Alembic Guitars Club
Connecting => Swap Shop and Wish Lists => Seen on craigslist, eBay, and elsewhere => Topic started by: gtrguy on April 18, 2020, 11:57:37 AM
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76 Series I at Guitar Center Lewisville $5K
https://www.guitarcenter.com/Used/ALEMBIC/Vintage-1976-SERIES-I-Electric-Bass-Guitar-116257656.gc
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Looks like it has a master volume added.
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Thought this one looked familiar...
http://club.alembic.com/index.php?topic=25346.0
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Yup. That's #76-564... Peroba Rosa still looking for a home.
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Interesting, I wonder if it got brought back under Guitar Center's return policy, or if an employee took it home for a while and now it's back.
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this bass looks interesting. 4-strings aren't really my thing anymore but exceptions can be made for certain cases like a nice old 70's series I.
does anybody know anything about this bass?
i tried reaching out to GC but nobody's home, it seems.
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Here is an old serial number lookup thread on that bass, that includes all the information there is available.
http://club.alembic.com/index.php?topic=5572.msg63466#msg63466
...and here is an old Showcase thread- http://club.alembic.com/index.php?topic=8395.0
The top and back wood is a bit unusual, in the sense that it isn't often seen.
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thanks for the help. GC has gone completely incommunicado - nobody manning the phones or even answering email, which kind of surprised me. so i guess I'll have to admire from afar for now. we'll see what happens when things normalize again. if there is such a thing anymore.
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That's odd. I have been tracking how many used items they have posted throughout this virus. It went from a normal of 42K items down to 5K and has been coming back up smoothly to 22.5K used items for sale, which leads me to believe they are shifting to more of an online sales model of business. A lot (most, all?) of their stores are not open though.
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been waiting 45 minutes on their chat line for a reply while doing a load of laundry. nothing.
gonna go watch some paint dry next...
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There’s a 78 Series I on reverb in the same price range
https://reverb.com/item/33183621-alembic-series-i-1978-natural
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well, their chat-bot finally answered after a 60-minute wait. their (its) first words to me were basically "which credit card are you gonna use to buy this instrument today?".
kinda went downhill from there. i told them (it) to put the store manager in touch with me if they're interested in working a deal. we'll see what, if anything happens next - stay tuned.
but you are correct, sir. $5k is a little optimistic. at least IMHO. it'll be interesting to se if anybody else is of the same HO.
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well i finally got ahold of a live body there. because it's a vintage instrument the price is set by their "vintage department". I told him his price was above current market. he wouldn't budge a dime off of asking. i told him I'd call him back in a coupla months and see if they're tired of carrying it on their inventory yet. too bad - it's a pretty old lady. meanwhile, there's plenty of other ( more reasonably priced) fish in the sea.
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Not surprised. A while back they had some strange looking bass for sale that they claimed was an Alembic. Their "vintage experts" wouldn't correct the listing after it was pointed out the bass was not made by Alembic. I suspect their are no "experts" at GC that know anything about musical gear it is run by a bunch of "corporate bean counters". There are way better places to spend your money.
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Agreed it is over priced. As far as expert knowledge, a lot depends on which store it is at, or who you talk to.
On the plus side, Guitar Center is not 'in love with their stuff', like so many small music stores and private individuals. They want it gone. I have got many great deals from them over the years on a wide variety of gear.
Interestingly enough, in my dealings with them, they have always also been completely honest with me.
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never had a bad deal with them. always willing to work with me on price. unbeatable return policy. up until now, that is. so I'm not GC-bashing necessarily.
one interesting nugget of info thatbi forgot to mention on this deal is the guy that's selling it is the guy that owns it. ::)
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One of our regular Club Members here has a very nice '78 Series I for sale right now, in the Classifieds. Priced quite competitively, considering it has had the electronics upgrades and LED's added.
http://club.alembic.com/index.php?action=post;topic=25150.0;last_msg=255855
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yeah i saw that. been watching it. hasn't won me over, the headstock repair is not something i want to look at when I'm playing a high end instrument, despite its other virtues (sorry about that). for various reasons the GC one tripped my trigger, i like the master volume ( all my other alembics have masters) and the wood on it. I'm not in a hurry, don't have to settle for less than I want without spending more than i want.
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Master volume is a great addition to a Series I bass. I am not a fan of blend controls but two separate volume controls has its own limitations, usability of my Series I increased instantly for me as soon as I had the master volume added.
As far as the headstock repair, I totally get where you are coming from and would probably also avoid an expensive instrument that had one but the reality is that if done right the headstock will be stronger in the area of the repair than before it was broken. Good things come to he who waits and you should definitely not settle on an instrument that doesn't speak to your sensibilities. What other Alembics do you own? Pictures always welcome...
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I agree 100% with Stephen regarding the master volume addition to a Series I bass . I had that done on mine as well and found it to be extremely useful .
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Headstock repairs on Alembics are usually not the problem that they are with other instruments because of they way they are designed. If they break, it's designed to be repairable without losing strength or tone. If everything else was good, I wouldn't let it deter me.
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I’m not as familiar with the market as you guys are, but 5k doesn’t sound too bad to me. It is a good looking bass. And I do like the idea of a master vol.
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interestingly enough, it's still there. I'd kinda forgotten about that bass ( and this thread) until it bubbled to the top of the heap once again.
price-wise, it's a reach imho. what is a good price for an instrument? how do you know what the market will bear?
used to be, if you wanted to sell an instrument, you'd put it up for auction and the highest bid would pretty much tell you what the market would bear. nowadays, it seems, you set some astronomical optimistic price and see if some sucker agrees with your market assessment. judging by the glut of high end basses sitting for months and months on ebay and reverb, it doesn't seem like a viable strategy to me. and yet when you reach out to the seller and ask them if they're interested in selling it or carrying on their inventory for another 8 months or however long it's been, they'll say the price is not negotiable.
i just had another nacient deal die on the vine under this very same scenario.
I don't get it. am I off base? living in the past?
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I don't understand it either. Reverb especially seems to be full of overpriced stuff that sits for ever. I think their fee structure may encourage that?