Alembic Guitars Club
Connecting => Swap Shop and Wish Lists => Seen on craigslist, eBay, and elsewhere => Topic started by: gtrguy on March 13, 2018, 12:31:35 PM
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1976 ser I on Fleabay, hacked up some. Makes you cringe, don't it.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Alembic-Series-1-Bass-Guitar-1976/173214979443?hash=item28546ad573:g:N8MAAOSwihpaqAEq
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Just saw that.
Man! The things some people do to their instruments.
The phots are pretty bad so it’s hard to tell just how extreme the poorly done modifications are.
But it is clear enough to tell that they are bad. :(
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Almost got a double omega cut there. ;D
Actually, that doesn't look too bad... but then again I've spent every evening for the last week piecing together a 50's Kay upright that looks like somebody tossed it off an overpass onto a busy highway.
I would totally restore that one if the price didn't get too crazy. :)
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It went up $1,000 since I posted it here earlier today...
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Priority number 1, if I were interested i'd really want to see some photo's of the electronics cavities to see whether the alembic goodies are still there!!!
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There are other 70s instruments with a similar hark back to the point carving of #001, so that may well be original. All it needs is a nice stylish wooden inset around the pickups, or a brass surround thingy.
... plus obviously a nice refinish. The crack in the top suggests it could be an ebony top?
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All it needs is a nice stylish wooden inset around the pickups, or a brass surround thingy.
From the looks of all those screw holes, I was thinking it had some sort of brass thingy at some point. I like the bottom cut.
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What kind of replacement pick up explains those routes?
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My guess is that they put in two P style pickups.
I believe they put in two P style pickups and then some sort of custom pickguard to hide the crappy routes. Thus the screw holes around the pickups.
Who knows what the electronics look like.
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... plus obviously a nice refinish. The crack in the top suggests it could be an ebony top?
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Poor quality of the photographs make it hard to tell, but my initial estimation would be walnut top and back.
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Top and back could be different woods ...
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I like it :)
Price has gone too high. Crazy bad photo's, maybe for a reason :o
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I like it :)
Price has gone too high. Crazy bad photo's, maybe for a reason :o
Exactly!
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Hey, at least they put the pickups back in correctly with the under and over screw mountings :)
The toggle switches look like they have been replaced, at least they look funky even through the fog of blurry focus.
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Mica, what are your thoughts on the relief cuts on either side of the point? Did somebody get a gleam in their eyes and grab a rasp, or could this have been a legit custom body? It actually doesn't look bad... kinda' reminds me of an EVH.
I'm just thinking... even with fuzzy pictures, the symmetry is there. Perhaps this wasn't the work of the same person who routed those pickup cavities. ::)
Just got a better look... that poor thing barely has cosmic symmetry left. :(
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That's sad. Whether to hold two P-bass pickups or to hang on to two Chick-o-sticks for mid concert snacks, that's just not good. How do you plug the routs, assuming that they are the major problem? Would you extend them to put in little hippie "finger" sandwiches with matching wood, or what? Also would you plug the screw holes with shaved hardwood and glue? I hope this puppy finds its way into welcoming hands that can right its wrongs. Wow.
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If I was going to try to cosmetically rehab this instrument, I'd have the folks at Alembic make me up a really killer hammered brass pickguard for the bass. Something like on Keavin's number 12
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My guess is that they put in two P style pickups.
I believe they put in two P style pickups and then some sort of custom pickguard to hide the crappy routes. Thus the screw holes around the pickups.
Who knows what the electronics look like.
That's what I am thinking as well.
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I would tell everyone that somebody famous had owned it before, and then just play the crap outta it as is!!
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I would tell everyone that somebody famous had owned it before, and then just play the crap outta it as is!!
A strategy reminiscent of a story related about legendary magician Max Malini in Ricki Jay’s book “Learned Pigs and Fireproof Women.” The magician performed a trick in which he would stab at cards with a knife. In one specific instance the cards were lying on a very expensive wooden table; upon completion of the trick the owner of said table voiced his dismay over the fact that his valuable property now bore several deep gouges that the knife had left in the wood. The magician suggested that henceforth the owner could easily maintain, if not increase the value of the table with the following suggestion: “Tell them Malini did it.”
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If I was going to try to cosmetically rehab this instrument, I'd have the folks at Alembic make me up a really killer hammered brass pickguard for the bass. Something like on Keavin's number 12
Yes! Either that, or do an inlaid wood top like mavnet's '76 Custom or featured custom "Bat-Bass". My old mentor used to remind me- "wood is forgiving."
The biggest issue I see to be leery of is the status of the Series electronics. Hard to say what was (or still might be) in there.
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After selling at a surprising $3850, this one is relisted, starting at $1999, and a BIN for $3750.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/173230755267
It'll be interesting to see what happens this time around.
*edited my own goofy spelling.
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The same seller relisted the item. I don't think anyone actually bought the bass despite it showing as sold. I don't sell on eBay so not sure how you "buy" your own listing before relisting but that is what appears to have happened and I have seen this done before.
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I believe what happened is that the winning bidder didn’t pay.
So the seller relisted it.
Not surprised. The winning bid was around $3800.
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I forgot to mention...
The seller did send me a photo of the electronics cavity.
Here it is.
(http://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/fCMAAOSwfgharCul/s-l1600.jpg)
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There's tape in there?
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Not only tape, but electrical (on the pickup leads), masking (on the ribbon cable), and foil (on the cavity floor). It's the trifecta of tape!
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lol!
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If you're listening Forest, apparently Cletus Lives! ;D
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I thought EBay had a 'second chance offer' feature where you could offer to sell your item to the second highest bidder if the first one fell through? It looks like the original PF6 (or whatever its called) circuit board? More and more odd...
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It is an amalgam of adhesive and tears...namely mine, as I cannot stop wanting it for some reason!
But not for 4Gs!
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I thought EBay had a 'second chance offer' feature where you could offer to sell your item to the second highest bidder if the first one fell through? It looks like the original PF6 (or whatever its called) circuit board? More and more odd...
That is correct. There is a second chance offer available when the high bidder doesn't pay. A seller can send second chance offers to not only the second highest bidder but any bidder.
What is interesting though is that this rarely works. In my nearly 20 years selling on ebay, I have only had success with the second chance offer twice.
It seems like a psychological thing. This is from my experience as a seller. Though, it has also happened to me a few times where I was on the bidding side and was the recipient of the second chance offer.
One of the times I went ahead and made the purchase. The other times though, I had already lost interest or decided to pass for some other reason.
I have often thought that many a thesis could be written on the psychology of buying on ebay.
It is such an emotional endeavor. Almost like a craving. When you are bidding, you get caught up in a irrational desire for the goods. Endorphins are released, similar to gambling, and there is a rush.
Once the auction is over though, that rush is gone. Then reality sets in.
I could go on and on...
On another note. I really love Reverb.com. There is no bidding. No auctions. Just buy it now listings with or without the option to make best offers.
And the customer service there is great.
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Seller posted a picture of the headstock... just about as fuzzy as the rest. It looks like a later bronze logo. (shouldn't a '76 be hand-cut silver?) Also mounted over a piece of tin foil. The nut looks like a homemade job too.
Durned if I ain't getting attached to this one... such a sad old dragon. :(
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The nut is what wonky!
But hey, it has Alembic strimgs.
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I was thinking about Mica's comment about the variety of tape in the electronics cavity, and it reminded me of Canadian polymath Red Green and his "Handyman Corner" with the Handyman's secret weapon: duct tape. Some of his projects seem highly relevant to the conversion of this bass to being "non-stock".
Installing Gullwings an a late model late 70's/early 80's four door sedan-
Making a Hummer-
Enjoy.
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A-ha... found it. Just had a feeling I'd seen this one before. :)
http://club.alembic.com/index.php?topic=8456.0
Hello there #76-529!
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Thanks for digging up that old thread. Wow, that was 15 years ago.
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I do remember seeing those pictures in that original thread.