Alembic Guitars Club
Alembic products => Alembic Basses & Guitars => Topic started by: lg71 on March 15, 2006, 04:32:33 PM
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Hi, I haven't had anyone interested in my Persuader PJ, so I might put it on ebay. I am also thinking of upgrading one of my Aria SB with Alembic electronics/pickups... Therefore I have few questions and really appreciate it if you could help answering them;
1) Does the Coco Bolo top on my Persuader makes it more valuable?
2) Does anyone know the exact dimensions of the Alembic AXY and FatBoy pickups, and would it fit on an Aria SB cavity without modifications (in cm if possible)?
3) Does anyone know the price of the AXY and Fat Boy pickups as well as the various electronic options?
4) Has anyone try any of the above work with Alembics pickups/electronic on an ARIA SB, and/or what are the options?
To clarify a bit, I am in the UK and Alembics are quite expensive and rare other here, you girls/guys don't realize how lucky you are to leave in the states for this reason alone;) So, I am refurbishing an old Aria SB, the 5 pieces thru neck and body is in great shape, the Brass bridge/nut and machine heads are fine too, I just need to re-profile/crown the frets a bit, but I need a new pickup for it, and would like to get as close to the Alembic sound as possible... Thanks for reading/helping in advance. LG
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1) Yes.
2) What are the exact dimensions of the Aria SB cavity?
3) Prices (http://www.alembic.com/prod/prices.html).
4) Not me; I've never played an Aria.
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Thanks for your help. The cavities are 10 cm/4 inches X 4 cm/1.5 inches X 2 cm deep, and the four corners are slightly rounded. I have one Aria with two pickups and one with one pickup only, so that gives me the choice, depending on the cost of 1 vs 2 Alembic pickups.
I saw this price list before, is there an other one with a bit more details and more pricing options? I did not see the Fat Boys pickup either, and are the AXY prices for one or two pickups?
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Here's a link to the pickup sizes (http://club.alembic.com/index.php?topic=2533) (sorry, you'll have to do the metric conversion).
I would be fairly confident that the activator sets which include a pan pot, most likely include two pickups (the first set listed looks like a single).
You would have to get exact pricing from Alembic, of course, especially as part of a package set with electronics, but about a year or two back the extra charge for a single FatBoy was roughly US$20-30 more than an AXY.
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Thanks, I had a look at the link. I will send them an email and find out a bit more then. Unless they reply to this thread.
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The cavity would have to be modified. The AXY is 4 1/8 by 1 3/4; and the corners have a good bit of rounding to them.
If you are familiar with that price list, then the next step would be to call Val and tell him what you need.
The AXY prices are for two pickups.
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Boy am I slow! Bob beat me my 20 minutes! Of course I actually got up out of the chair and walked downstairs to the kitchen to get a tape measure. Bob did it the easier, faster and more accurate way.
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Bob; I've added that chart to the FAQ section; thanks!
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Thanks again. I would have to do some routing then, and will probably go for a one pickup version for now, to keep the cost down. As for the various electronics options/configurations, I will have to find out. I have emailed Alembic already and ask for prices, I look forward to hear from them.
The reason I am considering fitting a Fat Boy pickup on my Aria, is because there are no real/original replacement in the UK for the Original SBs, and the only person who still makes/copy them, is charging quite a lot for it. So, I though I may as well try to get a Fat boy instead.
I am just wondering if the Fat Boy can be use with my Aria SB existing volume/tone pots and tap coil, or if i really need to get Alembic electronic to go with it. I couldn't see much info on that.
I read somewhere that Mica has a collection of second/aesthetically impaired pickups available, that would do me fine for now. You know the old proverb, beauty is always inside...
Who knows, they didn't pass the quality control for look, but they might bless in some other ways and might sound terrific
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I would be careful about believing that the cocobolo top on your Persuader makes it significantly more valuable. It is still a Persuader. It may be the difference between $1000 and $1200, but it's not going to make you rich. Even then, it will only make it more valuable to a subset of potential buyers. For the many buyers who are just looking for an entry-level Alembic, it will make no difference at all. You will have to choose between pricing for a sale to any buyer and hoping to catch a member of the limited audience that will pay extra for cocobolo.
You'll get the rest of your answers when Valentino or Mica respond to your email.
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I see, that is your opinion then...Thanks for your advice. I was trying to find out with the help of various Alembic experts on this forum, if I could either hope for some money back by trading it against the Epic, or more likely a straight swap or possibility to add extra cash on the top. As I am sure you can understand, I though this would be the best place to ask for advice, rather then arguing with the shop about things I don't know. So, make a note of all those valuable input I receive from you girls/guys.
The link to the shop in England that is selling the Epic:
http://www.thebassgallery.com/alembic.html (http://www.thebassgallery.com/alembic.html)
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previous message sent twice, but I only hit one - I don't know...
(Message edited by LG71 on March 15, 2006)
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Well, Dave, as you know, search is our friend :-) Though it was harder than I expected... AND'ed with AXY, measurement and dimension didn't get me to it, but size finally worked. I knew they were here somewhere.
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lq, com'ere and lemme tell ya a story.
I have an SB-900 I got a couple of years ago in a trade. When I got it, it didn't have the original pickups, and the replacements were sub-standard to my taste. I searched for replacements for a long time, and finally found some -- in JAPAN. The people who make Aria SB series basses now. The trick is -- the pickups they use now are 1/4 longer than the originals.. a slight route mod, 1/8 on each side. The new pickups are fantastic, and I have it wired up exactly to original specs, and except for a couple of chips in the finish right at the pickup line, you would never know the difference.
But the Alembic idea is good too.. I remember seeing an SB on Ebay that was reportedly owned by Rudy Sarzo, that had Alembic p/u's in it. Looked like plug-n-play from the photos, but photos lie!
--T
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I have been using search a lot, there are plenty of valuable info. But, there is always one specifics answer that is not always easy to found. I thank everyone who participated in answering my various questions.
--T, that is very interesting. I love Aria SBs a lot you know (second best after Alembics), to me they are like the poor man's Alembic. I have a 600 bolt neck and a 700 thru neck which I am fixing (Plus the beautiful red one I posted the picture), one with steel bridge and the other with brass bridge, both with brass nut and nice lockable machine heads. But one has had a replacement pickup which doesn't sound as good as the original and doesn't have provision for the tap coil switch...
Both are single pickup version, so I though I may as well look for something a bit more exotic than a copy/replacement and came up with this idea of considering fitting a Bad boy pickup...;)
Now that you are saying that the new replacement is bigger and needs more space, it kind of gives me even more excuses to fit a bad boy in there, if I have to do some routing, I may as well do it for a bad boy.
Saying that, I am open minded, and anything, if the other original SB pickup were to pass away, I would consider the option. So, how did this pick up cost then, and how do you get in touch with the relevant people? Thanks, LG
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whew, that was 3 years ago. Don't have the same email address, so no backups. Phoo.
Ok.. I remember trying to get the pickups from the American Distributor (ARIA USA). At that time they could not get parts like that. So I emailed the Japanese manufacturer (ariaguitars.com), they turned me to the Japanese Distributor. I think the pickups cost me at the time 140? They had a couple of options as far as shipping. Took them about week and a half to get here.
Yeah, I love my SB-900..mine was made in 1983, and the Paduak Red has aged to a beautiful red-brown. Feels like she weighs about twice that of my new Essence. I had the brass bridge re-laquered, and replaced the chrome keys with gold keys, and the E tuner with a hipshot extender key.
--T
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Ah, it's been a while then, well I am sure I will be able to trace them if I really need to. Thanks for clarifying that it is thru Japan.
The SB900 is nice as well, two pickups, passive, Brass bridge/nut, five pieces slim/narrow thru neck... I know a lot about the SBs, once I had the SBR150 which was the very top of the range with zebra wood and dual pickups active electronic + ebony finger board, and a wider neck, they do weight a ton some of those SBs...
How did you re-laquer the brass bridge, did you have it done or DIY? I am just cleaning mine in fact, and was thinking of protecting it. What are the gold keys you are using as well?
1983 is a good year for the SB900, my 600/700 are 1980s.
A couple of short files were I am having fun with the SB600:
http://www.topfloormix.com/bits/H&G.Intro1.mp3 (http://www.topfloormix.com/bits/H&G.Intro1.mp3)
http://www.topfloormix.com/bits/you2muchBass.mp3
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Rudy had activator replacement pickups in his basses at the time. Alembic had made replacement drop in P/U's for Rickenbackers, P and Jazz basses, soap bar mods that I think drop nicely into Musicmans. I suspect that Val has contacted you about this already, So FYI for any other basses in your future.
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Thanks for the info. No, I haven't heard from Alembic yet, I look forward to it.
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(http://club.alembic.com/Images/393/26348.jpg)
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Sarzo also had a Peavey model that seemed to be the four string brother to the TL-5 and TL-6 models. Those were great wood for the money, very much a poor man's Alembic.
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LOve those basses too!
From the moment I saw an ad Jack Bruce playing one.I would go for the SB 1000.
Paul TBO
PS: it IS nice to have dreams no?
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For re-laq'ng the bridge, I took it appart, and then took the plate and saddles over to the local brass shop, had them do it. Cost me like $20.00. Worth every penny. For the keys, just standard gold gotoh's, with a hipshot extender on the E.
I thought the Peavey Sarzo basses were beautiful, but I didn't like the Peavey electronics in it -- they always sounded so sterile. Personal opinion rears it's ugly head up once again!
The only other Aria I have is a 1980 Thor-sound TSB-650 Bass. Got it for $100 at a local store; the shopkeep didn't realize how much of a bargain that was for a neck-thru bass that just needed a little TLC. Medium scale that I'm in the middle of modding extensively to fretless. Even found an SB1000 pickup for it so I can upgrade her from passive to active!
I've already had it written into my will that I will buried with my SB in hand. My Alembic goes to my son.
--T
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oh, I just remembered.. when I got the pickups three years ago, the model that they were being made for at time was the SB-850.. I don't think the 850 was ever sold in America (and not even sure if they are still making it; didnt see it on the Aria Japan site anywhere). I remember looking at the specs; it was almost a 900, but they were using a hipshot style bridge instead of reproducing the Aria bridge that was used in the vintage 900/1000's. I remember it disappointing me.
--T
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I know this pictures, luckily there are still a couple of good sites for info:
http://myweb.tiscali.co.uk/fyfeholt/aria.htm (http://myweb.tiscali.co.uk/fyfeholt/aria.htm)
http://www.matsumoku.org/models/ariaproii/bass/sb/sb.html
I don't know the Peavey at all, but yes, back in the days, basses sounded like basses. These days there are basses that sound like flutes
Well me, it was by accident that I discovered the SBR150, got it from a pawn shop, traded against a mini-disc player at the time... the minute I played it, I understood that this thing was some serious kit, although not known to me at the time, but I was so impressed that I called Aria UK to find out a bit more, and I was lucky to speak to someone who knew everything about SBs as he worked for Aria very long time.
Well, I wish you long life for a start, but remember those basses are heavy I thank you for the tip on brass protection, I'll see how it goes over here.
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Geez these were nice axes. If you've never played a good one, do yourself a favor, right up there with the Daions as far as being overlooked from the 80s.
Of course they all bear the decal about being designed by one 'H. Noble'. Well actually they were designed by Hayashi-san (his real name) who moved on to found Atlansia, the Japanese company for his creations (www.atlansia.jp (http://www.atlansia.jp)). Some of them seem downright zany (the famous ONE string bass), but study his website and gaze at his own designed, fabricated, and installed hardware and electronics and woodwork, and this guy has a LOT going on in his mind. Too bad they are SO rare on this side of the Pacific (along with several other pieces . . .www.guitarsjapan.com (http://www.guitarsjapan.com) ).
J o e y
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Just 7 hours left for this one:
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=7398029840&rd=1&sspagename=STRK%3AMEWA%3APIC&rd=1 (http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=7398029840&rd=1&sspagename=STRK%3AMEWA%3APIC&rd=1)