Alembic Guitars Club
Connecting => Swap Shop and Wish Lists => Seen on craigslist, eBay, and elsewhere => Topic started by: edwardofhuncote on May 22, 2019, 07:14:20 AM
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I thought we had a thread on this one but can't find it. Anyway, this long-scale vintage beauty has been out there for a while now, but recently reduced. It was restored to like-new by Alembic apparently about 20 years ago. Comes with all the stuff too, DS-5, 20-foot 5-pin cable, and the original paperwork, etc. Interesting that it's being sold by the original owner too... some people appreciate knowing that.
https://reverb.com/item/6440576-alembic-series-i-long-scale-bass-1977-mint-condition-price-reduced
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Wow, that looks nice.
If the b-day was Feb. 25th, 1978 - I would have to buy it.
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I notice it has a channel-type bridge too... must be one of the last. On an older thread, Eiji-san had figured those to have run out around #77-630. Must have been at least a couple more laying around.
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Now I want a volute on my Series1. Maybe for the BRB, too. Looks good on the back of the crown headstock.
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The volute is certainly an unusual addition.
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More ornamental it would seem than an actual volute that adds structural integrity. But it certainly does look cool.
Bill, tgo
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I can't imagine a structural reason with the way the Alembic headstock is scarfed on, so hard to guess why it ended up on there 40 years ago. I just agree, it's kinda' cool, if a little bit weird. I might think it was less weird if there were two, or if it had another dark wood ornament, say, down at the other end at the point.
On early Martin guitars, the volute was hiding a joint where the headstock was grafted on. Here's a pretty good illustrated source on these: http://vintagemartin.com/volutes.html Like it says, nowadays, Style 28 (and 41/45) guitars retain the decorative volute as a vestige. It has no function other than to look cool, though in my mind, it does add a little bit of lumber, thus strengthening the area.
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The last three builds I've done with Alembic have all had volutes. I'm a huge fan...structurally and aesthetically.
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Here's the volute on one of my Alembics alongside the one on my Resurrection Lightning Bolt. Now Stephen Cripe's volutes were something else all together!
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That's some beautiful woodwork there! (both of them) :)
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Thank you, sir.