Alembic Guitars Club
Connecting => Miscellaneous => Topic started by: funkyjazzjunky on September 18, 2014, 02:41:03 PM
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Just heard that Modulus Graphite is defunct. Wonder what happened?
VMG
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I am not sure as to the details however several months back ( many ) I remember seeing their molds and equipment being auctioned off on ebay for cheap ___ .
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Sometimes, when it comes to very 'specialist' gear, once everybody that wanted one got theirs, that's that, if you keep to your original vision strictly.
Or you can have a very original vision, sell all of that you can, then morph the name and product to keep going, like Fly guitars that look like Teles instead of Parker's original, or Hartke cabinets that don't have aluminum drivers.
Of course, the third option is becoming increasingly popular: Sell your company to Gibson or FMIC, get a big check, hang around a year or two as a 'consultant' (at least you can come back from Tahiti or the North Shore to get trotted out at the NAMM Show in the booth), then go back into business after the non-compete runs out. Not bad work if you can get it.
J o e y
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Ever watch those Aluminum drivers die? I watched my old bass players' cab go from four intact drivers down to one in THREE hours; the speakers fell apart in front of me; no wonder the aluminum cones aren't the main thing with Hartke anymore; it sounds great, but has a very finite lifespan and when it goes, it goes now...Tony
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I kinda think Geoff is still going here:
http://www.ggould.com/home.html (http://www.ggould.com/home.html)
... but not sure. I believe musical instruments were always a side project for him. I found him to be a really nice guy but reluctant to deal with the selling side of the biz.
Jimmy J
(Message edited by jimmyj on September 19, 2014)
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It appears the last update to the site was five years ago.
I recently built a guitar using a Modulus graphite neck, a Warmoth custom body, and Alembic electronics. (You can see a shot of me playing it in the NorCal 2014 Gathering pics thread). I LOVE the graphite neck.
Bill, tgo
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I dunno, the Retail Price List is effective 8/5/14, so someone must be maintaining something...
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Tom, though Geoff Gould founded Modulus back in the day, his current operation is G. Gould Guitars. Nothing to do with Modulus, which is well and truly defunct.
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Yeah, no argument about Modulus being part of history now.
I must have misunderstood Bill, tgo's comment about the last update to the site. I thought he meant the ggould.com site, which does appear current.
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Oh man, loved the sound of Aluminum cone speakers (with a passive bass) but man did they fail.
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The guitar section states it was last updated in 2009. That's where I was looking - who woulda thunk it? Doooooh!
Bill, tgo
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Too bad for Modulus. My main bass was a Q5 for a few years. It was the most dependable instrument I've owned. Also had a G. Gould graphite 4 string, black with a cocobolo fretboard. It was my main bass for another couple years (a pattern was developing). Both cool basses and much more versatile than most people seemed to recognize. Both are gone and I miss them, but my Brown Bass and a new walnut Rick 4003W are serving really nicely in rotation. In time, I could see myself swapping a Status graphite J neck (flawless build-quality and great sound) onto a Fender clone just to get some more of that composite love...
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Geoff doesn't do much to keep his website up-to-date. To keep track of what he is up to you need to go to his Facebook page.
https://www.facebook.com/ggould.music (https://www.facebook.com/ggould.music)
His Facebook page is kept current with pictures and info about the various instruments he is building. He recently gave a shout out to Alembic for the Rolling Stone article.
I own a GGi5 with a cocobolo top and matching headstock. It was built in 2003 before he started making instruments with graphite necks again (I am guessing he had to sign a non-compete clause when he sold Modulus which later expired and allowed him to start making graphite necks again). Beautiful looking, playing and sounding instrument. I previously had a GGj5 with a walnut top, also with a wood neck, his take on a Fender jazz bass. Geoff does some nice work for sure and one of his basses would be an excellent choice for someone who misses Modulus.
I still play my Gould era neck-through Quantum five-string, built in 1988. I had Alembic make custom pickups for it and love the way it sounds... the B string on that bass coupled with the Alembic electronics is just massive sounding.
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Hi Stephen; welcome to the board!
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Hello Stephen, and welcome!
I've played both old Kramer aluminum neck basses and Modulus and the funny thing is my anchor thumb tells me right away 'this is not wood!'...not that it's a problem, but it is funny how foreign it feels...the carbon less than the aluminum, but still weird...Tony
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Stephen,
I have always dreamed of putting Alembic electronics and pickups in my Modulus Q5. Please post some pictures, when you get a chance, and welcome to the club.
Regards,
Pete
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DO IT PETE!... You will not regret it!....
And while we're at it, let's start a petition for Mr. Lesh to do the same w/ one of his TBX's..... I mean, now that he's got the Alembic, he's gonna need a backup w/ a 5-pin too!... Right?!?
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Well Mike, I'm thinking the more practical solution for Lesh would be to sell off his other basses and order another Alembic!
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Thanks for the welcomes! Not sure I will ever hit the post counts that most of you have but will post when I feel I have something to add to a discussion.
Pete... I am going to try to post a picture of the front of my Quantum bass. I couldn't find info on how to do that or maximum image size so this post may have no pics. One piece of info to consider about adding Alembic pups to your Q5. I called Geoff and Alembic before buying the bass so I could determine that the Bartolini's in the Q5 could be replaced without routing the body. Geoff had already sent Alembic molds of the pickups he was using at the time and Alembic confirmed they had the molds and could make the pickups. Depending on what is in your Q5 it may be more complicated. Now to try to attach an image.
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Pictures need to be less thank 150kb in size. I'd love to see what you tried to post!
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It's the picture gremlin again. If memory serves me right it was a bright red one with three AXYs.
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Weird, I already posted the picture and now it is gone. Maybe it was too large and a moderator pulled it? I'll make it smaller later and try again. The first time I tried to post I kept getting a file locking error and after giving up was later surprised to see the post and the picture.
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Stephen,
You would not have been able to post the picture if it was too large and the moderators wouldn't normally remove a picture. On the other hand the forum has had a gremlin for some years that steals pictures at random and has eluded capture to date.
Keith
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Stephen, the forum software is a pretty antiquated one, and we are looking at replacing it. One of the issues is that sometimes pictures get lost. We're not sure how it happens, just one of those things we hope to iron out in the near future. There was definitely no objection to the picture as such.
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Keith beat me to it.
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Thanks Keith and Adriaan!
Will try again but post links to the photos stored on my server.
http://www.stephenramirez.com/web_photos/modulus%20front.jpg (http://www.stephenramirez.com/web_photos/modulus%20front.jpg)
http://www.stephenramirez.com/web_photos/modulus%20full.jpg
http://www.stephenramirez.com/web_photos/Modulus%20back.jpg (http://www.stephenramirez.com/web_photos/Modulus%20back.jpg)
The pickups were custom made, I asked them to wind them like Distillate pickups but after 20+ years it is hard to remember all the details. I do remember hating the sound of the Barts and suddenly loving the sound of the bass once I installed the new pickups. I would not have bought the bass if the music store hadn't called both Geoff and Alembic to confirm the pickups could be replaced. At the time I was playing a Series I five-string and had owned a four-string Distillate before that and I wanted to continue to use Alembic pickups/electronics.
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That's a very intriguing looking instrument. The back's as beautiful as the front.
How does it sound? Any sound clips, youtube vids, etc available?
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Nice! Neck-through plus Alembic pickups and electronics plus pickup placement must make for some great, deep, and clear tones. I had a neck-through 6 string for a while and I miss the clarity of the low end that it gives the B string.