Alembic Guitars Club
Connecting => Swap Shop and Wish Lists => Seen on craigslist, eBay, and elsewhere => Topic started by: harald_rost on February 17, 2007, 08:36:29 AM
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http://cgi.ebay.com/Vintage-1978-Alembic-Custom-Bass-Guitar-Unique-Omega_W0QQitemZ110093213760QQihZ001QQcategoryZ4713QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem
Looks great. Very special peghead!
Original? Any special history behind?
Harald
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It's very nice old piece.
I have never seen the peghead.
This serial No. is very curious.
Serial No. range of 78' are about 900 to 1300.
But the bass has 6 digit No. ?13? 78
The first digit is not 1, so the serial No. is not 78' range.
The circuit board and DS-5 look original from Alembic.
Is this employee's work ?
Eiji
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It almost looks like 813?78. Don't know if that 3?78 would be in the range of 1981 or not.
Keith
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I looked into that too. 81s are lower numbers and 91s are way over that. I dunno.
Rich
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I emailed the seller and ask about the LOGO that he stated had fallen off. I was crious if he had it.
Maybe Mica can shed some light on this one.
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I've seen '9s' that ended up looking like '8's. Maybe it's 913 78
What I'd like is a better close-up of the peghead, since I cannot see any signs of a logo ever being on it. Like Eiji, I have also been wandering if this might be a shop night instrument.
The PF-6 card looks like a late 70s early 80s' I think.
Valentino
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I just noticed something else.
Aside from the unusual headstock, the combination of soft upper horn and sharp lower horn is something I have not seen before on a triple omega.
Valentino
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In this photo (http://i147.photobucket.com/albums/r318/mikesguitarrepair/alembicomega016.jpg) of the peghead, you can just make out that there was something there, but it wasn't an Alembic logo.
The electronics look legitimately Alembic. 1978 is the range for the serial number on the harness. Might be able to cross reference from that (but not always). The 1/4 looks normal for 1978.
Actually, my guess is that this might be a Becvar, though it would be least elaborate one I've seen. He did make basses with this body shape. I've got photos I'll check on Monday at the office to see if the peghead matches some of his other work. I'm pretty sure I've got some pictures of serial numbers too, so we can see if they similar to this bass. He purchased electronics and hardware from us for some of his instruments.
If it's not a Becvar, mom and I are leaning towards a shop nighter without better serial number documentation. While it's possible this is a true Alembic bass, there are too many atypical things to tell from photos alone.
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That is a Becvar. I have one. I can supply a pic of the headstock and logo. It matches mine perfectly.
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Cool!
I'm thinking that at some point the seller, and the bidders, should be advised of this discussion.
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I let the seller know, and I offered to send him a pic of the Becvar headstock and logo. So far he has not responded to me with his email address. I suspect it is a music store that will probably respond during working hours.
Michael
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Hi Michael,
Please show me the headstock of BecVar.
Is there BecVar's logo ?
Eiji
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I am going over to where my Becvar is today. I intend to take a pic and upload it later.
Michael
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(http://club.alembic.com/Images/395/36446.jpg)1974 BecVar seriesI guitar
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(http://club.alembic.com/Images/395/36449.jpg)this guy worked at alembic in the early days.
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That is not the standard Becvar logo. Cool guitar, huh!!!
I have taken the pics, and resized them. I am on my way off to my last Mardi Gras gig right now. Running late as usual, but I promise to upload the pics of the logo and headstock when I return.
It will all be too obvious that the bass in question is indeed a Becvar.
Michael
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This peghead hss pretty much the same shape as the bass being offered on ebay now:
(http://club.alembic.com/Images/395/36492.jpg)
I don't know if this is the standard logo or not, but I bet Michael will.
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Ok! Here you go:
(http://club.alembic.com/Images/395/36534.jpg)
(http://club.alembic.com/Images/395/36535.jpg)
I think that settles everything. Check the auction pics. You can actually see the shape of where the logo once was. (Message edited by dela217 on February 20, 2007)
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By the way, the seller of the bass did contact me. He was interested in seeing the pics too, so I sent them along to him. I wonder what will happen next.
Michael
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Thanks Michael,
This pict. is exactly that we want!
These guitar head logos are decorative thing that I think.
Eiji
(Message edited by room037 on February 21, 2007)
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The listing was removed at about 12 noon eastern.
It is not clear if it was Ebay or the seller.
Perry
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The seller and I talked about it. He said he was going to pull it and have it relisted with the proper info.
Michael
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This doesn't sound quite right:
Vintage 1978 Alembic BekVar Custom Bass Guitar (http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=110095209336)
(http://alembic.com/club/messages/395/36587.jpg)
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You're right - the listing is incorrect, but I understand the confusion. This bass was not made at Alembic. Bruce Becvar made his instruments at his own shop. We supplied him with parts for some of his instruments.
It would be nice if the seller would ammend the listing as to not confuse the potential buyer of this bass.
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The listing is incorrect. He even spelled Becvar wrong. When I spoke to the seller, I told him that it was a completely different brand altogether. Perhaps he is trying to get the Alembic connection in there to up it's value.
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It is a nice piece of Zebrawood regardless. Let's hope he gets it straight. Owning a Becvar is nothing to be ashamed of.
Is Bruce the guitar player or is that his brother? I had a cassette once that had some pretty good stuff on it.
Sam
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Sam - That is Bruce. Google him. He has lots of music. Not my cup of tea though.
Zebra is my all time favorite. I really like that top a lot too. It has all the things I like. Zebra top, yellowed finish, etc....
I will try not to bid. I really have a hard time with long scale and the large body. I wonder if the C sides will give the feeling of a smaller bass?
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What I like about it is the grain angles in from the bottom towards the neck just like on my Epic. I'm looking at it thinking how good they would go together. Those dang discretionary funds are getting in the way again.
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The auction has been pulled again. This time someone hacked into the auction and put a buy it now price on it with an email address that was not the seller's. I responded to the hacker as though I was interested. He wanted $2000.00 and would offer free shipping. Yeah right. I contacted the seller and of course he was furious. So the auction was pulled. Just in case anyone here was following this one.
Michael