Alembic Guitars Club
Alembic products => Owning an Alembic => Serial Number / History Requests => Topic started by: Rondog on March 21, 2022, 10:12:06 AM
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Hi, I just got a 1978 small body Stanley Clarke style Series 1, with serial number 1117. Can you tell me anything about it?
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As history requests are completed on a time available basis it might take a while to see the build card information. If you can post some pictures we should be able to give you a good idea of the materials and anything that appears unique.
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Hi Jon,
I have a 1978 Series I bass with the same body shape but mine is a five-string. Serial number is 78-1172 and the "birthdate" is 6/30/78 so I suspect yours was finished earlier in the year. There is a showcase thread for my bass here, the pictures are no longer linked but mine has a rosewood top and back. I had a master volume added 7 years ago.
Since the history request lookups can take time before they happen I suggest you upload a few pictures, members here can most likely fill in some of the blanks while you wait for Mica's reply.
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Congratulations Jon, Glad that one found a home. I'm quite curious to see what the Head Elf finds on this bass, as it has some very interesting wood and retro-ish bridge/tailpiece hardware. Here is the lookup thread on the guitar numbered just prior to yours; https://club.alembic.com/index.php?topic=22854.msg230975#msg230975 #78-1116 was completed on May 11th, so I'd guess yours is darn close to that.
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Hi Keith, Stephen & Greg, thanks for the information. I'm happy to wait for any info that Mica can give about this bass, there's no hurry as it's just curiosity. The person who ordered this went for the channel type bridge and the serial number stamped into the top of the headstock, which I think was going for an older style look. I wasn't sure about the channel bridge because it clearly has to be very precisely constructed & I was worried someone might have messed it up over the years. However, it works perfectly. It's got a rosewood fingerboard and golden coloured abalone (I think) ovals. The wood is a puzzle. The finish is yellowed, which makes it even harder to know what the wood is, but I really like it. The actual finish itself is almost perfect with only a couple of marks and no checking. It's been used but well looked after. The moment I picked it up I loved it. The sound is exactly what I wanted & the seller set it up exactly as I wanted. I'll put some pictures up tomorrow. I'd be very interested to find out about past owners, and whoever ordered it.
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Alembic won't provide information on past owners so the only way they will become known if they decide to show themselves. Sometimes they will also be revealed if members recognize an instrument as having been owned by another member but that isn't common.
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Hi Keith, yes I didn't expect Alembic to give out that information, I was hoping a previous owner or someone who knew any history of this bass might come forward.
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A couple of pictures, which were taken by the seller.
I'll take some more and put them in the showcase area in a few days.
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Nice looking bass. The neck is maple, purple heart and my guess is walnut or birch. From the little bit I can see the body core looks like mahogany. The top resembles walnut in the grain pattern to me but seems to light. Koa maybe?
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Hi Keith, I think you are right with walnut & mahogany. it was sold as mahogany core with figured walnut facings, but with no paperwork. When the listings was posted in the "seen on eBay, etc" forum there was some doubt about the facings (https://club.alembic.com/index.php?topic=26631.0). Mica wasn't sure and the yellowing of the finish made it harder. Sorry, I should have included a link to that discussion. I really like the mix of elements in the facing, with a bit of flaming, knots, etc. I really wonder what it would have looked like when it was new, because the combination with the rosewood fingerboard, golden abalone ovals and the yellowed finish+maple looks really lovely. Everything has aged very nicely together. It also feels light at 9lbs 4oz.
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What a beautiful bass, congratulations! The stripes in the fingerboard remind me of macassar ebony. The inlays look kind of like yellowed abalone. Very nice, I bet it sounds fantastic! :)
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I think it's beautiful, I'm glad you do too. I'm a sucker for older instruments with character. I was expecting it to sound good, but to be honest I was flabbergasted. Very powerful, dynamic and punchy. Fingerstyle at the bridge pickup is as funky as it gets. I don't think the upgrade was ever done on this bass, but so far it's not picking up any electrical noise in even quite bad environments.
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😎
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Yes, powerful for sure, and with a very distinct voice. I like the older ones too. I wonder if the top is birch? Will be interesting to see what the file says. Enjoy! :)
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A channel bridge in 1978 is very strange indeed! Here's the details from the file:
Model: Series I
top: Myrtle
body: Mahogany
back: Myrtle
neck: 5-piece Maple and Purpleheart
scale: short 30.75"
fingerboard: Ebony*
inlays: abalone
peghead veneers: Zebrawood
controls: Series I
originally made for: Rothchild
birthday: May 11, 1978
*The fingerboard looks to be Macassar Ebony to my eye.
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Super news, thanks Mica. I took the tailpiece off and it looks like it has been moved closer to the bridge or changed (there are other, older looking screw holes). I checked for other Rothchild bases and found this one from 1977 with the same bridge style but a solid metal tailpiece instead of the wood and brass one on mine: https://club.alembic.com/index.php?topic=24575.msg245259#msg245259 (https://club.alembic.com/index.php?topic=24575.msg245259#msg245259). Another from 1977 appears to have both the same bridge and tailpiece as mine: https://club.alembic.com/index.php?topic=26576.msg270205#msg270205 (https://club.alembic.com/index.php?topic=26576.msg270205#msg270205)
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Hey there Jon, that is my '77 bass you linked to there...
and since you did, here's my unsolicited guess about your bridge and tailpiece. I suspect that they are both from an Alembic bass from 1976 or earlier. Perhaps a previous owner of your bass has a couple, and preferred the earlier versions of the hardware. Anyway, yessir... that channel bridge is not usually seen after about serial number 640. Could there be more, sure! That two-piece wood-n-brass tailpiece was phased out in favor of the one like mine even sooner. That would also explain the extra set of screw holes. Alembic is so cool that they will still make you one very much like it to this day!
These are purely guesses, 100% guaranteed to be 100% wrong. But I am a total nerd for Alembic minutiae like this. I would not consider these things to be in the slightest bit a downgrade... much the opposite to me! That is a beautiful, Classic Alembic.
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Beautiful top wood!
I think Greg is right. 78-1116 (finished on the same day as yours) has the newer style bridge and solid brass tailpiece. Also, look how close it gets to the five pin jack. My guess is it came from a large body 76 or earlier bass. I really like those wood and brass tailpieces. Is walnut the wood used for those old tailpieces? Beautiful bass you have there! :)
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Thanks both for replies, information and for the compliments about the bass. I absolutely love it.
What seemed interesting is that looking at other basses supplied to Rothchild around that time, it looks like a few have the channel bridge, so I wondered whether that was something they had specified. However, I agree that this is most likely a modification (tailpiece at least) done by one of the owners.
Either way, everything works fine and it performs beautifully. Personally, I would prefer the newer tailpiece and I will think about changing it at some point if the current one isn't original. It is a bit oversized.
I just had a re-fret done (in the UK) because I didn't like the feel of the frets and some were a quite worn on closer inspection and more playing time. It had been re-fretted at some point, and not very nicely. So, I had slightly larger Jescar Gold frets fitted because the colour seemed to suit the look of the bass, and indeed they are great.
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The specifications were more fluid at that time. Heck, if you ordered a Myrtle bass you'd get that on the top - but the back and peghead veneers would likely be something different. Maybe we found some channel bridges in a box when we moved to Cotati and decided to use them up on new builds. The tailpiece could be the same story - or just moved. Any new build may have the location of the tailpiece reconsidered.
I do know that Rothchild didn't special order with these bridges. They purchased our production that wasn't custom made or for a particular store. They got what they got.
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Someone might find this interesting. It was part of a Rothchild Musical Instruments catalogue from 1977.
https://reverb.com/item/10985541-alembic-rothchild-musical-instruments-guitar-and-bass-catalog-1977 (https://reverb.com/item/10985541-alembic-rothchild-musical-instruments-guitar-and-bass-catalog-1977)