Alembic Guitars Club
Connecting => Miscellaneous => Topic started by: funkyjazzjunky on March 29, 2024, 04:24:26 PM
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For me it was Tyrone Brown playing with Grover Washington Jrhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vfcqtgj_G6c&list=PLKACgSxy0CTyfyZIVv8TGAmv0qbLitgRw&index=101
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Fanfare , ELP, Works volume 1 , Greg's eight string Scorpion !
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Nov '79. I was a student at The Recording Workshop; it was my turn to be the "producer", and we had a WG2 to record. The instructor was the bass player in the hottest band in the one of the big cities (~25,000) near my hometown (~800), the drummer for whom I had drifted into and out of (singing badly) and humped gear for the same bands - so I knew he was good. Asked him if he'd lay something down. "Sure" says he, and comes back with an Alembic. I'd heard of them, of course, and heard them on record - but that was the first time I experienced one.
It was a fun session.
Peter
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The first Alembic guitar I recall was Marmaduke’s in NRPS. (He’s playing it below, with Jerry and Sandy Rothman sitting in).
The first one I saw in the flesh belonged to the other guitarist in my short-lived band, “Cripple Finger”, in Pasadena in ‘75 or ‘76. As I recall, it was a Series I medium scale, much like the one I have now. I remember thinking the blue box looked really cool. I always wanted one like it. I even thought about stripping my ‘61 Strat to bare wood and staining it darker, like an Alembic. Thankfully I never got around to it.
I also almost traded the Strat for an Ibanez Musician MC-500 at Guitar Center when they first came out (the “poor man’s Alembic”). I would have traded it straight across, but the salesman wanted me to give them a couple of hundred. That pissed me off and I walked out. The salesman ran out and stopped me on the street offering the straight trade. I told him I would have done that, but he pissed me off. Thank heaven’s for that salesman! Of course in those days an old Strat was just another used guitar. Who knew?
Bill, tgo
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I'd heard of them from the bass player in my band back in the late 70's. First time i heard one and knew what it was was on the BBC Old Grey Whistle Test music programme when the Clarke Duke Project was aired.
This is my favourite version of school days.
Then we went to their gig and saw the bass on stage and later that week there were two alembics in a city centre music shop.
I think the first time i heard one on a record was when i heard the Romantic Warrior album which had the bass as listed as Alembic bass with instant flanger.
The only alembic guitar i've seen and heard outside the alembic gathering i went to in 2012 is my own. i would love to hear one on stage here.
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McVie, White Album, '75. Didn't even know what I was hearing.
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For me, it was 1974. I saw Stanley Clarke with Return to Forever on a TV show called “Soundstage”. I didn’t have a bass yet (that happened a few months later), but I was getting interested in instruments and players. I hadn’t heard or seen anyone like Stanley, and my 12-year old mind was completely blown. Here’s a clip from that performance:
I didn’t know Stanley played an Alembic until I got a Guitar Player magazine in ’75 that featured him on the cover. Also, that magazine had an advertisement for a dealer named Reliable Music that featured Alembic. I didn’t know anything about those instruments yet, but I was hooked from then on. And when I finally saw and heard one in person I was really messed up (in a good way).
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1974 at the University of Connecticut when I attended a Return to Forever concert. It was what I consider the classic electric period RTF group (Chick, Stanley, Lenny, & Al DiMeola (who looked young enough to be the son of a band member). Sat in the second row and was astounded at what Stanley could do with that little short scale bass which of course I didn’t know was an Alembic at the time.
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The first ones I "saw" were Entwistle's Spiders in The Kids Are Alright movie.
The first one I saw in person, touched, played, and heard was when my built-for-me 2009 Dragon Wing arrived in September, 2009. Haven't looked back since.
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Nice tunes in this thread :)
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I didn’t know Stanley played an Alembic until I got a Guitar Player magazine in ’75 that featured him on the cover.
I remember that issue (though I didn't see it until '77, when I met a guy who had a collection of issues).
Peter
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I was working in a music store in Texas in the late 70's.
They had a file cabinet and one drawer was all brochures and price lists, and in amongst them all was an Alembic brochure. It had a picture of a Point Series bass, and I somehow instantly knew this was something extremely special. That image hung in my mind for years. Then when Mr. Clarke erupted with his solo records and that album cover and 'School Days' on the radio, the blanks started getting filled in.
Years later I was fortunate to buy a Spoiler Five on consignment in a local Nashville store, and once I got past the 'gee why do my tone controls wah-wah' and I found the Alembic website and this club, my education began . . . . .
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Jack Casady , 1973 as I recall it was one of the first ones ..
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Summer of 1977 at the original Bag End shop in Palatine IL which was in a house near downtown Palatine, 20 minutes from where I lived.
They had a maple topped Series One and I heard nirvana for the 1st time there: though headphones - plugged straight into the bass. Was not able to afford my own until 1981 when I bought a new Distillate in Homewood IL from Make N Music.
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June 1982 The Greek Theater An Evening with Genesis. Mike Ritherford played his famous Shergold double neck, a Fender Strat, a Rickenbacker 12 String, and this beautiful bass with an omega cutout at the bottom. I looked at the program to see the name Alembic, and I was hooked!
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The show I was at is used in the wikipedia page. Return to Forever 1976 Rochester NY. It was probably my second year of junior high. One of my fellow students turned me on to Stanley Clark and Jeff Beck.
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Jack Casady , 1973 as I recall it was one of the first ones ..
It was 72-001 - the very first!
Peter
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I was living in Victoria, BC. I went to a bar to hear the Richard Whitehouse Trio. The bass player was a young guy named Al Medcalf. Al’s now a blues guitarist in Nanaimo, BC. He was playing one. This was about 1977 or 78, and I’d never seen one before. I had undoubtedly heard them by then, having listened to Stanley Clarke and Jack Casady, but just didn’t know it. A few months later, Al dropped by one of my gigs with his bass to let me try it out. I never forgot it, and finally got one in 1998.
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Finally got to read thru this thread - it's times like these I wish there was a like button...
Recently I remembered when I think I first heard the name - possibly Fall 1985 - I was in 9th grade, there was a new kid at school from San Jose, California (this was in Tokyo Japan) who was into U2 and the Police (new bands to me, I was more into the Beatles & heavy metal). At one point he told me his friend's family was really rich and they ordered him an Alembic - I even remember the picture he showed me! I started listening to Stanley Clarke too - actually, I had Find Out! which had the black Exploiter - even though Alembic's name isn't listed on the album covers that I can see, I must have had some awareness that Stan the Man played Alembics - I read a lot of Guitar Player magazine! And certainly by 1988 when If This Bass Could Only Talk I was more aware.
The first time I saw one in person was probably at Cambridge Music in Arlington, Massachusetts. Was I still in college or just out? Late '80s/early '90s. The finish was all crazed, it was probably medium or long scale with the bigger body. I certainly couldn't afford it, and my dad wouldn't pay for it, which was probably for the best. I was just used to Fenders (and only Fender Japan), not sure I could have handled an Alembic at that point - though it definitely would have changed my life!
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The first time I saw one in person was probably at Cambridge Music in Arlington, Massachusetts. Was I still in college or just out? Late '80s/early '90s. The finish was all crazed, it was probably medium or long scale with the bigger body. I certainly couldn't afford it, and my dad wouldn't pay for it, which was probably for the best. I was just used to Fenders (and only Fender Japan), not sure I could have handled an Alembic at that point - though it definitely would have changed my life!
I remember that bass. If I recall correctly (or at least, that's what they said), it belonged to Andy West.
The first Alembic related bass I heard was Big Brown on Europe '72 in 1973. The first one I saw in person that I know was an Alembic was Mission Control in 1976 at the Boston Music Hall. Over the next few years, I saw both of those basses live a number of times. The first one I played was probably at this boutique bass store in Boston on Boylston Street by Berklee near the Back Bay, that had a bunch of high end basses. They had a number of graphite necked Alembics. I wasn't really into it back then, but I'd sure like to have one of those now!
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The first time I saw one in person was probably at Cambridge Music in Arlington, Massachusetts. Was I still in college or just out? Late '80s/early '90s. The finish was all crazed, it was probably medium or long scale with the bigger body. I certainly couldn't afford it, and my dad wouldn't pay for it, which was probably for the best. I was just used to Fenders (and only Fender Japan), not sure I could have handled an Alembic at that point - though it definitely would have changed my life!
I remember that bass. If I recall correctly (or at least, that's what they said), it belonged to Andy West.
The first Alembic related bass I heard was Big Brown on Europe '72 in 1973. The first one I saw in person that I know was an Alembic was Mission Control in 1976 at the Boston Music Hall. Over the next few years, I saw both of those basses live a number of times. The first one I played was probably at this boutique bass store in Boston on Boylston Street by Berklee near the Back Bay, that had a bunch of high end basses. They had a number of graphite necked Alembics. I wasn't really into it back then, but I'd sure like to have one of those now!
Maybe we could get Ron to work on a Time Machine so we can go and help ourselves snatch them up?!