Alembic Guitars Club
Connecting => Swap Shop and Wish Lists => For Sale & Trade => Topic started by: effclef on August 19, 2004, 09:27:45 AM
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http://www.gbase.com/gearlist/guitar_picture.asp?guitar=573130
Nice looking Zebrawood Series I four string, with the following bizarre description:
1976 Alembic Les Purnel, natural oak, excellent, OHSC, $2,750.00
This guitar is amazing !! It is so Highly figured. Tiger Oak... zebra stripes,,,Sounds Killer , Looks Killer. it comes with the original case.. It is like new
???
EffClef
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Very nice! No mention of a power supply, though. It's a small standard, so probably a short scale. I will make contact on this one and see if it meets my short-term needs.
Thanks!
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Hah! I hadn't though of you Bsee, but you are right, a small standard is probably a short or med scale. I believe a PS (nowadays the DS-5R rackmount) is $350 or so, not including cable, so ask...
Good luck!
EffClef
PS and let us know if you find out who Les is/was!
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I think Mica might be able to answer the Les Purnel question. He's probably the customer that originally ordered the bass. I have a response from the seller and we're continuing negotiations. They don't know much about Alembics (Alimbic, as she wrote in the last email), but the power supply is present. They have no cable, so hard to tell if anything works.
She also said it is short scale, I think from having the build sheet, but claimed a very strange serial number. We're looking into that further.
Mica, anything you can add?
(Message edited by bsee on August 19, 2004)
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THAT IS NO ALEMBIC!! That is a Fernandez copy of an Alembic!
Michael
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I just called the store where this bass is to ask some specific questions about this bass. It has no power supply, and no Alembic logo on the headstock. There is a plaque on the headstock that reads Alembic Les Purnel or something like that. When I asked them for the serial number they said that on one side of the headstock is stamped 705 and on the other 34 or something like that. Sounds fishy to me. I put the thought in his head that it may be an Alembic copy and he got kinda upset. It seems that he has Alembic money invested in it instead of Fernandez money. I mentioned to him that he can open the bass up and check to see if the pots are stamped Alembic, and if the circuit card has Alembic written on it. I suspect he will be disappointed!
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Interesting - I was wondering about that. The knobs looked strange to me, but how can you be sure? The serial number certainly didn't make sense. The claim was that the top of the headstock has 06 on one side and 705 on the other. 76-705 would be about the right number for the year, but I was waiting for more photos to be sure.
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I've contaced the seller to help set the record straight. I'm with Michael on this one, this really smells like a Fernandes. Fancy that - no photos of the peghead.
No idea about Les Purnel. 705 is not a 76 number, and 705 is myrtle anyway.
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LOL, I guess there's not much chance that this one will have a happy ending. I probably would have figured that out before the money plunked down, but thanks for the early save!
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I put the thought in his head that it may be an Alembic copy and he got kinda upset.
I did the same thing a month ago, and asked him to contact Alembic to verify its' authenticity. Did anyone see the price or description change? I didn't think so.
Run.
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Wow. I'm glad, now, that I posted the link in the first place.
Mica, seems to me someone posted Fernandez guts pictures and the wiring in the cavity was really messy - not neat ribbon cables etc. That would clinch it.
Sorry, Bsee. Keep lookin'...you'll find one.
EffClef
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Hey, at least the case is funky. Can I get mine like that Mica?!?!?!
-Mike
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I really liked the cases that came with those basses! I liked the form fit around the bodies.
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Check out this thread: http://club.alembic.com/Images/395/11929.html?1092867886 (http://club.alembic.com/index.php?topic=15146)
This is a bass for sale with the same type of case.
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FYI, looks like the dealer has the sale pulled off the web. Looks like he listened to us...
EffClef
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The Les Purnell bass was at the Queen City Guitar Show in Charlotte, NC...I spotted it today. It had a $1200 price tag on it. I busted the owners chops about it in front of another potential customer - he got very upset with me. He still had it up for sale as an Alembic when I left. I complained to the shop putting on the show and they indicated they would talk to the dude selling the bass. He's actually a local guy here in NC.
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Since they have been informed by the ultimate authority that the bass is not an Alembic, that they would be guilty of fraud for selling it as such. There is no longer any possibility that this is an honest mistake. I wonder what rights to legal action Alembic has in this case?
Are they a real dealer with a storefront that can be identified?
-Bob
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I contacted the place originally selling the bass and they said that they bought it as part of a collection and were told that it was an Alembic. They were apparently irritated with the seller and returned it for a refund. I offered them $800 for it as a copy with no power supply and they said that they paid more than that for the bass and were returning it.
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Wow, what a checkered history. Glad I posted it. The bad thing is, on outward appearance (their web picture of just the body) it sure looked like an Alembic Series I.
EffClef
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The Fernandez copies of the Alembic bass were VERY close to the original. There are some little things to check though. On the headstock, there is usually no logo. On the later Fernandez versions, there is a Fernandez logo. The neck laminates or stringers are a little wider than Alembic used. The finish tends to be a little browner. The Alembics that they are copying are more yellow than brown. The pickup selector knob is a bit different too. When you open up the control cavity, that's where the major differences can be seen. Although the controls and electronics work the same, the electronics are not up to the Alembic standard. The cavity was painted with a black paint instead of the shielding paint Alembic uses. The pots are not stamped Alembic, and the wiring is usually very sloppy too.
But, to see a picture of the bass, or to the untrained Alembic lovers like us, it can be hard to tell. I have seen one floating around here in New Orleans that I know was sold as a real one at some point. It even had the Alembic logo that someone put on the headstock. Pity.
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Thanks for the history lesson, Michael. I find this stuff fascinating. It's almost like techno-archaeology. There are other branches of collecting where people have to date or determine origin of pieces by looking at rivet heads, paint type, patent dates, etc - you really have to be a scholar to know what it is you are looking at.
I don't think I've ever seen a Fernandes of a non-Alembic shape and because of their behavior, I don't think I would buy anything of theirs if they are in business still. It says something about the Japanese business model of that particular time. Rickenbacker copies were the same problem.
Did you (or someone) say that all the Fernandes copies were medium scale, zebrawood models?
EffClef
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I think these guys are still in business! But, of course, they do not copy Alembic anymore. After they made their Alembic copies, (which were VERY few by the way) they were selling their usual line of Fender copies, but some had the Alembic Series 1 electronics copies installed. I guess they had to do something with the left over parts!
The Alembic copies they made came in long and in short scale. They were all zebrawood. the long scale instruments had the large Alembic with a point shape. The short scales were the standard small body shape. I have not heard of any medium scales that they made. The pickups that were available on their Alembic copies came in 2 colors. Black and cream.
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OK, it looks like we only need to look out for zebrawood ones.
Sounds like the dealer has done the right thing in returning it to the collector, but hopefully if this thing shows up on Ebay nobody will be fooled.
EffClef
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Actually Fernandes did make an Alembic style in a non-alembic shape called the Masterhand. It was a very cool strat/hippie sandwich shape. I have a masterhand guitar that is currently in Gary Brawer's shop getting Alembic electronics, RMC individual bridge pickups and a 13 pin jack to use with my Roland GR 33 Guitar synth. Here is a link to a picture of a bass Masterhand, along with the Fernandes Alembic copies: http://66.102.7.104/search?q=cache:ANlcLKc6oQUJ:www8.plala.or.jp/alembic/copy_gallery.html+fernandes+%22master+hand%22&hl=en (http://66.102.7.104/search?q=cache:ANlcLKc6oQUJ:www8.plala.or.jp/alembic/copy_gallery.html%2Bfernandes%2B%22master%2Bhand%22&hl=en)
By the way, the guitar version looks much bettter than the bass version (IMHO)
Bill