Thank you all for your kind words.  I have admired your beautiful Alembics on the Club for four years now, as my own took shape.  Many many times I have thought, ?Damn, that is such a cool instrument!  I wish I had thought of that first!?  When I have learned the ins and outs of my new bass reasonably well, maybe I will be able to justify thinking about another.  That seems to happen a lot.
 
Graeme, thanks for suggesting DR Black Beauties.  I?ve always thought they were very cool, though I?ve played Thomastik Jazz Flats for so long that I automatically asked to have the bass strung with them.  I just called DR to ask about BBs for 32-inch scale.  Unfortunately, the guy told me that they don?t make them for ?short scale? (32-inch is ?short scale? for DR, not surprisingly), so my only choice in DR would be stainless steels.  So unless he and I misunderstood each other, I am SOL on BBs.
 
David, you?re right about the reason for the three-piece top.  My first-choice top wood (a birdseye maple) turned out to be funky inside, and after looking at about thirty different Wood Bank candidates I came around to the idea of Gabon ebony.  At that time there was none to be had wide enough for a bookmatch-to-center, so Mica proposed a three-piece top made from a six-string fingerboard blank and two five-string blanks.  The joints were a potential shrinkage problem, so I proposed the mahogany pinstripes.  Mike proposed the contoured top, which he called the ?suspension bridge?.
 
Oliver, I think a ?Simple Spyder? or a ?Simple DW? would be awesome.  I hope you decide to do one.  Isn?t Dueren near Aachen?  For many years I used to stay in Aachen for a few days or a week at least once a year.  I love that area.  The background in your photo has always reminded me of the view out the window of my favorite room in my favorite hotel in K?ln, though I realize that most likely it is not that view.
 
Bill TGO, thanks!  I would be honored for my bass to be a Featured Custom.  It is not impossible that it could happen . . .
 
 
Marc

I want one.

Marc,
YES, you are right. Dueren is approx. 20min away from Aachen.
So when you are here for the next time we must meet..
Well the idea of a Simple Spyder or Simple DW is great.  
Do you own the copyrights on the term Simple ? :-)
I relly love the knob layout on your bass.....
 
Oliver (Spyderman)

This is just ubercool.
 
Love it.
 
COTM all the way!
 
And now for something completely different:
 
The larch.

The bass arrived yesterday!
 
I know that it has been said many times before by others, but it's true:  the photos, as good as they are, can't do justice to the incredible workmanship of an Alembic instrument.  When I held the bass in my hands for the first time, I realized that it exceeds any expectations I ever had.
 
I haven't had a chance to do any real playing yet, but I hope to later this afternoon.  Thank you all in the Club for your support and your kind comments over the past four years.  I will post some photos as soon as I can, probably when I'm back home after Thanksgiving.
 
Lexi, Steve, Greg, Derek, James, Jason (thanks for coining the official nickname!), Cody, Charles, Mary, Robert, Tony, Bill, Ron, Susan, and Mica,  who took my first call back in April 2003, and called yesterday just as I put the bass on my knee for the first time:  thank all of you so much!  There is nothing like an Alembic instrument, and in my experience there is no organization like Alembic.  I hope to meet all of you when Amanda and I visit on November 20th.

Marc,
more pics plse......
 
Oliver (Spyderman)

Holy fling vampires! Looks like something batman would play!

If im not mistaken I spy OM between the second and third frets - very symbolic!
 
Om Mani padme hum!

John, there's a closeup of the inlay here.

I'm putting Monty up for sale in the For Sale section.  Sad but necessary.