At first glance, you might think this a more or less typical Series II Alembic. But upon closer inpection, lots of little details come to light. Though the body shape looks fairly similar to the Standard Heart Omega, it's actually based on an experiment called the Balance Point. The Balance Point was larger, with an extended upper horn and offset cutaway for improved balance on 5 plus strings and longer scale lengths. We only made a few basses in the Balance Point shape as it finally evolved into the Balance K shape which is smaller and lighter weight. For Scott, he had us trim down the width of the Balance Point, but kept the horn near to the same. The bookmatch to center is probably something any Alembic enthusiast will notice right away. It's an obvious design choice considering the top is Quilted Coco Bolo. If you get this wood on your Alembic, you'll want to enjoy every square inch you can. Scott's order originally called for the swirly-type Coco Bolo and some custom inlays, but after seeing some of the Quilted Coco Bolo we had available, he decided to go for the QCB, and reconsider the inlays. You can just catch a glimpse of the Vermilion core past the elbow contour carving.

	With a scant 5 or 6 bookmatches remaining, Quilted Coco Bolo is one of the rarest woods we've worked with. More oily and dense than standard Coco Bolo, this Quilted variety is breathtakingly gorgeous, and its voice is even deeper. There's little contrast, so the depth of figure is impossible to capture in a photograph. We think it looks like a river of hot lava.

	On the back of the bass, the Quilted figure gets a little more dispersed, and the regular, expected Coco Bolo grain is more evident. We love how the grain of the wood follows the shape of the bass.

	We feel morally obligated to make continuous wood backplates on such beautiful wood, it would be such a waste to pave the back with brass. There is the added benefit that the wooden backplates weigh a good bit less than metal ones.

	Quilted Coco Bolo may "grow" on trees, but there is no commercial source for the veneer, so we must make our own on demand. We take a thin slice of wood from the bandsaw, and sand it until it's the proper final thickness. Note the front veneer is from the same piece of wood as the front laminate, and the back veneer is from the same piece of wood as the back laminate.

	Heart Omega carving is a sculptured work of art. First, we remove the bulk of the wood using some deft maneuvers with the bandsaw, then come the rasps, files, and sandpaper to do the actual shaping. All the layers in the body sandwich stack show in the carving.

	Scott chose an excellent piece of Macassar Ebony for the fingerboard. Mica and Ron were on a trip buying Walnut, when they noticed a small stick of exceptionally straight and consistently striped Macassar Ebony. The wood was just wide enough for a fingerboard, and thick enough to yield two or three. It was too nice to pass up, and they brought it back to the shop along with the load of Walnut. Though Scott originally was going to have custom inlays on the fingerboard, after seeing the bass with some finish on it, he decided to let the special woods be the focus and opted for a blank fingerboard.

	Gold plated hardware means that Scott will not have to break out the Flitz and polish the brass. The tailpiece, bridge, bridge block, truss rod cover, and string nut are all polished to a high shine and slotted for setup before the parts are sent to the gold plater.

	With a buffed bronze logo, the golden color coordinates with the hardware and sets off the mother of pearl and the striking colors of the abalone nicely.

	SPECIFICATIONS Series II 4-string bass Quilted Coco Bolo top and back Top bookmatched to center Mahogany, Ebony, Maple and Walnut neck Vermilion core Continuous wood backplates Gold plated hardware Macassar Ebony fingerboard Custom body shape with Heart Omega carving Tummy and elbow contours Series II electronics Inlaid bronze logo with shell Sold by: Bass Central 181 Oxford Road, Suite 107 Fern Park, Florida 32730 407-628-1213
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