Hey, Mark!
 
Congrats on the Electronics upgrade. I think you'll be VERY happy with her. She's gonna be both beautiful AND sound amazing. Looking forward to seeing her continuing progress. Oh, and double congrats, too, on the new crib. Man, it's just a banner time to be KING, isn't it !
 
BCool, the 'Ho....

Thanks, Mike!  Yes, it IS indeed good to be KING!
 
I sure would've liked to have the snazzy peghead Omega and bevel... it looks awesome.
 
But... while the Europa electronics are a really nice, versatile package... my experience with my custom Europa (and it's individual tone controls for each pickup) has taught me that individual filters and Qs for each pickup dramaticly increase the sonic potential of the instrument.
 
The thing is, I just expect there to be bass and treble controls on a bass... I just do.  If I had to choose between a stock Signature package and a stock Europa package, I'd rather get the Europa package, because even though it only has one filter and Q, it DOES have the bass & treble switches.
 
But as time went by, I began to think I'd really like to have both, and that maybe I could -if the price was right.  And the price they quoted me wasn't too much more than the peghead Omega and bevel.
 
Now it's a compromise, not as versatile as the setup on my Europa... but it's still an awesome setup that combines the best of both worlds.  And it's still a relatively simple setup -which also has it's charm.
 
Each pickup essentially has just one tone control -the filter- and a 3-position Q switch to modify the sound... 0/6/9 dbs -just like the Series I setup.  Simple, yet extremely versatile.  The balance control blends the sound/output of the two pickups... and then I have a master bass and a master treble control to quickly and easily adjust these overall frequencies should I desire.
 
The fact is... this setup should completely rock, and be exceedingly awesome!
 
Of course, I'm counting on the bass to just sound awesome PERIOD -regardless of electronics.  It is, of course, (obviously) an Alembic... and I've heard so many people rave about how awesome Coco Bolo sounds -especially with the Mahogany body- that I'm counting on it to just have an exceedingly awesome killer natural sound -especially with my ultra-cool neck, what with the 5 different woods... the Ebony, Maple, Vermillion, Purpleheart, and Mahogany.  I'm banking on this having a mind-blowing rich and complex killer sound from the carefully thought-out combo of 6 killer tone woods.
 
Wow!  I just thought of something to scare the superstitious people!  This is the 666 bass!!!  6 strings, 6 woods, and now 6 knobs!
 
Heh, heh, heh, I love it!
 
Yeah, I'm pretty excited!  It's pretty far along at this point... the Coco Bolo bookmatched pairs have been glued up, the pinstrips are on the body core halves, and I imagine they'll have those glued on any day and be ready to carve the front and back shortly after.
 
Then the question will be how long it stays in spray... Mica tells me Coco Bolo is unpredictible... it could take just a week or two, or it might be in spray for a month or two -there's just no way to know until they do it.
 
I'm guessing the electronic are simple enough that there probably won't be much of a wait at that point -so hopefully it won't be too long.
 
But it doesn't matter, because when it's ready, when it's done, when it comes... it's gonna be a world class mind-blowing, jaw-dropping, drool-inducing bass!!!

Dang it Mark you got me thinkin again...

Man, I've gotta empty MY drool bucket again, just reading about it!!
 
 
BCool, The 'Ho.....

Mica, I've been really busy moving but I wanted to let you know I called Beaver yesterday as you instructed but he was at the doctors so I'll try him again today.  I think you know what I want so if you need to make a call without me go ahead, it'll be cool.  Take care, wish me luck with the move, see ya!

Hi Mica!   We just completed our move into our new house!  Yay!  Anyway, I DID speak to Beaver on Friday.  (And I posted a post to that effect... but it didn't take for whatever reason -so here's another one.)
 
I explained we were upgrading the electonics to Signature electronics with 3-position Qs and a single/master set of bass & treble controls for the specified cost.
 
I offered to pay half or all of the cost of the upgrade -but he said not to worry about it and just pay when the order is ready.  And of course he knows he can contact me and certainly you if he has any questions and/or needs to confirm anything.
 
If convenient, I'd like the chance to have input on the placement of the Coco Bolo laminates -but I have confidence in your judgement; I've already stated my thoughts... you know what I want.
 
I look forward to seeing pictures of the next stage, and hearing how it's coming when you get a chance.  It looks awesome, and I'm really excited!!!

Here's the suggestions for placement. First, the front laminate:

 Note the horizontal line indicating the end of the fingerboard or "25th fret."  The truss rod cover will be just below this, so there's nearly straight grain at the center tansitioning into some really nice swirls.   For the back:

 the center grain isn't quite as straight, but there's lots of great swirl to transition too, plus there won't be pickups and knobs to obscure it.  Hope you like, we're waiting on cutting this until you get a change to see it.

Killer wood!
 
Bill, tgo

Mark,
 
Incredible wood- I'm on my crummy work monitor and it's still unbelievable.  Can't wait to get home and look at it on my good monitor.  
 
Toby

Oh, WOW!!!
 
...WOW!!!
 
Thanks for waiting so I could see it and approve it!  All I can say now is that I see and approve it!!!  I most DEFINITELY approve it!
 
Thanks again so much, Mica!  Thank you, and Bill, and all the rest of the fine folks at Alembic!  Beauty is, of course, in the eye of the beholder... that said, this is -in my eyes- as awesome as any Coco Bolo I've EVER seen!
 
You've done it AGAIN!  I really couldn't hope for anything better than this -it wouldn't even occur to me.  You simply couldn't have gotton me anything better... it's exactly what I hoped for... wildly figured and full of swirls and detail -but with straight or mainly straight grain in the middle to disguise the Bookmatch to Center.  I can see the front is absolutely perfect in this respect; and it looks like if the back isn't perfectly perfect... it'll be far too close for me to snivel about!
 
I love the contrast of the figuring... this is all the same board, right, just reversed on each side?  Regardless, it looks AWESOME!
 
This is really going to help heal the hole left by my Elan.
 
Thanks so much!  I don't know what else to say, other than repeating what I've already said.
 
Please proceed with the cutting at your convenience -with my utmost blessing, appreciation, gratitude... and awe!
 
Bill & Toby, thanks for the appreciation & positive vibes!!!

Wow this looks great Mark!

Hey just checking... these'll have enough Coco Bolo to go over the Omega tips, right? It looks pretty close...
 
(No disrespect intended, I know y'all know what you're doing!  Just wanna check!  And again, the centers of the BTC on these two board-pairs looks great!)

Just wanted to make sure that the Coco Bolo covers the Omega tips... it looks a little close...
 
(No disrespect intended... I know y'all know what you're doing, but I just wanted to confirm since you're going to cut soon.  Again, the centers of the BTC board pairs look great, thanks so much!

Very nice indeed!

Beautiful, beautiful cocobolo!