Alembic Guitars Club
Alembic products => Alembic Basses & Guitars => Topic started by: FC Bass on June 06, 2025, 06:00:58 PM
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Here's what I've been told about the Europa II body shape:
Apparently, Series electronics won't fit in the regular Europa shape.
When Jason Newsted ordered his Series II Europa basses, they combined the lower part of the Elan with the upper part of the Europa.
I always assumed their bodies were the same size, but it does indeed looks like the Europa shape is smaller. (see Illustrations)
Feel free to talk about any other body shape, make it a general trivia (or debunkia) thread. :)
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Wow, did not know. Does that mean all the series basses out there in the wild have this unique body shape ?????
Very very interesting.... I was hoping I'd get a series bass with Europa body, but it's actually not the same body shape..... hmmmmm
Takeo
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Well, since you brought it up, I've always been curious about the different Exploiter body shapes. The Spoiler versions have a slightly skinnier lower horn compared to the few Distillates I've seen (and own). It's subtle but noticeable. It just seems odd that they're different. And they're both different than Entwistle's, but that's probably a story unto itself.
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Wow, did not know. Does that mean all the series basses out there in the wild have this unique body shape ?????
Very very interesting.... I was hoping I'd get a series bass with Europa body, but it's actually not the same body shape..... hmmmmm
Takeo
Without measuring, my series II europa lower half of the body looks like it is bigger bodied than my series I europas. Might be an illusion but I will check. If so there are three europa shapes.
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Wow, did not know. Does that mean all the series basses out there in the wild have this unique body shape ?????
Very very interesting.... I was hoping I'd get a series bass with Europa body, but it's actually not the same body shape..... hmmmmm
Takeo
Without measuring, my series II europa lower half of the body looks like it is bigger bodied than my series I europas. Might be an illusion but I will check. If so there are three europa shapes.
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Also JE‘s different Spyder Basses had different body shapes.
Not only between the cone and the v head ones but also different
shapes on various cone head Spyders.
Greetz
Oliver
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Without measuring, my series II europa lower half of the body looks like it is bigger bodied than my series I europas. Might be an illusion but I will check. If so there are three europa shapes.
Do you have the woodcards? Should say the model name on them, mine is ULBII5. I wonder if the Series one would be ULBI5 or just ULB5? (standard Europa)
There is some extra space needed for the Master volume, so could make sense...
The bodies on my Europa and Elan look almost identical and it looks like the lower part of the J pickups is in the exact same location as the Series pickups :-)
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From this picture I guess they all seem to be the same shape.
I think the differences seem to be an illusion based on the the way the laminates are exposed on the edges.
Also I notice that the tailpiece is further away from the bridge on the series II. What are the pros and cons of having a longer or shorter distance between bridge and tailpiece other than to allow a different string length to be used?
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Oliver, I was going to bring up that I was around when you and Alan Dover were talking about the different body shapes and sizes while was working out his Series II. I wish he was still around as he had a number of photos detailing the differences.
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Keith,
here you can see the main differences:
1. Cone head, No 1, thin waists, wider pu spacing,
short tailpieces, front horn 2 master volumes with
toggle to quickly switch between two settings,
pu selector.
2. No 2, basically the same as No1, but with narrower
pu spacing
3. V head Spyder, more traditional wider body shape,
long tailpieces, front horn master volume and pu
selector