Alembic Guitars Club
Connecting => Swap Shop and Wish Lists => Seen on craigslist, eBay, and elsewhere => Topic started by: chalkie on September 14, 2009, 03:54:15 AM
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Found This (http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=250493721437) on eBay, but I'm confused...
I found this build info (http://club.alembic.com/index.php?topic=6356) on the Alembic site, and the topwood is different!! Has it been substantially rebuilt, or is something wrong here?
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Looks like a vermillion top to me. It resembles cocobolo in the reddish-brownish color, but the grain is pretty straight and simple whereas cocobolo is usually more graphic.
Vermillion is supposed to turn a little brown with age, and most of the close-up pictures seem to have blueish reflections. The picture of the top nut may be closer to the actual colour (front laminate on the peghead).
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It appears this Bass changed ownership a few times including a big leap over the pond.
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Definitely looks like vermilion. As far as it browning with age, that was true of the older instruments but the belief is that more recent Alembics have a different finish that does a better job of preserving the original color. This bass was recently refinished, and that can bring back the much of the original color depending upon what was done.
I agree that the sideways picture of the nut probably most accurately shows the typical color of older vermilion.
In answer to the original question, though, there's nothing wrong other than the mis-identification of the wood by the current owner. The refinish by someone other than Alembic often impacts resale value a little, especially if it doesn't hold up well. Probably won't matter at all on an 84 Spoiler, though.