Alembic Guitars Club
Connecting => Swap Shop and Wish Lists => Seen on craigslist, eBay, and elsewhere => Topic started by: tkotmk42 on July 10, 2024, 10:41:28 PM
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https://ties.jp/store/products/detail/1194 (https://ties.jp/store/products/detail/1194)
Not affiliated, but this shop has been handling high-end basses for a while. They're known for their extensive inventory of Fodera basses.
With super-weak JPY, 3 million JPY = 18700 USD. Not bad for the spec (Burl Walnut 3000x2, LED, special tail piece, etc...)
Oh and if you're buying from outside of Japan, buy VAT (sales tax) free, 10%.
:)
Takeo
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Unless there is something wrong with my browser, i can't see a link to this sale on your post.
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WOW !!
https://ties.jp/store/products/detail/1194
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nice bass. i've yet to see one of these for sale in the USofA. that's about $18k USD for those of you without a calculator. whoo00OO00oo!
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That's a nice and strangely familiar looking bass. But that's an awful lot of money for a non-Series model... Rare doesn't always mean desirable. Besides, I'll sign anybody's bass for a lot less. ;)
Jimmy J
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My browser shows a little ... something ... right at the beginning of the post, and hovering the pointer on that reveals the link:
https://ties.jp/store/products/detail/1194
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Dual simultaneous threads:
https://club.alembic.com/index.php?topic=28580.0
JJ
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The string spacing does not seem to be as tight as yours Jimmy.👍🏾🧐
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The string spacing does not seem to be as tight as yours Jimmy.👍🏾🧐
The spacing looks about right to me. It really looks like one of mine, except it's missing the hum-canceller and 5-pin jack. ;-)
Jimmy J
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Man that thing showed up on every shop in Japan...
https://www.digimart.net/cat03/shop5286/DS09008707/
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That is a really nice walnut top.
And I may be just seeing it because I want to, or because of the pocket-sized screen... but is that a Jimmy J-spec aluminum sustain block peeking out from under those five string saddles?
*FWIW, and I'm not really promoting a sale for anyone, but I think Takeo is pretty close here... a new Signature 5-string with these specs is gonna' be in that ballpark price-wise. We just don't see many of the JJ Signature Models for sale here. (with all due deference to Jimmy J.) I can remember like... two, or three of them in the last ten years, all secondhand auctions or sales. Me personally, I'd much rather have this one than the King or Clarke Signature.
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I have no idea how many were made ... not many ... but it's still an honor! I just wish I was a better salesman for the Company.
I do believe the aluminum block was part of the "JJ-spec" model although it's a funny detail which was kind of the result of an accident with my original '76 bass. I've told the story before so you don't have to keep reading...
When we used the giant E-string as a low-B on my original 5-string, the bridge was slightly too far towards the fingerboard to be able to intonate it properly. In other words, my E-string saddle was almost at the end of travel towards the tailpiece with the bridge in its original position. But the B-string saddle needed to go a bit further. I can't remember why we didn't just re-drill the mounting holes on the original brass block but my father had a big chunk of aluminum so we used that to make a new block with the bridge mounting holes offset towards the tailpiece. You can see how off-center it was in the pic below.
I really don't know what effect that had on the sound of the bass but when it came time to build new ones I always requested an aluminum block.
Jimmy J
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Jimmy, even with your adjustment looks like the B saddle is as far back as it can go. Was the entire bridge and sustain block assembly moved farther back on the bass with your newer basses?
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That's a good question. I don't remember requesting that as a modification but the newer basses did not suffer from that problem.
Also, in those early days the biggest ghs Boomer I could buy was a .120, so my set was .045, .065, .085, .105 and .120. Not quite right by the look of it, which may have had an effect on the bridge position. (Just guessing there). The standard set I play now (5M-DYB) has a .130 for a B and even though that looks like it's going to be too big the balance seems good.
Jimmy J
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Interesting.
At least one of the two JJ Signature basses I remember was quite different from this new one. It was an '88, and had a different body pattern, a fan headstock like Jimmy's original '76, but it had a regular 'bird' tailpiece. And I don't think it had LED's. No aluminum sustain block.
There was another one that came up for auction (in Japan maybe?) that did have the aluminum sustain block, because I remember Jimmy J. telling us about that detail then. I don't remember much else about it except that it was more like the one Takeo posted on here.
*I think you sell yourself a bit short as an Alembic influencer, if not an outright sales rep, Jimmy J. I know for sure your name came up a few times when we were planning my Custom 5-string. ;D
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Aw, thanks for the kind words... I hope I've done some good for the Company. I'm clearly a big fan (for almost 50 years). But this also points out how dumb "endorsements" are in this business and begs to question what good they actually do. That's a strange side of the equipment biz and I love the fact that Alembic doesn't give instruments to people in an effort to promote sales. Just, no.
Now that you mention it, I believe the original JJ model did have the fan headstock like my 1976 bass. I don't think Alembic is still building these..? But I remember somebody in Japan once ordering a full blown copy, maybe even a Series II. Either way I'm honored by these "in-the-style-of" basses even though I know they're not everybody's cup of tea. :D
Jimmy J
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Also, I forgot to mention one detail that bothered me when I first saw this bass.... that truss rod cover is so big!! I believe somoene didn't want to see part of body/neck between end of fingerboard and neck pick, while they still wanted that extra space. I personally prefer the mid-80's to early 90's trussrod cover size and neck pickup location (just becasue I am used to seeing it with Mark King's bass) and also I can play just fine with narrower spacing.
I believe this is the first one with this size of truss rod cover?
Takeo
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believe the original JJ model did have the fan headstock like my 1976 bass.
about 4 years ago when i was beating the bushes for a high-end 5-string fretted, i know i saw that model with signature electronics listed in south korea. pretty sure i went back and forth with the seller but the cost getting it over to the USofA, the fact that it was on ebay and a private seller proved to be more than i wanted to deal with. had red LEDs, fan headstock is all i can remember.
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looks like it just popped up on everb:
https://club.alembic.com/index.php?topic=28579.0
im done buying basses (i think), so y'all have at it.