| Author | Message | ||
| palembic
Senior Member Username: palembic Post Number: 1097 Registered: 9-2002 |
Brother Bill, I'm STILL in love with those Curlees. Although I never played one with Dimarzio PJ combination. I played one with 1 big square cream-colored PU with small holes (screws???) in it (also Dimarzio???) There was one in a musicshop in Brussels that I passed by coming from school. Th shop owner knew me and let me play on it when I payed him a visit. One day it was gone ***sigh*** that time I couldn't even DREAM of spending that much for a bass. Maybe we'll be reunited once! Paul the bad one Oh ...in that store I played also a Haymann bass. Never seen one afterwards. | ||
| 811952
Intermediate Member Username: 811952 Post Number: 101 Registered: 10-2003 |
Paul TBO, I played an old Haymann in a music store in Newport, Rhode Island a little more than a year ago. I don't remember the name of the store. The bass was funky in a never-been-maintained sort of way. I thought it was a Shergold at first. I recall it was the opposite of an Alembic in pretty much every respect. John | ||
| palembic
Senior Member Username: palembic Post Number: 1098 Registered: 9-2002 |
Brother John ...you got THAT right! The bass I played in the store some 30 years ago had darl-smoked-PLEXI handrest alla Jazz-Bass over the PU's!!!! There was a hole in the headstock with a plexi plate in it that hold the letter "H". Weird-weird-weird. I even remember what I had to play on that bass: "Nights in white satin" fo cryin'out loud! The shopowner gave a demo afternoon for his 3 (three!!!!) Mellotrons. You remember them??? Paul the bad one | ||
| 811952
Intermediate Member Username: 811952 Post Number: 102 Registered: 10-2003 |
Paul, The Haymann didn't seem to have been designed by a musician at all! Strange bass... My little brother would have killed for Mellotron until a couple of years ago. Being an old fan of progressive rock, I love the way they sound. Time to break out my old King Crimson CDs again... :-) John | ||
| kenbass4
Member Username: kenbass4 Post Number: 79 Registered: 10-2003 |
John, Yeah, Mellotrons sound great...for about an hour. They're such a PITA to maintain though. The new synths may not quite have the "warmth" of the mellotron, but you don't have to worry about the tapes breaking in the middle of a song :-0 Ken (TEO) | ||
| beatlejuice
Junior Username: beatlejuice Post Number: 11 Registered: 3-2003 |
Here's a pic of the '62 Jazz, Curlee, and Spoiler.  "> | ||
| beatlejuice
Junior Username: beatlejuice Post Number: 12 Registered: 3-2003 |
Here's a pic of the '62 Jazz, Curlee, and Spoiler. "> | ||
| palembic
Senior Member Username: palembic Post Number: 1108 Registered: 9-2002 |
Hm ...Oh ...huh ...were are my glasses??? Seeing it now it has more of a tree in a sunny landscape. | ||
| beatlejuice
Junior Username: beatlejuice Post Number: 13 Registered: 3-2003 |
Oops, evidently I can't post pics using webtv. Sorry for now Bill | ||
| davehouck
Senior Member Username: davehouck Post Number: 407 Registered: 5-2002 |
Bill; can you email them? If so, and if you like, you can email them to me and I will post them for you. | ||
| susan
Moderator Username: susan Post Number: 19 Registered: 5-2002 |
Nigel, His full name is Augustus Owsley Stanley III, family name y'know. I believe his grandfather was the governor of Virginia. Lots of latin names like Augustus, Marcus etc. in those southern states. In the late 60's very early 70's he was refered to as simply Owsley aka Bear later formally changed to Z. Bear . He is alive and well and living in Australia where he makes expensive Grateful Dead type jewelry in 24K gold and enamel as well as bronze sculptures. I just spoke with him around the holidays. As to the association with Alembic...there wouldn't have been an Alembic without him. He is a catalyst for putting people & events into motion, he's quite a pushy bear. We met while the Dead were recording Aoxomoxoa at Pacific Recording Studio in San Mateo, CA. He saw Ron and my talents and the need the Dead had of them. He wooed us away from Ampex and Pacific Recording to move to Novato, CA and share a building with the Dead and work together to create better live music. He suggested we name our company Alembic (see the meaning of the logo on our website) and had his good friend and my art mentor *Bob Thomas design the Alembic logo. Although Bear was never a partner in Alembic, he was pivotal in its inception and direction. -Susan *Bob Thomas- also designer of the Steal Your Face Dead Logo and the Marching Bears. He painted the cover for the front and back of the "Live Dead" album my favorite, maybe because all the instruments had Alembic electronics in them, it was the Alembic PA System, Alembic did the live recording and it was mixed at our Alembic Recording Studio as was "Europe '72". Anyway I digress, I was only a mere girl of 18 when we started Alembic and Bob was very encouraging to my art endeavors. He taught me a great deal and I feel his influence in all my instrument designs, especially the inlays. He was a musician as well and used to hand carve and make bagpipes. Bear BTW was his art patron and I wound up with the largest part of Bear's collection of Bob Thomas paintings when he moved to Australia. Bear felt they belonged with me & Alembic. Those adding to my own collection come to a grand total of 12 full canvas paintings plus two wooden icons. He passed away over 10 years ago and since all but the icons and 2 paintings reside at Alembic, I continue to feel his presence on a daily basis and it's a good thing. | ||
| bracheen
Advanced Member Username: bracheen Post Number: 262 Registered: 11-2003 |
Bear has some examples of Bob Thomas' work along with a brief bio at www.thebear.org Sam | ||
| davehouck
Senior Member Username: davehouck Post Number: 408 Registered: 5-2002 |
Thanks for that bit of history Susan. I just recently finished reading Blair Jackson's "Garcia, An American Life", which greatly enhanced my knowledge of that time and place. The music, art and culture all had a great and valuable influence on my life as well as the lives of countless others; indeed to no insignificant degree, on our society and our global community. | ||
| davehouck
Senior Member Username: davehouck Post Number: 409 Registered: 5-2002 |
Here are Bill's (beatlejuice) basses; sorry for the delay, the cable system was down for a few hours:  | ||
| gbarchus
Member Username: gbarchus Post Number: 51 Registered: 6-2002 |
I just spent time reading some of Bear's essays: http://www.thebear.org/index.html Well worth the reading. A good way to finally become a member! Gale | ||
| palembic
Senior Member Username: palembic Post Number: 1111 Registered: 9-2002 |
ah CURLEE ... droooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooool OTOH ...I Liked the 1 big PU model more | ||
| davehouck
Senior Member Username: davehouck Post Number: 410 Registered: 5-2002 |
Thanks Gale; I found the essays quite interesting. | ||
| beatlejuice
Junior Username: beatlejuice Post Number: 14 Registered: 3-2003 |
Thanx, Dave. Maybe some day I will find a way to post my own pics. Or maybe catch up with the rest of the world (buy a computer). When I worked in a music store we never had a Curlee with the "One big humbucker". All we had were the 1 & 2 PBass pu's. I had never even seen pics of the ones with the big pu till just a couple years ago (on eBay) so I have no idea how they compare soundwise. The Juice | ||
| poor_nigel
Junior Username: poor_nigel Post Number: 47 Registered: 7-2003 |
Hey Susan: Thanks for the info on Alembic history. What you typed pretty much jives with what my book has in it. I would have to say that era was the most wonderous and happiest of my life. In 69 I was still in high school, but ditched to jump on a bus and head to San Francisco quite often. I used to go to the Filmore, Winterland, and Goldengate Park often. I spent a lot of time hanging around Berkeley, too. My head just floods with all the adventures I had back then, but you pretty much had to be there - well, I will not go into reams of pages. Phish holds it annual concert about 10 miles from my house, but I never go. All the kids come through town dressed in sixties attire, but it is not even close to the same as things were back 'in the day.' You can never go home, really, and that is a good thing. There were a hell of a lot of negative things that went down in the sixites, also . . . Again, thanks for the history and bringing up some old and cherished memories for me. In the end, they are all that is really ours and all we take with us when we go. Oh, and I will type out that published history and post it. It is interesting reading. | ||
| palembic
Senior Member Username: palembic Post Number: 1114 Registered: 9-2002 |
Well Brother Thomas ...the names you mentioned -and those of Susan's story- are ringing some bell's here too. Alas ...only from reading, hearing, pictures, documentaries and TV. Strange w never want to go back to memories, the beauty of a memory is just that it's not there anymore. Paul the bad one | ||
| hollis
Junior Username: hollis Post Number: 47 Registered: 11-2003 |
I spent the summer of 1968 in San Francisco. And what an eye (and mind) opener it was indeed...I still haven't fully recovered....Most likely because I like it out here just a little further than left field. Susan, I'd like to take this time to thank you and Ron for all of your great work both then and now. The sounds that you helped create from the early days had a vast and irreversable influence (for the better)on me. The directions my life has taken have been imprinted by a vivid soundtrack that continues still. Thanks from the deepest reaches of my soul, Hollis | ||
| rami
Advanced Member Username: rami Post Number: 303 Registered: 6-2002 |
Hey Bill, Here's my '68 Jazz Bass. Block inlays, oval tuners and all. I just love it!  | ||
| rami
Advanced Member Username: rami Post Number: 304 Registered: 6-2002 |
This is one of my all time favorites. A SUPER rare mint condition '81 Gold Jazz Bass. It weighs a ton! You wouldn't believe the offers I've had to part with this beauty. NO WAY!!!  | ||
| bassman10096
Intermediate Member Username: bassman10096 Post Number: 182 Registered: 7-2003 |
Hey nice Jazz basses. Almost makes me miss my '73 (Black w/maple neck and white pearloid blocks). Sold it to finance my first Alembic, though - sacrificed for a very good cause! Bill | ||
| bassman10096
Intermediate Member Username: bassman10096 Post Number: 183 Registered: 7-2003 |
(Message edited by bassman10096 on March 01, 2004) | ||
| bassman10096
Intermediate Member Username: bassman10096 Post Number: 184 Registered: 7-2003 |
Oh what the hell! Here it is... Now living in South Korea (where Vintage Fenders are very hard to get), thanks to the wonders of Ebay!  (Message edited by bassman10096 on March 01, 2004) (Message edited by bassman10096 on March 01, 2004) | ||
| palembic
Senior Member Username: palembic Post Number: 1120 Registered: 9-2002 |
Brother Rami, that Gold Jazz-bass is REALLY nice! I returned my 79 Antigua burst Jazz bass to the owner when I left the bIgband I was playing in. I Loved the feel. Paul the bad one | ||
| beatlejuice
Junior Username: beatlejuice Post Number: 15 Registered: 3-2003 |
I agree with Paul, that Gold one is a beauty. For some reason I have always prefered dots w/no binding. I used to prefer rosewood boards but have since changed to maple (or graphite). I hope some day to have as many Alembics as I do of Leo's creations (9 basses).....or more. Beatlejuice | ||
| rami
Advanced Member Username: rami Post Number: 306 Registered: 6-2002 |
Thanks Bill & Paul. Yeah that Gold one's really something else. Everytime I open that case...wow! Did you notice the gold thumbrest and special bridge? It does feature a white binding along the fingerboard as well. I've owned it for about 15 years now. It's become a great old friend. Sounds as good as it looks. You know Bill, the majority of my Jazz Basses feature maple fingerboards with the Pearl blocks. I have a HUGE collection I'd love to share with all you guys - even special edition Jazz Basses. I guess I just love them all. I'm thinking of a thread where I can post pictures of the whole family - I'm not sure how posting pictures of old Fenders on the Alembic website would go over though! Rami (Message edited by rami on March 02, 2004) | ||
| palembic
Senior Member Username: palembic Post Number: 1121 Registered: 9-2002 |
Brother Rami, I don't think we have to worry a lot about that. I gave it a test on http://alembic.com/club/messages/449/8167.html?1078102935 by posting the picture of one of the basses I love most (non-Alembic) to test the indulgance of moder Susan THE and I was not banned, cursed or expelled ...(yet???) LOL Paul the bad one PS ...and yeah ... I noticed all those really nice details . It's what makes that bass so spelial ...REALLY cool!!! |
