Alembic Guitars Club
Alembic products => Showcase => Series II Basses and Guitars => Topic started by: Quasar1 on December 10, 2024, 03:22:33 AM
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Irwin Guitars Instagram post :o
Great photos :)
https://www.instagram.com/p/DDX6INZyXvt/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&igsh=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==
More photos in the Instagram post
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That's very interesting, that those two were together in the barn picture. I'm fairly certain the bass is Dela's #72-16. (or its twin) https://club.alembic.com/index.php?topic=8496.0 (https://club.alembic.com/index.php?topic=8496.0)
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Super cool; love these early short scale basses. Love the body shape, and woods. Plus the way the finish darkened over time - I like it better now than in the early photo!
Also - a clear control cavity plate?? Cool idea; maybe I should fabricate one for mine!
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It's been a while since I did any really deep digging in here. I thought it was familiar, and because of my fascination with serial numbers and process of elimination, it came to me I had seen this guitar. It's #72-15... (scroll down for pic and confirmation of number)
https://club.alembic.com/index.php?topic=1264.msg13193#msg13193 (https://club.alembic.com/index.php?topic=1264.msg13193#msg13193)
So we're looking at #15 and #16 together, probably for the first and last time, almost 53 years ago. [shiver]
Maybe one of the moderators might move the thread to somewhere else as neither of these were Series II? Cool post to spot though.
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Yes, that is my bass.
I saw that picture taken of it when it was new. I was just floored! I reached out and sent him the posted pictures above. I have always wanted to know about it's history, and that just fills in a bit of the detail.
I have had this bass since the early 80's or so. I purchased it from an acquaintance that picked it up at a pawn shop in Tx. If I remember right, I think he paid $300.00 for it. Of course he sold it to me for a profit.
I was the one that installed the clear control plate on it. I did that because the brass plate that was on the back picked up too much noise. There are 2 hum cancelling coils mounted in the inside, and I guess it just acted like an antenna for noise. With the clear plate on it, it is now dead quiet. That sticker on the clear plate is a decal of the grim reaper in crosshairs. I thought it was a cool sticker.
I didn't realize that #15 was the one in the picture too!
Michael
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Does the bass have a PF5 with no Q switches? And what does the switch near the five pin jack do? Beautiful bass 😊
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I believe on the very early ones, it’s a mono/stereo switch.
Bill, tgo
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It's not PF5, it has 2 separate pre-amps one for each pickup, but no filters. The tone controls are more like on a passive instrument. No Q switches at all. So each pickup, has it's own channel like a series bass, and a hum cancelling pickup for each pickup. The hum cancellers on the inside are trapezoidal too. If there is interest, I can take detail pics of the electronics.
That is a mono/stereo switch. But it is a locking one. You have to lift it to move it from one setting to the other.
It sounds amazing.
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Wow, so unique, and so cool! 😊
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If anyone would like to continue down the rabbit-hole, here's a thread on #72-17, a medium-scale bass VI built for Jack Casady. There are a couple pictures of the electronics cavity. (hat-tip Club Member gtrguy) ;)
https://club.alembic.com/index.php?topic=26305.msg266892#msg266892 (https://club.alembic.com/index.php?topic=26305.msg266892#msg266892)
and #72-14, the scroll-body bass immediately preceding the two in this thread.
https://club.alembic.com/index.php?topic=8616.msg101054#msg101054 (https://club.alembic.com/index.php?topic=8616.msg101054#msg101054)
I gotta get back to work on that time machine... ;D
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Thanks Michael and Edward for the info. All super interesting. I often forget that not all of the early Alembics have "Series" electronics.
Michael, if you do have the chance to take photos of the electronics, I for one would definitely be interested in seeing them! :D
And thanks for the reply about the clear control plate. It seems like a metal plate would shield against noise, but that's obviously not (always) the case - I am really curious to know how a non-conductive plate would work out on mine. Maybe I will give it a shot...