Alembic Guitars Club
Alembic products => Owning an Alembic => Troubleshooting => Topic started by: bob311 on September 08, 2025, 09:41:06 AM
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Hi all,
Happy first post! Long story short, I pulled out a 1977 Series 1 guitar from a friend's closet. It has been collecting dust for years. The string were completely oxidized, and otherwise trying to get this into playing shape!
The first few questions I have are about the tarnishing on the bridge, saddles, and nut. More specifically - what is the best way to try to bring these back to life? The frets are pretty bad, but I have done one cleaning pass and have gotten a lot of it off, and I intend to do a second pass later. I have heard from this forum that Eagle One polish is good for the bridge, saddle, nut, but let me know the specific way to do this. I was thinking a toothbrush for some of the hard to reach places?
The second issue is I have not been able to get the electronics to work yet. The pots are probably dusty, but admittedly this is my first alembic and I really want it all to work. Any concerns with hitting the pots and switches with CDC contact cleaner to start?
Finally, just as a piece of history - the guitar included the original build sheet and builders - including Rick Turner, Ron, and team. Just this piece of paper is such an amazing part of history.
My goal is to restore it and get it playing for another generation after it has spent the last 20 years or so stowed away. And if anyone knows how many series 1 guitars that were made in 1977, that would be awesome!
One last thing - the guitar did not come with the brass plate to cover the truss rod. Any ideas on what to do here? I would to try to replace it. No idea where the original is, I assume it was lost a long time ago.
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Hey Bob311,
Welcome to the forum and congratulations on your true "barn find"! That's a fine looking axe you've uncovered and we're always happy to hear of somebody bringing one of these historic instruments back into service.
I will leave the discussion of brass revival to others as I have no experience with that.
But a couple things about the electronics... DO NOT attempt to use any spray cleaners or deox chemistry. The pots and switches on these instruments are sealed and "self cleaning". Meaning, 30-50 cycles of the switches or full sweeps of the pots will normally bring them right back to spec. Start with that exercise before jumping in further.
I suggest you open the small panel in the center of the back to discover if there are any corroded batteries inside. (Cringe).
Did you also find the DS-5 power supply and cables with the instrument?
Keep us in the loop and you'll get plenty of help in here. The history and serial number search can take some time but you have the actual build docs right there so you know what you've got. Very cool!
Again, congrats!
Jimmy J
edit: it looks to me like there never was a truss rod cover so I wouldn't worry about that.
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By not being able to get the electronics to work do you mean that if you plug into the 1/4” jack there is zero sound? Or, by not working are you referring to the scratchy noisy pots? It is normal for the pots to need “exercising” after a period of non-use. Sometimes it can take as many as 100 rotations to get them clean. Make sure to do the switches, too. If you don’t have the DS-5 and five-pin cable and are running the bass on battery power you will only hear the neck pickup. That is normal for a Series instrument. Most of us do not use the batteries since they will only last about 20 - 24 hours before needing new ones and tend to remove them completely to prevent a mess if they get old and corrode. I agree with Jimmy that your guitar probably didn’t come with a truss rod cover.
If you want to clean the brass hardware you can use Flitz metal polish. I think Alembic sells it if you can’t find it in a local hardware store but start by looking there. There are quite a few existing threads here about cleaning the hardware.
Enjoy your beautiful “new” guitar.
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Thanks both! It did come with the power supply, although admittedly I havent really figured out how to use it. I think the corrosion on the guitar is partially from old batteries, which I have swapped out in the meantime. I had to take the strings off due to the corrosion, so I couldnt hear if the pots were scratchy, but I was just testing the pickups via the pickup selector and the first two positions I could not get any sound from the bridge pickup (sound meaning tapping on the pickup), only the neck.
I did put strings on it in the meantime, so I will test the electronics more tonight and try to figure out exactly. As I understand it. I plug the 5 pin cable into the guitar, then I run either a mono or stereo guitar cable out of the box into my amp?
Good to hear it didn't originally have that brass plate! Makes sense why I cant find pickup holes on it.
Also, there seems to be a small little wood crack on the back coming off of the control cavity (not a finish check, which are throughout). Any advice on a small bit of wood glue to stabilize it? What type, etc? Also, I assume these were nitro guitars based on the finish checking, but let me know if that is wrong!
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This may be redundant, but to clarify: Regarding the DS-5 power supply box, if you use only the bass output to the amp, you will get a mono output with the neck and bridge pickups available via the pickup selector, either singly or both. If you use both the DS-5 bass and treble outputs cabled to two inputs of a stereo amp (or two amps), they will respectively contain the neck and bridge pickups. If you instead use the 1/4" jack on the guitar, as Stephen said above, you will only get the neck pickup via a normal cable.
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This may be redundant, but to clarify: Regarding the DS-5 power supply box, if you use only the bass output to the amp, you will get a mono output with the neck and bridge pickups available via the pickup selector, either singly or both. If you use both the DS-5 bass and treble outputs cabled to two inputs of a stereo amp (or two amps), they will respectively contain the neck and bridge pickups. If you instead use the 1/4" jack on the guitar, as Stephen said above, you will only get the neck pickup via a normal cable.
This is really helpful. So basically using the stereo out from the DS-5, you are running each pickup via a different cable. If I run mono out from the DS-5, I can still get both pickups, but obviously in mono. And that explains the battery why I could only get something from the neck pickup!
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Update, so I played with the electronics. The pots are a little fuzzy, and there is some buzz in some positions. The treble and bass frequency switches are not happy when they are set to high and I move the frequency knobs. Not sure if I am just messing with it in a way I am not supposed to, or those wires are little funky.
Also, the original five pin cable has something funky going on. Maybe dust or old age. Can I use any regular 5-pin cable as a replacement?
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I'd continue to exercise the switches and pots to see if the fuzz & buzz reduce. Since the guitar has not been used for some time, it will likely take several sets of 100 rotations / switches to clear them up. I have a DS-5R which had never been used in the 9 years before I got it, and the mono/stereo switch didn't clear up until literally the 12th set of 100 switch flips. But, it did clear up and has been fine since.
Someone else will have to chip in on using a different 5-pin cable; The only ones I use are made for an Alembic.
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Hi Bob, and welcome to the club! I have a ‘76 medium scale guitar. These do not have “treble and bass frequency switches”. Each pickup has two rotary pots and one 3-way blade switch. One rotary pot is a preamp and controls volume. The second rotary pot is a low pass filter. At full clockwise, or “10”, it lets the full signal through. As you move it counter clockwise, it cuts off the high end and lets the low end pass through. The 3-way blade switch is a “Q” switch. It is used to boost the volume at the cut off frequency set by the low pass filter. The three settings are 0-6-9 db boost at the cut-off frequency. When you set the Q to 9db and move the filter back and forth, (1-10-1), you should get a wah-wah effect. Alembic electronics are a completely different beast from just about everything else out there. You will find that a small rotation of the low pass filter has a huge effect on the guitar’s tone. It takes a bit of practice to get used to Alembic electronics the first time, but it is well worth the effort. Congrats with your new-to-you Alembic.
Bill, the guitar one
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Thanks! I will keep working the switches and knobs and see if they get better. Next project is to try to restore the brass.
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Wow - amazing find! This guitar did not originally have a truss rod cover and I would be hesitant to add one.
The first thing is to do a lot of exercising as has been suggested by many. The parts are rated for at least 100,000 actions (some are 500,000) so it's not likely you will wear them out. If you feel a grittiness in the pots it may be too late, but try anyway as these are terribly expensive to replace and better to keep the originals if it just means some elbow grease. Important is that you need to reach the stop at each end of the pot each time that you swipe it.
Not nitro - these are polyurethane all the way.
As for the crack, which is probably coming off the wood screw, it's probably pretty stable as it's done its cracking. Would have to see a picture of it to offer any specific advice.
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Wow - amazing find! This guitar did not originally have a truss rod cover and I would be hesitant to add one.
The first thing is to do a lot of exercising as has been suggested by many. The parts are rated for at least 100,000 actions (some are 500,000) so it's not likely you will wear them out. If you feel a grittiness in the pots it may be too late, but try anyway as these are terribly expensive to replace and better to keep the originals if it just means some elbow grease. Important is that you need to reach the stop at each end of the pot each time that you swipe it.
Not nitro - these are polyurethane all the way.
As for the crack, which is probably coming off the wood screw, it's probably pretty stable as it's done its cracking. Would have to see a picture of it to offer any specific advice.
Here are a few pictures! The line is a finish check, but it looks a little more like a crack for the first inch or so off the cavity.
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Keep us updated! We love when an old workhorse comes back to life!
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All cleaned up! Cleaned the brass (which was a giant pain), cleaned the nut, polished the frets, cleaned and oiled the board, cleaned and polished the whole guitar. Starting to look like a million bucks!
One question on the electronics - I run a tube amp at home. There shouldnt be any problems running the DS into my amp, right? I did that the other night, but now I want to check to make sure I am not going to blow my amp up.
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Looking good. 8)
No, you won't blow anything up... the DS-5 is the proper interface between your guitar and amp. If your amp has a padded input for 'hotter' signals, use it, otherwise just adjust input gain accordingly. And enjoy.
*If you really wanna' have some fun, run a separate line from your DS-5 to another amp input. In other words, send the bass output to one amp, and treble to another. If your unit has a switch, put it to stereo. (it probably doesn't if original equipment to a '77 guitar...) Now your neck pickup is in one amp, separate and discrete from the bridge pickup.
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Nice work. Looks great.
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Nice job!
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Agreed, great work with the cleaning!
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Thanks all! Now on to getting the electronics all good by continuing to flip the switches and move the knobs! And I hope to hear back from the Alembic team about the file, if they still have, on this guitar!
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Update, I’ve isolated the electronics issues. Not sure how to fix.
When the neck pickup is engaged, there is some buzzing in the amp. When the bridge pickup is solo, no buzzing. But if it’s in both pickup mode or neck solo, there is buzzing. So at least something is happening there. So I don’t think it’s standard single coil hum, because the bridge pickup doesn’t have any when isolated.
Also, when I flip the neck dynamic switch down pointing to the ground, and I move the dynamic knob, it pops and screeches and otherwise is not happy. I don’t mess with it much because I don’t want to harm my amp. But something is going on with that switch in the down position and the dynamic neck knob when I move it.
Any thoughts? I can try to take some pictures of the guts tomorrow.
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OK, you're making progress! Since you've got the bridge pickup working we might even say you're halfway there.
Here is a good explanation of the controls on a Series I:
https://club.alembicguitars.com/index.php?topic=271.0 (https://club.alembicguitars.com/index.php?topic=271.0)
That will help us with the names... Q-boost, filter control, etc...
And you may not realize there are also output level and hum balance trim pots accessible through the rear panel? Info on that is here:
https://club.alembicguitars.com/index.php?topic=269.0 (https://club.alembicguitars.com/index.php?topic=269.0)
If the bridge pickup is already nice and clear then don't touch those trim pots. But it might be worth moving the neck pickup's output and hum balance trim pots just to see what happens. You may find that the trim pots themselves need to be exercised a bit like the front panel controls did. Then see if you can dial out some of the hum coming through the neck pickup channel.
The squeal is a known issue that can happen when the pots and switches are old and haven't been moved for years. That filter circuit can act as an oscillator if things are out of spec. But again, this can usually be cleared up by exercising the switches and pots involved. (Just don't have your amp turned up when you do that!)
I'm thinking of building a machine that just spin our pots back and forth repeatedly and can be left running overnight. :D
Keep going! We're all pleased to see you bringing this axe back to life!
Jimmy J
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A number of years ago I pulled out my 78 Series I five-string and started to gig with it after it had been mainly sitting in the case for over 20 years. I got the squealing noise from the pickup selector, rotating it a number of times prevented it from happening again. The pots and switches can wear out but it is a fairly rare thing and the parts Alembic uses are somewhat expensive to replace, don’t give up on excercising them yet, it sounds like you are close. If you are worried about damage to your amp then excercise the pots with it unplugged then plug it in and see if the noise is gone. You may have to repeat this process a number of times but it is pretty rare for it not to work. Good luck, you have already done an excellent job of cleaning the instrument up!
One last thing. If your tailpiece still has the original brass screws I suggest changing them to stainless steel screws at some point. Alembic no longer uses the brass screws because they can break, I had this happen to one of the tailpiece screws on my 78 Series bass. I didn’t realize it had broken until I removed the tailpiece to clean it. Luckily just enough of the broken screw was protruding into the battery cavity that I was able to extract it. You can get the proper replacement screws from Alembic...
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Nice work on bringing it back to life!
Looks like with a bit of patience and elbow grease it will be as good as new.
I had a similar wood crack from the wood screw on the back panel with a 80's omega bass.
This bass's wood is (I believe, still awaiting build card info...) padauk wood which is very red and figured.
I collected some sanding dust from refinishing, applied some thin super glue to the gap with some of the wood dust collected.
Took a few coats and the glue did darken the wood dust, but it seems to have completely stabilized the crack and filled the gap.
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So still the same electronics issues after continuing to work that knob and switch. I looked at the electronics board and there is some corrosion. I was able to wipe away some of it, but not all and still the same issue. Wonder what to do next.
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Hello - I'm an Alembic newbie here, and certainly not a electronics expert, but you may want to look at pot side of that card.
Unscrew the 4 screws from the brass plate (if you havent already) and see if you notice any obvious corrosion on that side as well? Be very careful with it once removed from brass plate. I have mine ( series 1 bass electronics ) at alembic because many of the trim pots were somewhat stripped and the whole PF6 card was somewhat microphonic and noisy. Not sure if using a standard circuit cleaner is recommended on this kind of component.
There are some very knowledgable folks in this club. I hope one of them can get you past the noise issue.
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Ed (Artgecko) offers some solid advice.
Some spray contact cleaners can be detrimental to certain plastics, this MAY be an issue with a circuit board from 1977…. just sayin’. 🤷🏻♂️
Suggest waiting until a high-level electronics person chimes in (no offense Ed - I also am not savvy in the electronics field).
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I would initially pull the main wire connector and re-seat it. Also do the same with the Molex pickup connectors on the pickup wires. You can switch the pickup leads there to see if any of your problems 'follow' the pickups too. I am assuming the old style board has the chips on the back side hard wired, which means there are no socketed chips to pull and re-seat.