Alembic Guitars Club
Alembic products => Alembic Basses & Guitars => Topic started by: andertone on September 22, 2017, 07:23:42 AM
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Looks like this bass is going to be meticulously restored. <FB snip>. The world is now a better place :-)
Rick Turner (https://www.facebook.com/rick.turner.940?fref=ufi) OK, it's Alembic #001 which I built for Jack Casady (spelling counts here!); most of the construction was in 1971 at the facility at 360 Judah St., and I finished it off at the infamous Chicken Ranch Alembic shop in Cotati, CA. Ron Wickersham made the electronic circuits; I did the rest...wood work and carvings, bridge, fine tuning tailpiece, fingerboard inlay, pickups, sliding pickup mounting system, LED side dots. I'm restoring it to it's original electronics concept with modular electronics on brass "console channel strips", and I'll make new bird's eye front plates to match the originals. I'll save the later Alembic "Series" electronics as a kind of historical record, but use new preamps and filters from John East in England with the original pickups. This will take a while, and I'll document it carefully. This bass was really the clincher in establishing the Alembic instrument building style, even though later instruments had the full "hippie sandwich" body construction. This was not my first neck-through...the Pretzel guitar preceded it in 1969/1970. This was the second instrument in history with LED side dots, David Crosby's 12 string being the first.
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mmmmm. :-D
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Huh? New filters and preamps from England.
Restore all of Casady's finger scratches, marks and mojo out of it?
Why ...to make it like new? Once restored it is never original again.
Restored '60s pre basses are worth about 40% less than original.
Restoration has gotta hit this bass's value.
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Well, this is dreadful.
R.
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I may be mistaken... but I thought 001 was M.I.A. For awhile and when recovered it's condition was of want for a refurb.... :-\
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I'm 100% in favor of restoring an instrument to playing condition so it can be enjoyed and experienced as intended, and 100% against ever having one locked up in a trophy case. The finest Stradivari violins need to be played, and a racehorse has got to run.
I remember feeling the same way a couple years ago when RT had the Osage Orange "Mission Control" bass in for "restoration" and had similar plans for its electronics. It ended up at Gruhn's in Nashville with all the woodwork complete but nothing else (at least nothing apparent) done. Maybe we'll see the next chapter of that one unfold here someday.
First of all on #72-001, what exactly needs restoration? Most accounts I've read suggest that bass was a work-in-progress from day one. The installed electronics in the above picture are configured like more modern Series electronics, and they definitely are not the ones in older pictures of that bass, so the pickguards have already been swapped out at least once. The bridge also appears to be the more modern type. So that bass has already been altered several times, making originality to 1972 specs much less of an issue. It looks to be intact structurally, at least enough to hold strings, though hard to tell specifics without more detailed pictures. So what needs fixing here?
I wouldn't want to speak out of turn, since whoever has #001 can obviously do what they wish, but it seems to me the folks to restore the preamps and filters are a lot closer to RT than England. It's a shame circumstances are such they can't work together on this one, given the significance. That's about as diplomatic as I can put things, and not open any old wounds.
I remain an interested reader.
[moderator's edit: corrected dates by request]
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Very nicely stated Greg. I couldn't agree with you more.
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so awesome!
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Greg, I was thinking along the same lines, but couldn't have stated it as diplomatically. When I bought #10 with only half if the original electronics in working order, a trip to Santa Rosa was the only option I ever considered, no offense to our friends across the pond.
Bill, tgo
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Deleted text since Greg covered the current vs original electronics configuration already.
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I may be mistaken... but I thought 001 was M.I.A. for awhile and when recovered it's condition was of want for a refurb.... :-\
Paul; you might be thinking of this bass (http://club.alembic.com/index.php?topic=16167.0).
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Yes, that's the one.
Dave you are special!
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Restore all of Casady's finger scratches, marks and mojo out of it?
Why ...to make it like new? Once restored it is never original again.
Restored '60s pre basses are worth about 40% less than original.
Restoration has gotta hit this bass's value.
My guess is that Casady's marks on this bass are long gone. But I would check the stash box, just in case.
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When on FB Mr Turner made it a guessing contest . I appears the I made the correct guess really fast . I have just been around for too long , LOL ! Too old . It s fun to be old and well around these parts :) I wish that Alembic would be doing this work actually on 72-001! He is talking about installing non Alembic electronics in this historic instrument . That is just WRONG in my opinion ! I do not like that . ;)
Wolf
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When on FB Mr Turner made it a guessing contest . I appears the I made the correct guess really fast . I have just been around for too long , LOL ! Too old . It s fun to be old and well around these parts :) I wish that Alembic would be doing this work actually on 72-001! He is talking about installing non Alembic electronics in this historic instrument . That is just WRONG in my opinion ! I do not like that . ;)
Wolf
Well if that is true I am jumping on the other side of the fence. Wrong move there.
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Mods - just realized this morning I got the year wrong... I did know the Casady bass was 72-001, but somehow slipped... ::)
Could you please edit my post above to reflect the correct year? ;)
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Do I have the wrong memory about this bass? I thought that it belonged to
someone in the Club who wished to remain anonymous.
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Kenn - That's my recollection as well.
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I'm not a facebookie and haven't seen the
article story post (whatever stuff on facebook is called) related to this instrument. Unless, the owner was revealed therein, I'm thinking that the owner is still, and wishes to continue to be, anonymous.
Gregory; edits made as requested.
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I'm not a facebookie and haven't seen the article story post (whatever stuff on facebook is called) related to this instrument. Unless, the owner was revealed therein, I'm thinking that the owner is still, and wishes to continue to be, anonymous.
Gregory; edits made as requested.
Thanks Mod Dave. Ackuracy counts, you know. ;)
Yeah, I'm not on FB either, and apparently you have to be to see stuff on RT's personal page, so maybe there is more to the project than the snip posted at the top.
Whatever happens, I'm just glad to hear the Casady bass is still around and making music. I was just telling someone yesterday, how it blows me away to think about the continuity - that's Alembic #1... and I have #14588. How cool is that!? 8)
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I hope that Mica and crew do something amazingly special for Alembic number 15,000!
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I hope that Mica and crew do something amazingly special for Alembic number 15,000!
...or 50th Anniversary Models? ;D
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Never anything but amazingly special, I'd say.
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Never anything but amazingly special, I'd say.
^^^^
Yes. My 84 Distillate, both amazing and special. As well as dreamy. And eloquent. And a bunch of other pleasant adjectives.
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Don't let Rick Turner touch that thing. It will end up way worse than it is now. Anything but Ron's electronics in there is blasphemy. Almost 50 years on, and Rick is still doing sloppy work. Leave it be, or have Alembic restore it. Makes me sick to think of a restoration that is not a true restoration, but a distortion. Without Alembic electronics in it, it is just a bizarre woodworking project with a crap circuit in it that has no relevance to its amazing and unique provenance. If de-Alembic'd, whatever notes are played on it will be nothing like what came out of it in 1972. How is that a true restoration?
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I really don't think denigrating Ricks work and calling it sloppy is appropriate in this post. I agree getting it back to original condition would be nice but what exactly would be original condition?
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' . . . but what exactly would be the original condition?' could easily be answered by the people who built it, who are still around and doing great work every day. I'm sure between Ron and Susan this would be an easy answer, and a correct restoration to whatever level is desired. Other people could do other things, but for us, it needs to 'come home' to be done right by the people who built it. And of course, the current owner has every right to have the work done by whomever he chooses.
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Pennywise and a pound .......... or maybe not. I think it will be a good thing all around. I bet down the road it will make its way back to Alembic for restoration. Mr Turner works his craft then the wonderful folks at Alembic add their magic later. Eventually the customer will be completely satisfied and will have a dramatic story to tell. Adding any non-Alembic electronics to any Alembic is not the smartest move, even if it is temporary. :o
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I feel exactly the same as I did when this thread started up last year... I'm glad the first-born Alembic is being restored and sorry both 'parents' aren't involved in it. I just wish there was some way to get updates without being on Facebook. :(
Anybody heard how (or if) it's going? RT hasn't posted anything on his blog about it. (although there was a fascinating tale of an earlier peanut guitar that became Jerry Garcia's)
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Pennywise and a pound .......... or maybe not. I think it will be a good thing all around. I bet down the road it will make its way back to Alembic for restoration. Mr Turner works his craft then the wonderful folks at Alembic add their magic later. Eventually the customer will be completely satisfied and will have a dramatic story to tell. Adding any non-Alembic electronics to any Alembic is not the smartest move, even if it is temporary. :o
Moongerm, I guess I have to admit to making an un-smart move then. I put non alembic electronics in my first Europa bass. It was at a time when I was getting tired of searching and not finding a series Europa bass for sale. A new one was out of the question. By chance I bumped into John East at the ACG Guitar stand at the Manchester bass day years back. Anyway I found he was doing filter based tone controls with CVQ for basses. I told him about my alembic and asked if he could do a mod for me so I could use two of his modules in my bass. So he did and installed low and high pass filters for each pickup, the low pass had what we call CVQ and the high pass had gain controls.
I have to say it sounded good especially the really low end as their filter controlled down to 80hz and the CVQ did give me a lot of control. However the low mids weren't cutting it for me and I found whilst I was able to get a lot of bottom end, it had no punch in it. I started to feel that something lacking in the tone from what I was used to hearing. I guess it was a poor man's series II. :-)
I eventually, I realised aspects of the sound wasn't for me and re-installed the original alembic europa electronics. Since then I've have managed to find a Series II Europa and realise where my soul on the bass is. I'm happy again. I must say that John East is a great guy and absolutely knows what he is doing. I'm not saying his stuff is any better or worse than Alembics, it just sounds different and I prefer the difference that Alembic gives me. I have no doubt the bass will sound great when it is finished. It's anyone's guess as to whether it will ever get back to Ron at alembic to
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Jazzyvee, non Alembic electronics MAY devalue an Alembic instruments value (generally speaking) in my limited experience. This was my initial thought behind my comment.
BTW I did purchase 3 sets of John East ACG preamps about 8 years ago, well before I educated myself on Alembic. They worked well but they weren't for me either and for the same reasons you stated plus a few others. I did like them at that time and used them for several years, mucho respect for them. I think there is a newer version now than the 1st generation version I had which is now discontinued. I had them installed in 3 basses expecting to get close to the sounds I wanted that Alembic can produce. I found myself trying to chase down those tones I had in my head without having to shell out for a custom Series instrument. The ride was fun but I could have got there sooner by doing it right the first time going right to the source. My only regret is not investing in Series electronics on a custom build sooner.
Since I found and come to adore Alembic and after going through my 'quest for tone' journey I can't imagine why anyone would swap those electronics out or at least not update them. People like different things and budgets prevail is what it comes down to.
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moongerm, I had the same thing chasing those tones, I'm glad you put that process into words hahaha. Mine were the EQ02 version which has been replaced for I'm told to address the things that we have noticed. The range of the filter has also been closed up so no longer down to I think 80hz. This would make it much easier to use.
Now I have no desire to use anything but alembic live.
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I have a Rick Turner, Michael Dolan, Ron Wickersham, Naldemas Redeias ??, Mark Johnson, RD Robinson, Steve Snyder , Wayne, Thuis??, Kevin Medina, serial # 76-259 Long scale LSB-1 34" scale Bass. I ordered it new through Danny's Music Box in El Paso Texas. I still have it, still play it, have recored many albums with it. Engineers love it. I hav eat e signature sheet that came with the bass.
( ?? not sure of spelling of signature )
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I have a Rick Turner, Michael Dolan, Ron Wickersham, Naldemas Redeias ??, Mark Johnson, RD Robinson, Steve Snyder , Wayne, Thuis??, Kevin Medina, serial # 76-259 Long scale LSB-1 34" scale Bass. I ordered it new through Danny's Music Box in El Paso Texas. I still have it, still play it, have recored many albums with it. Engineers love it. I hav eat e signature sheet that came with the bass.
( ?? not sure of spelling of signature )
Cool. You may want to post some pictures in the 'showcase' section. We love pictures 🙂