Alembic Guitars Club

Alembic products => Alembic Basses & Guitars => Topic started by: rusty_the_scoob on November 07, 2008, 10:18:02 AM

Title: My custom Phil bass
Post by: rusty_the_scoob on November 07, 2008, 10:18:02 AM

UPS just delivered my custom-built, sorta Alembicish 5-string Phil bass!  Huge thanks to everyone here for answering my questions during the design phase.
 
I used a Warmoth 5 piece neck, of birdseye maple and purpleheart with a Ziricote fingerboard.  That's bolted onto a homemade Batwing body with a center section fo the same woods as the neck, an ebony strip on either side of that, and body wings made of Mahogany with accent layers of maple, purpleheart, and a Cocobolo top and back with continuous wood backplate.
 
The hardware is Gotoh GB7 tuners, a Warwick bridge and adjustable nut (both Alembic copies IMHO) with Bartolini's original series pickups and an ACG filter-based preamp.  Sensing a theme yet?  Yep, I made it as close as possible to an Alembic but unfortunately my budget didn't allow any real Alembic parts.  The sound I'm after is Phil's Godfather or Mission Control.
 
Here is my Flickr photo album, with captions so you can follow this from beginning to end if you're interested.  http://www.flickr.com/photos/danfcrea/sets/72157606940563012/ (http://www.flickr.com/photos/danfcrea/sets/72157606940563012/)
 
Or just check out the finished product:
 
(http://[url=http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3008/3002157786_99d2e99bfa_b.jpg]http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3008/3002157786_99d2e99bfa_b.jpg[/url])
 
(http://[url=http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3204/3002188360_745dfdc0fe_b.jpg]http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3204/3002188360_745dfdc0fe_b.jpg[/url])

Title: My custom Phil bass
Post by: llobsterbass on November 07, 2008, 10:33:44 AM

wow, gorgeous! tell us more about the ACG filter preamp. links? thanks.

Title: My custom Phil bass
Post by: llobsterbass on November 07, 2008, 10:36:59 AM

 
 
(Message edited by llobsterbass on November 07, 2008)

Title: My custom Phil bass
Post by: llobsterbass on November 07, 2008, 10:37:26 AM

never mind, I found it
 
ACG/East preamp (http://www.bestbassgear.com/acg-eq-02-j.htm)

Title: My custom Phil bass
Post by: rusty_the_scoob on November 07, 2008, 11:16:28 AM

Yep, that's the one!  I got the 5k version rather than the J-retro, and that's the same site I bought it from.  http://www.bestbassgear.com/acg-eq-02-two-pu.htm (http://www.bestbassgear.com/acg-eq-02-two-pu.htm)
 
As I understand it it's very much like the Series preamp except without a blend knob (which I would love to have).  I also added switches for the pickups to give the options of Single/Humbucker/other-single, but would eventually like to find a way to make them Single/Series/Parallel.

Title: My custom Phil bass
Post by: edwin on November 08, 2008, 06:37:04 PM

I have the same preamp in my Starfire.
 
Edwin
 
(http://club.alembic.com/Images/393/58252.jpg)

Title: My custom Phil bass
Post by: keurosix on November 09, 2008, 06:42:44 PM

Dan, Very impressive! I too have an ACG EQ-02 preamp 4K/T version on my Dean Edge fretless 6 string. It is a very high end quiet quiet quiet preamp - no audible hiss whatever - and quite a lot of tonal control. The filter is different than the Alembic filter - it has a broader sweep, from ultra low to extremely high - almost like the SF-2, but with a different tonal center frequency, almost as if the "Q" switch was up an octave. Not exactly the Alembic sound, but really great nonetheless. Here are some pics:  
(http://club.alembic.com/Images/393/58310.jpg)
 
(http://club.alembic.com/Images/393/58311.jpg)
  Enjoy! Kris

Title: My custom Phil bass
Post by: rusty_the_scoob on November 11, 2008, 05:31:06 AM

Thanks for that info, Kris... I've only ever played an Epic... I'd been wondering what the differences were.  Looks like you've got a nice big electronics cavity too...
 
How's that Starfire sound, Edwin?  That might end up being my next project in a year or two... pretty much exactly what you built.

Title: My custom Phil bass
Post by: edwin on November 12, 2008, 02:39:29 AM

It sounds wonderful. I am fantasizing about an ebony fingerboard, though......
 
Edwin

Title: My custom Phil bass
Post by: edwin on November 12, 2008, 02:40:07 AM

It sounds wonderful. Out of all my instruments, it's the one that people seem to comment the most about. Engineers love it. I am fantasizing about an ebony fingerboard, though......
 
Edwin

Title: My custom Phil bass
Post by: flaxattack on November 14, 2008, 11:24:40 PM

(http://club.alembic.com/Images/393/58544.jpg)

Title: My custom Phil bass
Post by: rusty_the_scoob on November 15, 2008, 05:22:20 AM

Yeah.  I found that bass here while doing research for my build.  I did what I could with my humble imitation, and bow to the real masters.

Title: My custom Phil bass
Post by: llobsterbass on November 20, 2008, 04:10:32 PM

Holy Moses, flaxattack! too beautiful to be real, it must be Photoshop. Or Alembic.
 
what year was it built? I want to check out the build files. more pictures!

Title: My custom Phil bass
Post by: 3rd_ray on November 20, 2008, 04:48:10 PM

That is a beautiful bass...  
 

Title: My custom Phil bass
Post by: rogueman on November 22, 2008, 09:05:45 PM

Nice wood and I like the way the pickups are the same as the wood. What is that little pear shaped Knob slightly above the two toggle switches?

Title: My custom Phil bass
Post by: flaxattack on November 23, 2008, 12:06:46 AM

bass control- pickup selector- master volume
ind volume and q filters