Alembic Guitars Club
Connecting => Swap Shop and Wish Lists => Seen on craigslist, eBay, and elsewhere => Topic started by: BeenDown139 on July 27, 2020, 06:25:49 PM
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i've seen some butchered instruments before but this takes the cake. why would someone do this to any instrument, much less an alembic?
some of the more faint at heart may want to avert their eyes after clicking the link.
yikes!
https://reverb.com/item/34879689-alembic-spoiler-mid-80s-natural
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I find the rear control cover, made from what appears to be a Fender pickguard, amusing.
An Alembic Spoiled?
Bill, tgo
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Actually it doesn't look a disaster to me, just the work done has not been top quality. I reckon if it was available for under half that price, the remainder would be enough to sort it out into a respectable looking bass. I have to say I do like the look of some of the older guitars that typically come up for sale in Japan with a brass cavity cover on the top like No:12. So something like that could salvage the top. I do like the idea of a top engraving so that isn't such a disaster for me as long as it looks good in the flesh. If. not I doubt it would be hard to remove with a belt sander.
Someone with good woodworking skills or access to a friendly luthier could turn that round into something good. A new set of electronics could hit the budget though. But there is enough wrong to provide a good bargaining tool for the right person to get it for a song ( excuse the pun). Not me though, I like my alembics to look good, sound good and work properly right out of the box.
Bill, tgo Spoiled but through a process of distillation it could become Excel-lent or even Epic. :-)
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Oh my. :)
Charlottesville, Virginia is a little over an hour from me. I should go check it out... if they are reasonable, I'd totally save this one. It could make someone a fantastic first Alembic with some work. (said the guy who's already at his desk at 6 am... wishing he had time to work in his shop...) ::)
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Looks like it might be a solid koa Spoiler, so one option would be to slice off 1/4" and add a new top of your liking, perhaps a sustain block. Takes care of the unfortunate control plate too. Hm, the cavity could be enlarged for Signature electronics, or even that spare set of Series electronics you've been keeping for a rainy day.
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It looks to me that it only has 23 frets. WHY?
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It looks to me that it only has 23 frets. WHY?
Now that you mention it... Must be the old "no room for slapping/popping between the neck pickup and the end of the fretboard" conundrum. So let's see if the trussrod still works if there's no wood left to press up against.
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I sent the seller a message asking to have a pic of the control cavity posted. Maybe we'll be able to see just how bad things are.
Peter
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I find the rear control cover, made from what appears to be a Fender pickguard, amusing.
An Alembic Spoiled?
Bill, tgo
LOL! Yeah, I saw that this morning and thought, "Hey, you could fit a Strat pickup back there!" ;D
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It's like a train wreck, i can't not look.
there's some stuff in here that's truly disturbing, imho:
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I'd give him $500 but that's about it. What a mess.
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kinda looks like he's sticking to his guns:
" Update: I have gotten a lot of people messaging me about how expensive it will be to "fix" this guitar and followed by a low ball offer, this instrument is not broken, it plays well and is actually an artifact, a piece of rock and roll history. $1250 +shipping is the price"
we'll revisit this around christmas just to see how that's working out🤡
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And still hasn't posted the pic of the guts I requested.
Peter
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I wonder what makes it “a piece of rock and roll history”?
Bill, tgo
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I made what I thought was a fairly generous offer, and offered to drive up to Charlottesville to pick it up in-person rather than go to the expense or risk of shipping it 90 miles. Received no response. I assume mine was considered a lowball, and it was... but $1250 for a tore-up, de-faced Spoiler with a buncha' aftermarket electronica is silly. I would have, could have, and still would fix that bass. You wouldn't even recognize it when I got done, but there just are too many easier ones at less money. I have enough projects-in-waiting already, and I just turned in a(nother) timesheet with 60-some hours on it. :P
Yeah. Sadly, I'll pass on that one this time, but maybe one day it'll turn up again. I love an ugly duckling > beautiful swan project. :-*
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looks like somebody bought it. at least that's what it says in the listing.
it wasn't one of y'all, was it?
either that or the seller got tired of getting grief about it. 🤡