Alembic Guitars Club

Connecting => Swap Shop and Wish Lists => Seen on craigslist, eBay, and elsewhere => Topic started by: gtrguy on March 20, 2015, 05:05:43 PM

Title: What the heck is this thing?
Post by: gtrguy on March 20, 2015, 05:05:43 PM

Just saw this ad, know nothing more:
 
http://portland.craigslist.org/mlt/msg/4937207838.html (http://portland.craigslist.org/mlt/msg/4937207838.html)

Title: What the heck is this thing?
Post by: Enzo on March 20, 2015, 05:31:13 PM

Is the name Alembic thrown in there because the body shape resembles a bit or I missed a logo somewhere? On my cell is not that clear.

Title: What the heck is this thing?
Post by: neyman on March 20, 2015, 07:12:36 PM

This bass showed up on the Spokane WA Craigslist 2 days ago for $600. I missed it by about an hour.  
 
He's probably throwing out the Alembic style comparison to make a profit. Its a late 70's Polytone Contempo.

Title: What the heck is this thing?
Post by: elwoodblue on March 20, 2015, 08:14:13 PM

Reminds me of the Acoustic 'Black Widow' line.

Title: What the heck is this thing?
Post by: mica on March 20, 2015, 08:18:04 PM

I contacted the seller, and they are changing the listing to say Alembic style. I told them I appreciated it though I struggled to see the resemblance. They did take the acoustic guitar picture out as I suggested, so I guess I did help!
 
I mean really, the shape is symmetrical, with a wide cut that I guess you can think of as an Omega. With the binding, the bolt on neck, on-piece bridge, and black paint, it really looks like an Alembic... not.  
 
This one really bugged me. I wrote a very nice message to explain, and the seller insists on spamming with our name. Oh well, when people are defensive it must mean they are either used to being attacked or attack other people. I hope it sells quickly, so that I won't get any other inquiries about it :-`

Title: What the heck is this thing?
Post by: bigredbass on March 20, 2015, 11:37:03 PM

These were Japanese (actually built by Terada in Japan, another of the 'behind the scenes' builders for brand names, like Matsomoku, Greco, and Tokai, for instance) imports for the Polytone amp company in LA.  Like a lot of amp companies, they figured 'why not sell guitars too?' and this bass and some 'jazzy' guitars rounded out the line.  Polytone was real popular with 60's/70's jazzers, and in old interviews with 'Wrecking Crew' era SoCal players like Carol King and Joe Osborn or Ray Brown, you'll see references to the Mini-Brute amps, which were the cool setup for jazzers in those days, Benson used one a lot.  And they're still around, still in business, albeit with amps only:
 
http://polytoneamps.com/index.html (http://polytoneamps.com/index.html)
 
This 'look' is fairly typical if you remember these 'other' brand guitars, like Westone, Electra, etc.  After Alembic and Stars Guitars, brass was the s--t, and you see a lot of that school of axe with all sorts of big, cludgy brass bridges (anybody remember that massive DiMarzio aftermarket brass bridge?), brass knobs, nuts, etc.  The idea was that these heavy parts would add sustain, completely missing Alembic's original idea of using this stuff to isolate the string vibration from the body.  But boy it was just the thing to hot-rod your sled with back then.  Big Voodoo.  Revoltingly, the really cheap stuff would turn green like bad costume jewelry.  Funky ! !  
 
Like most of these ill-informed, slightly huckster-ish ads, it's about as Alembic as a barn door.  
 
Joey

Title: What the heck is this thing?
Post by: elwoodblue on April 05, 2015, 05:34:59 PM

So now it's in Spokane ??
http://www.ebay.com/itm/RARE-Vintage-79-Polytone-alembic-Bass-Contempo-Japan-Lawsuit-Ibanez-AMAZING-/131478730016?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item1e9cbe3520 (http://www.ebay.com/itm/RARE-Vintage-79-Polytone-alembic-Bass-Contempo-Japan-Lawsuit-Ibanez-AMAZING-/131478730016?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item1e9cbe3520)

Title: What the heck is this thing?
Post by: Enzo on April 05, 2015, 05:49:56 PM

At least it states it has nothing to do with Alembic basses

Title: What the heck is this thing?
Post by: elwoodblue on April 05, 2015, 06:01:08 PM

True,  
 What's with capitalizing I banez ,and not
Alembic?
 
/rant [color=aa00aa];)[/color]