Alembic Guitars Club

Connecting => Swap Shop and Wish Lists => Seen on craigslist, eBay, and elsewhere => Topic started by: Rondog on May 02, 2021, 08:33:26 AM

Title: Series 1 on reverb
Post by: Rondog on May 02, 2021, 08:33:26 AM
This is on Reverb, after being listed elsewhere for quite a few months.
Can anyone explain why the laminates of the back of the headstock look "flattened out"?
Is it the result of being repaired or refinished?

https://reverb.com/item/37352260-alembic-series-1-short-scale-bass-1979-koa-top-w-original-blue-alembic-case-price-drop?utm_source=rev-ios-app&utm_medium=ios-share&utm_campaign=listing&utm_content=37352260 (https://reverb.com/item/37352260-alembic-series-1-short-scale-bass-1979-koa-top-w-original-blue-alembic-case-price-drop?utm_source=rev-ios-app&utm_medium=ios-share&utm_campaign=listing&utm_content=37352260)
Title: Re: Series 1 on reverb
Post by: rv_bass on May 02, 2021, 09:01:22 AM
It doesn’t look like it has been altered to me.  Alembics are hand carved, so there can be differences in appearance for the backstrap laminates.
Title: Re: Series 1 on reverb
Post by: cozmik_cowboy on May 02, 2021, 09:37:31 AM
 I don't know what you mean by "flattened out"; if you're talking about the neck-to-headstock carve (the only thing I can think of that might be "flattened") it looks perfectly normal to me.

Peter
Title: Re: Series 1 on reverb
Post by: Rondog on May 02, 2021, 09:44:44 AM
Thanks for the replies.
It just looked quite different from mine, and there was a change in colour toward the bottom of the headstock that looked like maybe someone had sanded it.
Title: Re: Series 1 on reverb
Post by: Rondog on May 02, 2021, 10:03:51 AM
I don't have a picture of the back of my bass's headstock for comparison, but it's more like this.

I'm just not familiar with these basses to know what's typical.


Title: Re: Series 1 on reverb
Post by: gtrguy on May 02, 2021, 11:15:28 AM
One of the fun things you can see if you take an Alembic tour is someone hand shaping the necks with a file on a nearly finished + $20K bass! I imagine that kind of work is not for the beginners.
Title: Re: Series 1 on reverb
Post by: rv_bass on May 02, 2021, 03:28:15 PM
Here is one from 1978, you can see how all three in this thread vary.



Title: Re: Series 1 on reverb
Post by: jazzyvee on May 02, 2021, 04:33:44 PM
I think i recall when i did my tour that Mica told me that part of the build varies depending on the style of the individual doing it  i may have misunderstood her but that was my take on her explanation