Alembic Guitars Club
Alembic products => Alembic Basses & Guitars => Topic started by: senmen on December 19, 2003, 07:28:36 AM
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Hi Mica, hi Val, hi guys,
as Mica promised to send us a little christmas present during the weekend, the JAE pics, I thought I should do the same.
Below plse find my little christmas present for you all, a very rare photo of John Entwistle with his original Spyder 8....
And yes Mica, my photo collection of Alembic Spyders is not the smallest, but I am eager to see yours.....
(http://club.alembic.com/Images/393/7189.jpg)
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......
Speechless
Thanks Oliver.
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I always thought it was an insight into his personality: Either it was a total lack of ego to inlay the notes on the fingerboard, or that he wanted to make you think he needed them !
God Rest John Entwistle.
J o e y
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Anybody have a copy of Too Late The Hero? That album sealed the deal for me - I HAD to have an Alembic! I recall it had a lot of 8-string bass on it...
John
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John,
of course I have it. Originally since 1982.
Some of my friends say, it is poor due to the
texts and simple music.
But to me it is explosive and one of his best bass playing albums.
Oliver
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Thanks for the pics Spyderman! That is of course, one of the coolest basses ever. Only fitting for JAE was the coolest bass guitarist ever.
My copy of TLTH does sound bad. That's because I wore out the vinyl trying to learn his licks. I really should get that on CD if it's available...
JAE was also the reason I had to have an Alembic.
John Paul
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John Paul,
of course the TLTH is available on CD!
And yes also this made me want an Alembic Spyder since the very first time I saw him playing them...
Oliver
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TLTH is my favorite JE album.. you can buy it on amazon along with several more JE records ( including The Rock, Left for Live, the King Biscuit Show...) :
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/search-handle-form/002-0849107-0013629 (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/search-handle-form/002-0849107-0013629)
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Yum.
This appears to be the graphite Exploiter-8. I believe this one had a very small photo on the letters page of Guitar Player mag years ago (before there was a Bass Player magazine!).
David Fung
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Hey Oliver,
Val's searching on Friday didn't yield any pics I could positively identify as John's, but I did post a few other goodies he found in new thread (http://club.alembic.com/index.php?topic=2283). Sorry we didn't find anything this time, but you know that as soon as I've got them we'll post them here right away. I will take a shot tomorrow of the poster of TLTH my mom has in her office.
David - I don't think this one is the graphite one, the front of the peghead is vermilion, but see the purpleheart laminates in the neck? Usually the graphite basses had a large bound neck overlay.
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Hi Mica, hi John, hi all,
don?t mind about the pics Mica. The ones you posted in the other thread are great!
As for the Spyder 8, to my knowledge John only had this particular ONE Spyder 8. This above shown is the same that is shown on the group shots with a big part of his then collection.
This Spyder 8 definetely has no graphite neck.
Mica, something that is still of strong interest for me is the electronics on the JAE Spyders.
You told me once about an old thread where you explained the electronics but I can?t find it.
Could you explain to me again the two pots and the switch on the lower horn?
Oliver (Spyderman)
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Oliver
Thought you might be interested in an interview with Greg Lake in the November 2003 issue of (British) Guitar Magazine, which includes the following:
Lake's claim that he's 'not really a collector' is borne out by the fact that none of the basses he used in the 70s and 80s - a Fender Jazz in King Crimson, then Alembics later on in ELP - are still in his possession....
'If I don't play 'em, I get rid of them,' he explains. 'Like the eight-string Alembic - I sold that to John Entwistle.'
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Speaking of Greg Lake and King Crimson, his bass work on 21st Century Schizoid Man is really nice. The instrumental section of that song is one of my all time favorites.
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Greg Lake is very underrated in my book. Tarkus on a long-scale 8-string with a pick at the speed Emerson played it live? And he sings too? Very, very underrated. That 8-string, BTW, was the very first 8-string I had ever seen.. And I LOVE Fanfare for the Common Man - great bass!!!
John
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Tarkus is one of my all time favorite albums! Unfortunately I'm not sure I've even ever heard their version of Fanfare for the Common Man.
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I think Works Volume I has Fanfare. I read in several places that it was recorded with a stereo mic during a practice run-through by a sneaky engineer and that they decided to keep the take. I don't know if it's true or not (it may well be). My little brother is friends with K. E. and his manager/tech, so I should probably just ask him to ask. It does make a good story.. :-) My brother did a saxophone quartet arrangement of Tarkus (for his wife's sax quartet) which Keith apparently liked..
John
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The story about the recording of Fanfare could well be true based on the sound quality which is not up to the usual ELP engineering standards. And I always thought they engineered it that way to make it sound more fanfareish and more common.
I still don't think you can go past the self-titled first album. I was working in a hi-fi shop at the time and the end of the drum solo in Tank was our standard test of cartridge tracking ability and low end transient repsonse. Linn Sondek + biamped via massive power amps + Infinity RS 4.5 speakers = heaven.
Sounds terrible on CD - hmmm, better check to see if there's an SACD version.
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Hi Dave,
many thanks for your info on the Greg Lake 8string.
To my knowledge Greg Lake had two Alembic eight strings with a very similar design.
The first one, buildt around 1976, was in longer posession of Greg Lake and is currently on display at the London Hard Rock Cafe. This particular one is shown in the Bass Book of Tony Bacon on page 41.
The mentioned 8string Greg talked about which he had sold to John was of a very similar design and this particular one had pirate motifs on the fingerboard. This bass was auctioned this year in the Sothebys auction for GBP 10800
(see auction catalogue page 89).
Many greetings
Oliver (Spyderman)
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Two very nice pics at the top of this thread. Is that a Mini-Moog I see to the left of the Spyder on the top pic?
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There are several pictures of Greg Lake & his Alembics on his website.
http://greglake.com (http://greglake.com)
Thanks for the great JE photos, Oliver. An interesting side on the note names on his fretboard, I was watching the Rock Hall of Fame '03 inductions this morning. During their bit on The Clash I noticed that bass player had note names on his PBass. It immediately brought Mr Entwistle to mind.
Sam
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Sam; interesting site. Thanks.
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My brother Pete tells me that Greg Lake has been doing some work with the remaining members of the Who, mostly charity stuff. Townsend, Lake and Daltrey?
John
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Oliver - I should have known you'd already be on top of it.