Alembic Guitars Club
Alembic products => Owning an Alembic => Fun Stories => Topic started by: gearhed289 on November 11, 2024, 08:07:41 AM
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A couple of years ago, I acquired my beautiful, factory refurbished Distillate Exploiter. The original case, though, was not beautiful or refurbished. One of the corners was coming apart, and the wood is so worn, I couldn't even glue/staple it back together. Having been in the case biz for 28 years, I made a plan to build one. I spent a lot of time on the design, and got as far as creating templates for the CNC. Then I thought I'd do some math, and seeing that although I shaved off some real estate, it was still going to be heavier than the stock case. This defeated the purpose and I scrapped the idea.
Plan B - I knew Epiphone made an Explorer bass case. I briefly owned one and sold it to a friend, so I was able to do a quick test fit and it worked. It's got a pretty open interior, but at $129 with free shipping, I went for it, knowing that I could customize the interior myself. I just got around to it last Friday and I'm very happy with the results. Took me 2 hours, which was a little longer than expected, but I haven't worked in the shop since 25 years ago. :o Anyway, here are some pics.
The Epi case is SLIGHTLY smaller all around, and the more rounded corners actually improve maneuverability (I gig with this bass pretty regularly). It's also 3 pounds lighter and brand new, so it's an all around win!
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Congrats ! Looks great and I KNOW it sounds great.
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Very nice job!
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That's great! The case my Exploiter came with was HUGE - I like how on yours the bass is in there kind of diagonal, seems like it keeps the width a little lower.
I also bought a Dean soft case that was supposedly for an Explorer shape - sold my Exploiter years ago but the doubleneck fits in it!
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Thanks folks!
Harry, the one I was going to build was a trapezoid shape, which got rid of a lot of unnecessary volume. But again, the weight was a deal killer. It also would have been a bit thicker, and knowing the way I pack my car, this would have been a problem. The purple fur is what I bought for the aborted case. A customer had requested that specific fur for a bass that was a similar colored wood to my koa, and it looked great, so I got some for myself. I don't mind the two-tone. :D