Looking real good Alan.  I really like the tweaks to the body shape that you guys made in an effort to get as close to the original as possible. I know that was a painstaking process, but the results look fantastic.

Excuse my ignorance.
 
What's the joke note?

Hey Altgrendel,
the joke note was a wrongly installed note on Johns original basses, means a wrong note put on a wrong place of the fingerboard.
 
Oliver (Spyderman)

Guys,
 
    Thanks for the kind words.  I do appreciate them.
 
    Oliver is (as usual) spot on about the joke note.  In fact, Mica wanted to know if I wanted a joke note on my bass - I told her no.  John had a very unique, dry sense of humor, and I thought it best to honor him by letting his basses be the only ones with a joke note.  My bass will have properly made inlays, as it were, accurately reflecting note placement.  It is, in my way, of paying tribute to John by making the inlays correct.
 
Alan

Lots of us Brits have a similar sense of humour to John to be honest....I know Lemmy of Motorhead said it got him into terrible trouble when he first moved to the States.

BTW...beautiful bass!

This is just too exciting! Goodness knows how you're feeling Alan!!!! It's looking amazing.

Looks like a candidate for a COTM...
 ...I second what  gareth says.
 
It's too cool seeing a fine instrument being created...thanks to Alan and Alembic for letting us see behind the veil.

COTM - I should be so lucky!
 
Thanks for all the kind words.  The real credit, as always belongs to the elves at Alembic.  Amazing folks, that lot.
 
Alan

Look what happened! Here's the mother of pearl pieces getting glued in position for scribing:

  James routing the recesses:

  Dry fit of the pieces:

  Shrouded in Ebony dust and glues:

  And released from the shroud and fretted:

Holy S***! I want one!  
James is one talented dude.

Incredible.  Beyond words.  Unglaublich.  Fantastisch!
 
James, Mica, everybody - incredible job.  Words don't even come close.  I can't wait to get my hands on this beauty.
 
Alan

Seems like there were joke notes at the 3rd and 15th frets - at least for a short stretch of time.

I'm not sure where the joke notes were, but I was asked about this and decided against having them put in.  As I saw it, there was no way I'd ever be able to have an exact replica made - all of John's Exploiters, to my knowledge anyway are in private hands now.  I'd have to have one to make an exact copy, and that simply isn't possible.  What I set out to do was get very close, and make it more playable for me.  After all, I'm the one playing it, not John or anyone else.
 
All this being said, I felt that not having a joke note was a tribute to the man - he was one of a kind.  So were his basses, and I felt that it should be left that way, joke notes and all.
 
In the end I think Alembic has created a very close replica for me, with certain changes.  During the design and construction, Susan and Mica both told me that certain things may have been mistakes on the originals, e.g., placement of the controls near the bridge, etc.  As I felt John would have opted to fix these things had he ordered another Exploiter, I went ahead and made those changes I thought necessary from both an aesthetic and playability point of view.  The end result, I'm sure, will be the bass of my dreams.
 
Alan

Small joke on my behalf, sorry if I offended you.
 
In the first and third picture, the flat signs had not yet been added to the B's on the 3rd and 15th fret, as they are in the final picture.