| Author | Message | ||
| klinkepeter
New Username: klinkepeter Post Number: 2 Registered: 2-2008 |
I bought this beauty 2 month ago and I can say: a dream became real. I just want to get some information about the bass, I believe in the soul of each good instrument and I would be happy to know, who played it before me. The top of the headstock is stamped with the year, "75", along with the serial # "225". This is the long scale model with the scale measuring about 34 1/4". The exotic wood on top is bubinga. The back is another exotic wood. I do not know what the body is made of. Peter | ||
| klinkepeter
New Username: klinkepeter Post Number: 3 Registered: 2-2008 |
I have no idea, why the pictures didn´t come, here a new try.........    (Message edited by davehouck on February 06, 2008) | ||
| tbrannon
Senior Member Username: tbrannon Post Number: 639 Registered: 11-2004 |
Beautiful- looks like a mahogany body and I think that might be a Koa back laminate... Beautiful bass. Congratulations! | ||
| inthelows
Senior Member Username: inthelows Post Number: 416 Registered: 11-2006 |
Very sweet and I agree mahogany and Koa. Nice combo. Congrats and enjoy! NLP | ||
| davehouck
Moderator Username: davehouck Post Number: 6149 Registered: 5-2002 |
Hi Peter; congrats and welcome! Very nice Alembic! The scale length is probably 34". We measure from the nut to the 12th fret, then multiply that number by 2. I see you've posted the serial number in the Serial Number lookup section of the board. Mica will pull the number next time she does a batch and post the details. However, the names of previous owners are kept confidential. Enjoy! | ||
| adriaan
Senior Member Username: adriaan Post Number: 1787 Registered: 6-2002 |
Nice one! The back doesn't look like koa to me (schedua?) and the front doesn't scream "bubinga!" at the top of its lungs either (rosewood? vermillion?). The core looks like mahogany, the neck laminates look like they're not purpleheart but perhaps walnut. | ||
| lbpesq
Senior Member Username: lbpesq Post Number: 2929 Registered: 7-2004 |
I'm guessing walnut top, maple core (it's hard to tell from the pix), schedua back, beech neck stringers. And definitely a beautiful bass. Enjoy it Peter, and welcome to the club. Bill, the guitar one | ||
| terryc
Senior Member Username: terryc Post Number: 445 Registered: 11-2004 |
Back laminate looks definitely like bubinga, almost identical to my MK Signature(see Showcase..Mark King 93) A nice looking old Alembic, typical of the 70's but really not that much different from the newer ones...a classic design | ||
| adriaan
Senior Member Username: adriaan Post Number: 1790 Registered: 6-2002 |
Terry is of course right - I always think schedua when the wood has a shimmering like that, but this one matches his bubinga MK to a T. | ||
| klinkepeter
New Username: klinkepeter Post Number: 4 Registered: 2-2008 |
thanks for your comments, let´s see what mica will say. another question: are there any members / owners from germay and especially from berlin on board? Peter | ||
| davehouck
Moderator Username: davehouck Post Number: 6167 Registered: 5-2002 |
I believe we have several members living in Germany. I quick check suggests there are at least 21 members in Germany. (Message edited by davehouck on February 08, 2008) | ||
| speicky
Advanced Member Username: speicky Post Number: 257 Registered: 3-2005 |
Hello, Peter, a very warm welcome from Wiesbaden, glad to have you here. There are quite a lot members from Germany here, and I know of a few that are happy owners, but are not registered in the club. I have seen at least three different eBay auctions for Alembics from private owners in Berlin during the last four years, so... they are right next to you. Watch out ! have fun, Christian | ||
| senmen
Senior Member Username: senmen Post Number: 713 Registered: 7-2003 |
Hi Peter, as Christian already said before: there is a whole bunch of german Alembic users in here. Many greetings Oliver (Spyderman) | ||
| 82daion
Intermediate Member Username: 82daion Post Number: 128 Registered: 5-2005 |
A previous owner of this bass and I had an email conversation some time ago, and he sent me some pictures. My guess was that the top was Vermillion or Purpleheart that had faded. You'll probably find it necessary to move one screw on each pickup so that they are underneath their holes, and diagonal from each other. This way, the pickups can be adjusted effectively.  (Message edited by 82Daion on February 10, 2008) | ||
| guitarplayer99
New Username: guitarplayer99 Post Number: 1 Registered: 1-2011 |
Hi All- I owned this bass shortly after it's return from repair in 1976. A very good friend of mine owned the bass before me and had a problem with the electronics. The dealer - Vic Zinn music in Noblesville Indiana - sent it back to Alembic for repair. It had a HUGE pink-ish/ purple-ish Anvil flight case which turned out to be very fortunate when it was stolen from me. It was recovered not because it was an EXTREMELY rare instrument, but because someone noticed the Gawd awful Anvil case! FYI - I was told the top was indeed Purple Heart and the back was schedua. Take care of it - it has my DNA imbedded in it! | ||
| sonicus
Senior Member Username: sonicus Post Number: 1564 Registered: 5-2009 |
Nice Bass. | ||
| guitarplayer99
New Username: guitarplayer99 Post Number: 2 Registered: 1-2011 |
After posting earlier today I remembered a few more interesting things about the bass. This is the story I was told by Vic Zinn in '76: it was originally owned by Gregg Philbin of REO Speedwagon and used on the "You Get What you Play For" album. Gregg had intermittent electronic issues that the dealer (Vic Zinn) couldn't duplicate so he exchanged it for another he had in stock. It was then purchased by Mark Cawley of the Faith Band in Indianapolis - which is the first time I saw an Alembic and fell in love. Mark began having the same intermittent electronics issues and also struggled with the sheer size of the beast (Mark stands all of about 5' 6" and has small hands) and traded it for a short scale series 1. It was then sent back to Alembic to repair the problem (a bad mini switch if I remember correctly). It was returned to Vic and that's when I purchased it. If you look at the bridge carefully you'll notice that the bridge feet are not stock. There was a "luthier" in Indy at the time named Wayne Kamp who I took the bass to because I was having problems with string breakage. He claimed the culprit was a "poorly designed" bridge mounting system. His solution: drill out the brass sustain block and enlarge the bridge to accept Ibanez bridge feet from a tune-o-matic type bridge so the bridge wouldn't "wobble" (according to Wayne). What I didn't realize at the time was that he missed the center of the hole when drilling the bridge so the bridge sat more forward on the bass. Look at the saddles: you have to have the low E set almost as far to the rear as it can go for the intonation to be correct. Come to think of it, this might explain the "34.5 inch" measurement when checking the scale. The bass WAS a 35" scale, but after Wayne was finished... Oh well, at least I learned my lesson about letting someone I didn't really know work on my guitars... | ||
| davehouck
Moderator Username: davehouck Post Number: 10062 Registered: 5-2002 |
Hi Bob, welcome to the board! | ||
| guitarplayer99
New Username: guitarplayer99 Post Number: 3 Registered: 1-2011 |
Thanks for the welcome, Dave! Peter, if you're still on the forum; if you ever decide to sell this bass I would definitely be interested in buying it back - even thogh I'm now a guitarist who hasn't picked up a bass in years! You just never forget your first love. ;-) | ||
| klinkepeter
Junior Username: klinkepeter Post Number: 29 Registered: 2-2008 |
Hi Robert, Greetings from Germany too, that is really surprising to me to hear from a former owner of my bass. I tried already to send you an e-mail but it comes always back as "mail delivery failed" I don´t know why, this happened to me also while mailing to other friends of mine in the US. Maybe you can send me another mailadress or your telephonnumber, I would give you a call. Also if you want we can skype and then you can see and eventually hear your old baby. I´m very curious about the history of the bass. Maybe bad for you but I´m not thinking about selling it because I´m very happy with everything. You have to know, I was born in the former eastern part of germany and at the age of 16 I got a record from Stanley Clarke (I wanna play for you), this was so inspiring until now ( I´m 46) so I was always dreaming about having a bass like this. In the GDR it was almost impossible to get one because they are so expensive. By the way I bought the bass at e-bay in New Jersey from a dealer who sells basically vintage instruments, he was very serious and I have same friends there wich were so nice to pick up the instrument. Anyway, I already made some nice recordings with it ( I´m a professionel musician), if you are interested I can send you one or the other file. Thank you again for contacting me, have a nice day. Peter Inagawa PS: Are you one of those countrymusicians on a photo the dealer was giving me too as a picture of a former owner? |
