Alembic Guitars Club
Alembic products => Showcase => Series II Basses and Guitars => Topic started by: sonofa_lembic on November 27, 2024, 05:34:23 PM
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This is a prime example of where an Alembic can end up if customized by a master luthier. I recently traded a vintage Fender bass for this 1977 Alembic Series II which was completely modified in 1987 by luthier Gene Matsika. The bass need some T.L.C. on my bench, and I replaced the shorted out hum canceller pickup, cleaned up the wiring, and corrected the missing capacitor. The workmanship and playability of this bass is as good as it gets. See my demo video at:
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Hi Trevor,
Thank you for this :)
She looks so like a Medieval or Norse war shield!
When you have time, please some photos!
I am completely knocked out!
Thanks Trevor !
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Glad you found a hum-x for it. Curious; do you think it's serial number was indeed 77-728 as re-stamped in the lower bout? I'd guess someone stamped that there because the original was lost when it was re-necked... rebuilt, or however one wants to describe the situation there.
It seems like a fine project to me. Glad to see it got to capable hands.
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I do believe that Gene had the good sense to keep a record of the original serial number notated on the bass. That number is correct for this vintage, and while there was a second non Alembic number stamped in the pickup cavity, he made sure to include the original which is displayed on the bottom of the lower bout by inlaid white numbers. I will try to add close up photos of the bass soon. As of today, I believe the bass is back in full working order, and I will test it out on a gig tomorrow night. As we all know, everything works at home, but in a poorly wired club, a Series bass can be a challenge.
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Inlaid serial number.
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More photos.
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More.
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Again.
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And again.
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More.
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Updates to come!
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That was a clever way to do the serial number... likely lacking the dies to stamp one, that was a pretty good alternative.
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Thank you Trevor
Yes, more photos , Please ! :) She is a joy to behold !!
I will PM you, I would like to ask you a few questions, if I may :D
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I think Gene probably had the dies to stamp a number, but his artistic sense would not allow for such a crude method, and because he was so adept at inlay work, it was natural for him to decide to inlay the serial number.
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More photos as requested.
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The Point.
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Did you say the bridge block was height adjustable? How does that work?
Jimmy J
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The sustain block is capped with mother of pearl, but there are four small holes at each corner which are accessible through the top. Each hole is threaded and has a set screw in it which can be raised or lowered. It kind of goes against the Alembic principal where the sustain block is mounted solid to the neck. If you look carefully at photo 2, you can see the four holes.
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Ah, I see. So the bridge is secured to the block but the block can be raised, lowered, or even tilted? He really chose to do things his own way didn't he? I'm glad he stuck with the Series electronics although stashing the 2nd battery in the electronics cavity seems like an afterthought.
That's a crazy one-off machine you've got there! Days long sustain - no need for a compressor. :)
Thanks for the info,
Jimmy J
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Thanks for posting all of this! Love it! Very unique instrument you now have there, and sounds great.
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Yes, thanks for posting. It really is an interesting bass. I'm still anxious to see how it was originally built, if no reason other than to try and visualize how the rebuild was done.
Indeed I remember now, there was a picture in the ad showing numbers stamped in the neck pickup cavity. I like how he did the inlaid number on the lower body wing there.
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Quite impressed I be ! This exemplary work of Art is a definitive example of mine Lucid Dreams of bass design ,to realign the bench marks set .A sparkle of magick from creative minds ablaze, in fullest glory decreed. Much Love and lustful appreciation doth I feel for such quality of an instrument.
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I gave the bass a shakedown last night on the gig. It sounded great and had a lot more punch than I was expecting. I plugged my Essence in for two songs, and went back to the Matsika for the rest of the night. It was just so much more powerful. I was experiencing a slight hum from the neck pickup, but I grabbed a screw driver, and adjusted the hum canceller, and it cleaned up that noise just fine. So far so good. Three more gigs this weekend, so I will be able to test it in different venues. More to come.....
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sonofa_lembic , Quite Awesome , I send best wishes for such enjoyable gigs !
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I just received some photos from a member here of the bass while it was on Gene's bench. In one of the photos, you can see the back before it got the final rosewood laminate, and it appears to have had a back plate at some time on the upper bout. This is normally a hollow cavity on the Series basses anyway, but why there was a cover added is a mystery. My first thought is the bass was left handed to begin with or modified later. The problem with that is I see two core supports in the cavity which if original would not allow for the electronics to be mounted there. Also, he obviously used the original core, so he would not have been able to flip the body halves from left handed to right. The proof of that is you can see the original electronics compartment block contours in the lower bout. That second opening is also smaller than the normal Series opening, so it still has me scratching my head. In the photo, the accent laminate looks more like cocobolo than macassar ebony. I may revise my assessment of the accent lams to cocobolo even though they really look like ebony from the outer edge. The electronics are the same, even including the lamp wire that was used for the cutoff switch. I replaced that junk with the correct gauge wire.
In another photo, you can see that Gene was toying with the idea of adding an F hole to the upper bout. He used a felt pen to draw the design on the top. I am so glad he decided against it.
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No F Holes please!
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Interesting. You can see in that photo that he has planed down the entire back surface by the thickness of the brass plate. Temporarily making the mounting screw inserts flush with the surface and a sharp edge on the outer perimeter of the body. Obviously he then added his own book-matched final laminate. Crazy rebuild job!
The 2nd opening is indeed a mystery because when the Series bodies got thinner and the preamp card moved to that position, I believe it was always a square hole...
I'm guessing he added the internal braces in that upper compartment, possibly to support the machining involved in removing that surface material. Just a wild guess.
Intriguing!
Jimmy J
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I'm not being sarcastic. That goes really well with the rest of your interior items. Very beautiful bass.
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Upon closer inspection (not sure why I missed it to begin with), I can say for sure that the two accent laminates are macassar ebony, but prior to the final Brazilian laminate on the back, there is what looks like a cocobolo laminate as well, which is visible in the photo. This all begs the question if the original body halves had the macassar ebony accent laminates to begin with, and that Gene saved those and the core, and just added the rosewood top and the cocobolo/rosewood back laminates. I would surmise that he only had bookmatched Brazilian for the back which was thicknessed for an acoustic guitar, so in order to match the thickness of the top laminate, he had to add a second laminate of wood. Gene and his apprentice were mainly acoustic guitar builders, and most Brazilian rosewood is available in thinner depth, milled for acoustics. The double thick Brazilian top on this guitar is quite unusual, and pretty special.
If the ebony accent laminates are indeed original, that might explain the second opening on the upper bout, but not the inserted nuts. Still some mystery to resolve.
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OK, I think I have completed the dialing in of this Matsika Alembic. To make it more "useable" on gigs where noise can be an issue, I changed the caps on the tone pots to .01 from the original .0033/.0066, and it has maintained good top end clarity while taming the sizzle created by poorly wired clubs. I also experimented with a variety of strings, and I found the Ernie Ball 40-100 flat wound cobalt strings to be an excellent compliment to this bass. I always like lighter strings, and these are very responsive and even. I can't get the single LED to work, mainly because I think it was for 9v, and just burned out with 18V. My guess is he added it when he cut the power wires for the original fingerboard LEDs, hoping it would light up since he did not use LEDs in his replacement neck.
The look and feel of this bass are stellar. The tone is powerful and full with lots of variation. It is a chunk when it comes to weight, but I have played it both seated and standing, and it is not much of an issue. It has the typical reach issues of all long scale "point" basses. Nothing that ruins the experience for me, but you know you are not playing a Europa or Rouge. All in all, I am more than pleased with the bass, and even though trading an original refin 1958 Fender Precision bass for it does not make sense financially, I know I will use this bass much more. It's just more "me".
I recorded with it on a track I wrote during Covid lockdown where I originally used the 1958 P. I wanted to compare the tone between the two basses. As always, the Alembic tone is the better one.
It has been a journey this last week, but the outcome is very satisfying.
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It's a cool old bass with an interesting story. 8)
Could you/will you replace the LED with a modern one? (reminds me of the old Distillate battery drain LED I liked so well...)
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I will try to source an LED that can handle the voltage.
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Took a minute to test the tone of the bass with a play along. At this point, I have the bass about as quiet as my 1978 Series I.
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Wow, sounds terrific - and great playing! Love that riff
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Tasty stuff, and a great sounding and looking bass!
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Installed a blue LED with an 1820 resistor and we have light!
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Nice! 8)
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Are my eyes deceiving me, or does the neck not have a (pair of) truss rod(s) installed? :o The neck doesn't appear to be made of graphite, so I'm quite curious to know more, if you don't mind me asking.
But it's a very interesting bass you've gotten your hands on there, regardless - congratulations on that fine machine!
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No truss rods that are adjustable. Gene made most of his guitars and basses this way. The neck is Brazilian rosewood and ebony for the most part, and is meticulously crafted to allow for perfect action. It has remained perfectly stable since it was built in 1987, and the playability and action are outstanding. It was Gene's philosophy that if the neck was made right, no rods were required. The bass was shipped to me in CA from PA, and has not moved at all even with the radical change in climate. I switched to 40-100 gauge from the 45-105 that were on it when I got it, and the neck has no problem with the gauge change. This thing just works!
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No truss rods that are adjustable. Gene made most of his guitars and basses this way. The neck is Brazilian rosewood and ebony for the most part, and is meticulously crafted to allow for perfect action. It has remained perfectly stable since it was built in 1987, and the playability and action are outstanding. It was Gene's philosophy that if the neck was made right, no rods were required. The bass was shipped to me in CA from PA, and has not moved at all even with the radical change in climate. I switched to 40-100 gauge from the 45-105 that were on it when I got it, and the neck has no problem with the gauge change. This thing just works!
Hmm, certainly a very refreshing point of view, but nontheless, very interesting! If I recall correctly, Brazillian Rosewood ranks close to the top on the Janka scale, so it makes sense that it's very stable neck. No seasonal truss rod adjustments needed for your bass, then, I guess! ;D
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The latest news on the Matsika Series II is I have completed all the work on the circuit and pickups so that the bass is working as a Series II should. I also was able to purchase a rack mount power supply with a 5 pin cable, so the bass is now complete. It has been a long month getting everything sorted electronically on the bass, but it is now sounding quite amazing, and of course the playability is beyond outstanding. One last note. I reluctantly had to add a small string tree to the face of the headstock since the inner strings simply needed it to stay in place more securely. I found that it was possible to have the D string pop out of the nut if I was bending the string for vibrato. I used a gold plated Hipshot two string tree that matches the finish of the tuners, and allows for easy string changes. It ended up looking great and like it was meant to be there. The lack of deep headstock angle on this bass simply required this addition. I also installed vintage Alembic style Kluson strap buttons in gold. These look like the old Stars Guitars buttons Alembic used back in the day, and they really finish the bass off nicely. I turned some dowels out of rosewood to fill the previous screw holes, since the rosewood allows for a much better material for the new screws to grasp and be supported by. I also modified one of my bass support stands to allow for this bass to be played with no strap around my neck. It just floats in the air at the perfect angle which makes playing a 12 pound bass possible for three hours. I also find that I can move my body farther down the neck so that one of these long scale "point" body basses does not feel like I am reaching to get to the first fret. Having the bass mounted to the stand really makes for a comfortable gig, and I have found that most folks in the audience never even notice that there is a stand holding the bass up.
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The Hipshot string tree looks appropriate, as well as the Kluson strap buttons.
(glad if those are available again... I tried to source some in nickel finish for my '77, but when they came, they were mini, not the jumbo-size.)
*went shopping and got myself a set in nickel. :)
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It just floats in the air at the perfect angle which makes playing a 12 pound bass possible for three hours.
that's awesome! i'm trying to imagine just bellying up to the bass and letting it rip. :o
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Thanks Trevor
She is just so amazing :) :) :)