go down the rabbit hole about computers. I have been paid thousands of dollars to write about computers professionally. To know all the intricacies and erratum. Ron knows more than me, and for him, its just a hobby. Picked it up in his spare time. That is a singularly powerful mind at work. I'm not even ready to ask Ron intelligent questions about electronics. Bill: I think I saw a little spot on your further. No, it was the wood. Back to carving... Ohh no, that will mean starting over from scratch. Think the wait for inlays will be shorter the second time around? Stay on your toes around here. Oh hey, in a less sarcastic vein, have you ever hear "the Constitution poses no threat to our current form of Government"? Mark, Like Ford but not: Any color strap as long as it's amber. Olie, lovin' the PH/EB lams in your heart omega. Adriaan, heaven compared to being a bit herder! Kimberly, Yes! way nice to meet you too. Guys, she did a solo bass serenade for me after the tour. Tony had stars in his eyes. Smiley intervention: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NVOFmu2ZIqI x LOL / ! = # of cats Now, You didn't use any ! so this should be a division by zero error, but since you did not use any LOLs either it's 6 x 0 / 0 = 1 cat since 0/0 = 1, the special division by zero case. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y8tTZt8djKw See? One cat. Sam, err... um.. uh.. What's a guitar again? David, looking. really. I don't play. I need to order Beaver's bass for beginners dvds Michael, Never ask me to leave any licks on you wood again, even if it is coco bolo. (Message edited by jason on March 23, 2007) | ||
| lbpesq
Senior Member Username: lbpesq Post Number: 2238 Registered: 7-2004 |
Uh, Jason, huh? Bill, tgo | ||
| tom_z
Senior Member Username: tom_z Post Number: 506 Registered: 7-2004 |
Hi Jason, and welcome! It was great talking to you a few weeks ago about my Further-in-progress. Love your descriptions of the shop and people. My wife and I spent the day with Susan, Mica, and Mary a while back (they were all so sweet to our old yellow dog, Harry) and we look forward to meeting you next time we're in the area. Peace Tom | ||
| mcdonap
Junior Username: mcdonap Post Number: 13 Registered: 2-2007 |
Hi Jason, Nice to see a post from you! I wanted to thank you (actually, I did in my Series II thread), for helping me out a few weeks back! I spoke to you and ordered a case, knobs, screws, etc. for my bass. What was especially nice was the hand written instructions on changing the bridge height adjustment screws that came with all my stuff. I was a little uncomfortable having to call and ask all these questions about all these new things to me. However, your patience and attitude put me right at ease! That was my first call to Alembic, and you more than lived up to the reputation for great customer service. Thanks again, Pat | ||
| southpaw
Intermediate Member Username: southpaw Post Number: 162 Registered: 12-2004 |
Hi Jason, Welcome! Thanks again for all your help getting my Distillate back to me, I hope to meet you on my next trip to the mothership. | ||
| jacko
Senior Member Username: jacko Post Number: 1116 Registered: 10-2002 |
Hi jason and welcome to the club. Maybe we'll meet up in a year or two when i get my stateside trip organised. graeme | ||
| georgie_boy
Advanced Member Username: georgie_boy Post Number: 205 Registered: 8-2005 |
Welcome from all in Scotland, Jason. George | ||
| guitarbeau
Member Username: guitarbeau Post Number: 67 Registered: 12-2005 |
Hi Jason and welcome. I'm looking forward to your paws on my Further. |
