Alembic Guitars Club
Alembic products => Owning an Alembic => Troubleshooting => Topic started by: Artgeckko on August 25, 2023, 05:15:07 PM
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Hello Club,
Hope all is well!
Almost finished with color, and sealer treatment of the bass.
Applied a Watco danish oil natural finish, with the headstock having Natural and Mahogany (better match for body) oil applied.
Along the way, I went too deep in sanding the headstock so had to do a crash course in re-lamination of the headstock with new flamed Koa.
if you look closely, you cna see the different colors of Koa on headstock layer.
all said, pretty happy with it so far.
Still awaiting Mary / Mica with info regarding the electronics. My fingers are crossed.
Frets have been leveled and dressed. The top of the pickups had some grooves from strings I lightly sanded out, and need to polish to make look newer.
Repainted the Conductive paint in the cavity over the silver paint which was either routed or sanded out, and patchy at best.
The oil has to cure for 3 days between coats(very conservative time) and today was the 5th coat.
In a week or so I plan to apply a polyester topcoat to the bass and hopefully conclude the finish side of the restoration, outside of dressing the neck, which is probably covered in tape residue, and been cleaned with acetone a few times too many.
My other newly acquired Spoiler #84S3310, has been a huge help in understanding Alembic electronics layout / Q switches, and has been a joy to get to know more about these awesome basses. Missing three brass screws in back panel.
Does anybody know the size? Smaller than 8/32. 4/32? pretty tiny.
Learning about screw sizes as well...Google search classroom LOL
Here is some undated pictures of bass...
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Cover screws are 2-56, I believe.
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Here ya' go, Ed.
https://alembic.store.turbify.net/platescrews.html (https://alembic.store.turbify.net/platescrews.html)
When you eventually order your electronics, I bet if you just ask Mary nice, she can get you a couple to seal the deal.
*that refin is lookin' good! 8)
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Many Thanks Joe and Ed!
Ordered new screws, some polish and a hat from Alembic!
Hard to find Brass 2-56 x1/2 flat head with phillips drive.( thats whats currently in the newer bass...missing 3 of the 5, but its in great shape otherwise)
Ed I appreciate the kudos
Means a lot knowing you have some serious refurbishing skills!
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Today was a great day!
Received the used preamp controls I found on Reverb, not proven to work...took the gamble...
Needed to synthesize a 2 conductor Molex cable, after looking at my other Alembic preamp control board, then connected the original pickups to the preamps and all worked and sounded great...At least with taps from a screwdriver!!! Filter, Q, volume...Electronics back to original!!!
Had already ordered the nylon sleeve bushings that had the perfect fit for the aftermarket holes and internal diameter for the original Pots.
---McMaster-Carr ---Dry-Running MDS-Filled Nylon Sleeve Bearing, Flanged, for 1/4" Shaft Diameter and 3/8" Housing ID, 1/4" Long---
Did a dry fit (bass is still being being finished...almost ready for top coat!!!) and everything fits like a dream!!
Had to trim the length on one bushing(pan pot) and did a little modifying of the flange to allow for the small 3/8' bump on top of the pots, but major progress!
Tomorrow is last coat of Danish oil for headstock and body. Then will wait a few days before applying poly. Getting close to having this phoenix rise from the ashes! Even with many setbacks, learning about these basses and the help of this clubs members has been a great experience.
Also received my stuff from Alembic too! Included some updated picts!
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Bushing fit looks great!
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Very nice work, looks great!
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Fun project!
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Hey Club,
Second to last coat of Danish oil on headstock veneer applied today (its the forth version of veneer...)
Soon, level that out and apply topcoat...Probably around 7-8 coats. probably around 2 weeks from now, will start putting back the parts!
Btw, collection is now at 4. Think I have to stop looking at basses for sale!
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Its getting there....Still some buffing and finishing work to be done.
Wipe on Poly has been a bit of a struggle, but the grain looks pretty great IMHO.
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Today was the day to put it together!
Did some final buffing and some small tweaks with the q switch, trying to cover the damage caused by previous owner(s)
This has been a roller coaster of a ride.
Jumped into a purchase of my first Alembic, probably more with heart than brains( I do that often) and the result was not great.
However, because these instruments are so well made, and with the support of this club and the folks at Alembic( Mary, you rock!)
I am super happy to announce the completion of the restoration.
Still some tweaks to do regarding the action and intonation, but it was pretty close to when I took it apart!
Stable construction, and use of solid, quality components make these basses rock solid.
Learned a ton, added to my group with 3 more basses. Love them all, dramatically unique instruments, even with similar year builds.
Many thanks to all the help from members of this club. Incredible support!
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Looks really good, Ed. I'd be proud of that.
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Many thanks!
More importantly, it sounds really great.
Tried to be patient and not put tension on neck right away( after it hasn't had strings on the neck for a while) but I lost that battle of wills, and played it for a while.
Finding the Alembic electronics was clutch! All the difference in the world!
Having 2 extra layers of Koa veneer on the headstock was a challenge for the machine tuning keys as well.
Overall a good project.
Now I just have to work on my playing! ;)
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One solution to the thickness resulting from the two extra headstock veneers is a counterbore in front, *just the correct size* for the bushings to seat in. Just this very afternoon, I helped my Ol' Man do this on one of his side projects; an old Bacon & Day banjo. He needed to retrofit a set of planetary pegs to the headstock, which was really thick, and drilled for a much smaller diameter set of friction pegs. The redrill was easy enough, but the counterbore is kind of a two-person job.
But hey, if you got the threads to bite and tighten up, play that thing til somebody unplugs ya'. 😊
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Thankfully the machines length was good, the insert nut was okay, it was the bezel washers that set them all too high.
So the easiest was to shave / sand the washers down to the thickness of 1/32 ( from 1/16 ).
Once that was done, that allowed the threads to catch, though I think I rubbed off some of the gold plating along with some of my finger tips!
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Ya' did good man. 8)
Here's one of my really old shop threads, where I was converting an old Gibson tenor banjo to a 'pony' 5-string using the original neck. https://club.alembic.com/index.php?topic=21975.msg223048#msg223048 (https://club.alembic.com/index.php?topic=21975.msg223048#msg223048)
Because 1920's Gibson headstocks are tapered, and very thick at the front, I had to do a counterbore on the 1st and 4th pegholes to make the new Gotoh machines work. There's a picture showing the detail somewhere in there. *post #26, right before I did the final finish.
That was a fun project. The guy still has it and plays it. :)
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EoH,
That headstock and neck widening is a thing of beauty.
Doing the counterbore with a Drill press must help the nerves! 1/16", and hoping theres not an errant grain of wood that wants to go rogue and cause a calamity!
I envy your shop that I saw in the standup bass restoration. A good shop and tools definitely help, but as my dad would reiterate, "A poor craftsman always blames his tools". Those words I try to live by. In my case bad planning or being impatient has always ended poorly. Tried to use restraint during this process, but the fact that I replaced that headstock veneer 5 times, both out of aesthetics and blunders, was a good reminder.
Look forward to more of the restoration picts.
You really should have a Youtube channel. Really great, inspiring work.