Alembic Guitars Club

Alembic products => Owning an Alembic => Serial Number / History Requests => Topic started by: soflbass on October 10, 2017, 11:19:15 AM

Title: (x) SN 91K6383 - '91 Essence
Post by: soflbass on October 10, 2017, 11:19:15 AM
I just purchased a '91 Essence and am looking to get some history, materials, etc.  The serial number is 91K6383.

Appreciate your help!
Title: Re: SN 91K6383 - '91 Essence
Post by: soflbass on October 10, 2017, 12:00:20 PM
Here are some photos.
Title: Re: SN 91K6383 - '91 Essence
Post by: soflbass on October 20, 2017, 05:37:21 PM
Some cleaning, adjusting, strings and balancing pickup volume, and this bass is sweet!  Love it!
Title: Re: SN 91K6383 - '91 Essence
Post by: soflbass on October 21, 2017, 10:39:05 AM
More pictures after setup.
Title: Re: SN 91K6383 - '91 Essence
Post by: mica on November 17, 2017, 06:58:08 PM
Very nice Essence bass! This was from the early days of the Essence bass, when they were very limited in options. In fact, there were no wood choices, you could only pick 4- or 5-string, right or left handed, and fretted or fretless.

Here's the details from the instrument file:

model number: KLB4
top: Flame Maple
accent: Walnut pinstripe
body: Maple
neck: 3-piece Maple
scale: 34" long
fingerboard: Ebony
inlays: none
pickups: MXY4
controls: "Essence" volume, pan, filter, mono output
originally made for: Thompson Music
birthday: June 4, 1991

The monogram engraved on the truss rod cover and the knobs were added by a previous owner. Cleaned up real nice!
Title: Re: (x) SN 91K6383 - '91 Essence
Post by: soflbass on November 18, 2017, 07:52:27 AM
Thank you Mica! I'm really enjoying the Essence. It's  joy to play. And the tone I can get from it is phenomenal! With the maple on maple brightness, I am exploring the perfect strings for this bass at the moment. Next up will be pure nickle roundwounds for some additional warmth and mellowness.
Title: Re: (x) SN 91K6383 - '91 Essence
Post by: jazzyvee on November 18, 2017, 12:11:29 PM
Maple gives a great sparkle, mid and low range punch on alembic basses. I have an all maple elan 4. Try some alembic strings they have enough brightness if you need that too, lovely mellow warmth and quite low finger noise straight out of the pack.
Title: Re: (x) SN 91K6383 - '91 Essence
Post by: soflbass on November 18, 2017, 12:21:50 PM
Thank you for the suggestion Jazzy. I just received a set of new GHS balanced nickel light strings. They have a pure nickel outer wrap and are supposed to be balanced in volume and tone across the fretboard. If these don't work out, I'll definitely give the Alembic strings a try. What set would you recommend?