| Author | Message | ||
| mica
Moderator Username: mica Post Number: 2789 Registered: 6-2000 |
It's almost done, but you can still have fun with a sneak peek:  The Coco Bolo grain pattern is quite nice, especially on the upper horn! | ||
| davehouck
Moderator Username: davehouck Post Number: 2590 Registered: 5-2002 |
Sweet! | ||
| jlpicard
Advanced Member Username: jlpicard Post Number: 247 Registered: 7-2002 |
YEH! Another lefty!! I'll bet James is having fun lately?! | ||
| southpaw
Junior Username: southpaw Post Number: 34 Registered: 12-2004 |
Wow! Finally some more lefty Alembics! Congrats! JLP is right, James must be smiling these days, two lefty's at the same time. | ||
| tomlerner
New Username: tomlerner Post Number: 1 Registered: 11-2005 |
Looks great! The width and spacing of the neck lams are visually exactly right. I just hope there's enough ebony in there to give me da fundamental! Also, Mica, I just learned yesterday (while cruising the archive of monthly featured custom instruments)that you sometimes do a satin finish on the back of the neck. I'd love to have the diminished thumb drag that this would give the instrument. If that's NOT how the back of my neck has been finished, am I too late with this request?? | ||
| valvil
Moderator Username: valvil Post Number: 790 Registered: 7-2002 |
Hello Tom, your neck has a satin finish already. These days the satin neck is standard on all basses & guitars (except tinted ones) unless the customer specifically requests a glossy finish. I just noodled on your bass (noodling is all I can do on it since I'm definitely not at home on a lefty) and rest assured it's definitely not lacking in fundamentals, it sounds great. Two stripes are plenty of Ebony, don't worry. Valentino | ||
| tomlerner
New Username: tomlerner Post Number: 2 Registered: 11-2005 |
Thanks, Valentino. It's gonna be a nice Christmas! | ||
| tomlerner
New Username: tomlerner Post Number: 3 Registered: 11-2005 |
Mica, Valentino or any Alembic folks- Can you update me on what remains to be done at this point before this baby leaves the womb? Thanks, Tom | ||
| mica
Moderator Username: mica Post Number: 2835 Registered: 6-2000 |
It is finished in the shipping room, awaiting photos tomorrow and likely ready to ship no later than Thursday. Pretty cool! | ||
| tomlerner
New Username: tomlerner Post Number: 4 Registered: 11-2005 |
Mica- I've been trying unsuccessfully not to obsess about getting my hands on this beauty for a couple of weeks now. You've just made my day!!! I'd love to see the finished photos when you have time to post them here. Thanks so much, Mica and Valentino! | ||
| tomlerner
New Username: tomlerner Post Number: 5 Registered: 11-2005 |
I'm in love!! The bass is everything that I'd hoped for. Thank you all so much for doing such a beautiful job. BTW, I love those sexy dark accent layers around'between the peghead coco bolo veneers. Are the accents coco bolo as well? | ||
| davehouck
Moderator Username: davehouck Post Number: 2849 Registered: 5-2002 |
Congrats! | ||
| jlpicard
Advanced Member Username: jlpicard Post Number: 272 Registered: 7-2002 |
From one Lefty to another, It's great being in love isn't it? Cocobolo is the best! I can't wait for mine! I'm curious to know what you think about the Coco top with the Ebony neck lams. Mike | ||
| tomlerner
New Username: tomlerner Post Number: 6 Registered: 11-2005 |
Thanks, Dave and Mike. Hey Mike, always glad to meet another lefty- we're going to rule the world some day! As far as the woods on my bass, I mostly will repeat to you what the folks at Alembic have told me. When I told Valentino during our first conversation that I wanted "a short-scale bass with a long-scale sound," he told me that the biggest contibuting factor to the sound of a thru-body-neck bass is the neck woods, and that ebony- by virtue of being the stiffest of the woods- increases the sustain of low fundamental frequencies. Now that I have this instrument, I'm impressed at just how "big" it sounds for a 30.75" scale axe, and I'm assuming that the ebony is the main contributor to this. As far as the coco bolo, truth be told, I picked it because it looks cool and is "so Alembic," more than because of a specific tonal quality that I knew about and chose it for. In fact, I'd love to hear Dave or any other knowledgeable folks chime in to describe the contribution of a coco bolo top to the tone of a thru-body-neck bass. Happy holidays to all youze guyz. | ||
| davehouck
Moderator Username: davehouck Post Number: 2886 Registered: 5-2002 |
I don't have a bass with Coco Bolo, so I can't say from personal experience. Some of the others will have to address that question. | ||
| flaxattack
Senior Member Username: flaxattack Post Number: 829 Registered: 4-2004 |
as val has told me on a neck through... the majority (80-90%) of the sound is generated by the neck woods- and adding the ebony lam made a huge difference on direwolf... so that being said,,, the core wood does have importance too...mahog is neutral- ash is a more mid sounding.. coco bolo has a richness and clarity that is hard to match with other woods... its dense-but not too dense, certainly not as heavy as a purple, maple or ebony,and its oily which results in a warm tone across the sound range but it still has the qualities to not muffle the highs... now that being said... my tribute neck combo- maple-verm-ebony- should theoretically give me a nice balance-crisp top- warm middle and the sustain of the ebony. since thats there the majority of tone will come from. a neutral mahoghany core and burl maple should make it very interesting... coco has such great variations in color from a dark chocolate to a bright orange,depth,excpetional grain etc.. it is a beautiful wood i can tell you that while i was at alembic visiting, i had the opportunity to try some custom basses with much denser woods that in my opinion did not come remotely close to the sound mine has.of course this is my opinion. (Message edited by flaxattack on December 24, 2005) | ||
| flaxattack
Senior Member Username: flaxattack Post Number: 830 Registered: 4-2004 |
let me add- if the tribute was going to be a set neck as originally planned it would have definitely been coco top and back... | ||
| davehouck
Moderator Username: davehouck Post Number: 2888 Registered: 5-2002 |
Thanks Jeff! | ||
| flaxattack
Senior Member Username: flaxattack Post Number: 833 Registered: 4-2004 |
anytime dave i dont know nothin bout wood but i did sleep at a holiday inn last night... hahha | ||
| davehouck
Moderator Username: davehouck Post Number: 2893 Registered: 5-2002 |
LOL!! | ||
| southpaw
Junior Username: southpaw Post Number: 36 Registered: 12-2004 |
Hey Tom, As a fellow lefty I am always happy to see another lefty Alembic come to life, congrats on a beautiful bass. I am curious about the pros & cons of a short scale vs. long scale. After a few hours of playing if you (or anyone please) could post your opinions on short vs. long scale, I would appreciate it. Do string gauges make a difference? | ||
| tomlerner
New Username: tomlerner Post Number: 7 Registered: 11-2005 |
Jeff- Thanks for the helpful info about coco bolo. Um, was your Holiday Inn line an in-joke between you and Dave, or am I just a bit slow today? Southpaw- Thanks for your kind words. This Alembic is only the second short-scale bass that I've ever played. The other one reminded me of a Yamaha DX7 synthesizer (dating myself here)- detailed, but lacking OOMPH! I think this is generally the down-side of short scale basses- they tend to need a bit more help in the low end. The strings on a short-scale also (I believe) tend to be under less tension when tuned to standard tuning, which can be either a good or a bad thing depending on your playing style. I haven't tried a variety of string gauges yet, but I'm guessing that higher-gauge strings would increase string tension. Does anybody else know whether this is correct or not? The good thing about a short-scale, of course, is that you can reach further and play with less stretching than with a longer scale; this is particularly important to me as a guy with short fingers who has been having tendonitis issues during the past year. | ||
| tomlerner
New Username: tomlerner Post Number: 8 Registered: 11-2005 |
Hey Jeff- I just went back and looked at Dire Wolf again in the archives, and I see that it's a 32"-scale 5-string. Are you loving the B-string at that scale length? What features in addition to the ebony lam, if any, did you incorporate into the bass specifically to help the B string? Thanks. Tom (Dire Wolf is gorgeous, btw- congratulations!) | ||
| davehouck
Moderator Username: davehouck Post Number: 2913 Registered: 5-2002 |
Tom; the line is from a series of TV commercials for Holiday Inn. In each episode of the series there is an emergency situation where someone comes in and gives expert advice. For instance, panic ensues in the control room of a nuclear power plant when something has badly gone wrong. A stranger walks up and gives some orders regarding the closing and opening of valves. The operators follow the instructions and tragedy is averted. Everyone is exceedingly joyful. Not having seen this expert before, they ask him if he's from the home office. Pointing to a group of tourists looking on behind the observation window he replies "no, I'm with the tour, but I did sleep at a Holiday Inn last night". The inference here is that if you had a wonderfully restful stay at a Holiday Inn then you will be able to sound like an expert and speak authoritatively on subjects you may actually know nothing about. Whereas if you stayed anywhere else you'll feel lucky just to stay awake during the business meeting you're attending that day. | ||
| tomlerner
New Username: tomlerner Post Number: 10 Registered: 11-2005 |
Thanks Dave. Great description- I feel like I've seen the commercial now. |
