Alembic Guitars Club
Connecting => Swap Shop and Wish Lists => Seen on craigslist, eBay, and elsewhere => Topic started by: hieronymous on March 02, 2018, 09:21:06 AM
-
Just saw this on Reverb:
https://reverb.com/item/10318742-hofner-500-1-bass-1960s-modded (https://reverb.com/item/10318742-hofner-500-1-bass-1960s-modded)
The listing says "Alembic style appointments" so no guarantee that it's real Alembic guts, but it might be worth checking out for someone local.
-
Hm, the old style bridge doesn't seem far off, and the tan pickups do look awfully familiar. There might be a humcanceller (or two) inside the body, and there might be trimpots behind the control plate. We need an expert opinion here!
-
It's cool. I made an offer. We'll see.
-
It's cool. I made an offer. We'll see.
If those are Alembic electronics in there then you will have a VERY cool bass! Hope you get it, or at least get to take a look at it.
-
So cool, what a beastie. The 3 way switch is not a usual Alembic appointment, would be interesting to see inside.
-
So cool, what a beastie. The 3 way switch is not a usual Alembic appointment, would be interesting to see inside.
yeah, normally the 3-position switch would throw me off, but they wired up my Guild with the original 3-way switch so it doesn't strike me as a red flag. But again, we don't know that the pickups are Alembic and we don't know what the electronics are. It does look like a beast, huh? I kind of like the pickup rings.
-
If I am able to buy it, I will certainly take it apart and upload photos.
I am very intrigued.
-
If I were to hazard a guess, I'd say those aren't Alembic PUs. These appear to mount with one centered hole on either end, whereas Alembic PUs usually mount with four holes, one at each corner. If these are Alembic, they've been modified to fit the PU ring mounts.
Bill, tgo
-
The earliest Alembic bass pickups had just the one hole centered. It may well be a Stars Guitars modification, or so I've heard.
-
From the Reverb listing:
-
I have a couple of Hofners and have off-and-on considered asking Mica if they would convert it to a Hofnerlemic. This one, however, just makes me shudder.
-
Wow !
Very interesting !
The PUs and Bridge are 73' to 75' style, and 3 position SW is OK that Harry's mentioned it.
Hofner bass has enough space to set circuit (PF-5 or 6 ?) and Humcancelling PU.
If it was modified by mid 70's Alembic, It needs 5 pin cable, so the output jack is very informative.
I want to see the photo of output.
Eiji
-
Quick report !
I ask the seller about output.
The bass has 1/4 stereo jack for out put.
He show me the back of PU and there is labeled "Hi-Z" on the tape.
We know the PU for series circuit is "Lo-Z", so the PU made for it's own passive circuit ?
I also ask about the circuit, active or not.
Eiji
-
Hello all! I am the current owner of this Hofner. I just got messaged by Eiji and looked up this thread.
I created an account here a couple months ago to ask some questions about it, but never got around to it. I’m honored this made it to the boards all on its own :)
When I got the bass it was wired in stereo with a 1/4” output. No active electronics. The pickups are labeled “hi-z” on a piece of tape on the back, which implies to me that they came from somewhere that made lo-z ones as well?
I believe the pickups are single coil, and not RWRP as they don’t hum-cancel. There’s no dummy coil to be found. The electronics in the cavity do not look like a very high quality job (I’m away from it now so can’t post a pic)
It’s a really odd piece, which I bought impulsively on reverb based on the look and story (old Alembic looking bass bought at San Fran police auction in 1980, how could I resist?). But I already have a violin bass that is apparently unbeatable at the Beatle thing, and a Starfire that covers all the active ground I need, so cool as this is its kinda redundant for me.
I’m at a gig right now but would love to chat more about this later. Thanks y’all!
-
Hi Packy,
Welcome to the board !
-
Hey Packy, is this you on Soundcloud?
Packy Plays Booker T Plays Rolling In The Deep
https://soundcloud.com/packylundholm/packy-plays-booker-t-plays-rolling-in-the-deep
Tasty!
-
Hi Z pickups and passive guts? To me this can't be called "alembicized", at least not where would worth mentioning... didn't got it
-
Hey Packy, is this you on Soundcloud?
Packy Plays Booker T Plays Rolling In The Deep
https://soundcloud.com/packylundholm/packy-plays-booker-t-plays-rolling-in-the-deep
Tasty!
Yup, that’s me, thanks!!
-
So, no shipping on this bass. Local pickup only?
-
So, no shipping on this bass. Local pickup only?
I’m really trying to avoid shipping, as I’ve had some bad luck with shipping guitars lately on both sending and receiving ends. But if someone offers close to my asking price and is willing to pay for/take the risk of shipping I’ll do it.
Here’s a photo of the back side of a pickup. Does this look familiar at all? I’ve heard of Alembic making passive pickups for other cheaper brands, could that be what’s going on here?
-
"I’ve heard of Alembic making passive pickups for other cheaper brands, could that be what’s going on here?"
I've never heard of Alembic doing such, and I be quite surprised if they ever did!
Bill, tgo
-
"I’ve heard of Alembic making passive pickups for other cheaper brands, could that be what’s going on here?"
I've never heard of Alembic doing such, and I be quite surprised if they ever did!
Bill, tgo
Agreed! I have never heard of that either and would also be surprised. Very surprised.
-
Really??
http://alembic.stores.yahoo.net/axybtacpic.html
-
I’ve heard of Alembic making passive pickups for other cheaper brands, could that be what’s going on here?
I think you are trying to convince people that this bass is something that it is not.
-
We made a batch of high impedance pickups for Tune in the late 1980s early 1990s. They were installing low-z and high-z Alembic pickups in some of their basses. I think they were all JZ shape. I'll ask dad later about high impedance pickups from this era. My first reaction to this bass is that it looks more like a Stars Guitars type mod than Alembic.
-
I was also wondering maybe Stars Guitars - as Adriaan suggested.
Really??
http://alembic.stores.yahoo.net/axybtacpic.html (http://alembic.stores.yahoo.net/axybtacpic.html)
I think Activators are still low impedance.
I’ve heard of Alembic making passive pickups for other cheaper brands, could that be what’s going on here?
Why would Alembic make pickups for cheaper brands? That doesn't make sense. I have never known of Alembic to lower their standards, let alone to accommodate an inferior brand.
I think you are trying to convince people that this bass is something that it is not.
I'm not trying to convince anyone of anything like that - I'm the one who posted it, I thought it looked cool and had an interesting story behind it. Through discussion I think we were able to get closer to the truth, plus we were able to meet the current owner/seller! I saw it as more of a cool community process than trying to pull a fast one on someone.
And by the way, I'm one of the ones who has Alembic electronics in "cheaper brands" - some cool music has been made on these kinds of instruments by a variety of people!
-
Harry, I think jwright9's comment was directed at the seller, not you. Interesting thread and if you hadn't started it someone else probably would have.
-
We made a batch of high impedance pickups for Tune in the late 1980s early 1990s. They were installing low-z and high-z Alembic pickups in some of their basses. I think they were all JZ shape. I'll ask dad later about high impedance pickups from this era. My first reaction to this bass is that it looks more like a Stars Guitars type mod than Alembic.
Ah, that must be what I was thinking of - obviously later period than what I’ve got here. Thank you for genuinely answering my genuine question. To be clear, I’m not bold or dumb enough to try swindling a forum of Alembic experts. Getting to the truth of this thing is, like, kind of why I’m here...
I’m curious about Stars Guitars, never really heard about them. Did they make passive mock-Alembic pickups as well as the brass stuff?
-
I'm sure someone else will chime in with more info but there was some intermingling of Stars Guitars and Alembic back in the 70's. I know they bought an SF Alembic location/business from Alembic back in that era (Alembic's retail storefront if memory serves) and I believe it included the inventory. I also believe early on Stars Guitars bought some items from Alembic for instruments they modified but could be wrong.
-
Keith's post is a pretty good summary of Stars Guitars. If you run a site search here, you can find more comments from over the years that will give you a good amount of background.
-
Thanks guys!
-
I own a guitar that was built with a lot of Stars Guitars electronics in it, but they used Hi-A pickups
http://club.alembic.com/index.php?topic=1451.msg16549#msg16549
-
Oh, love you guys, always learn lots here