Alembic Guitars Club
Alembic products => Alembic Basses & Guitars => Topic started by: mica on March 01, 2016, 08:55:19 AM
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It's March, that must mean it's Featured Custom time.
Hope you enjoy looking at and reading all about Ripple (http://alembic.com/info/fc_ripple.html).
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Posted for Alembic Club members first - updated on the Alembic website a little later today. Membership has its privileges.
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I love it.
Mica ,
Thanks for sharing this with us .
Wolf
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Wow!
The guitar in the Father/Daughter inlay seems familiar. And the headstock is amazing!
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Superb and a great story behind its features.
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Wow, beautiful guitar & extraordinary family heirloom.
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Did anyone else notice the acoustic guitar has pointy bottom and an alembic logo on it too. Nice touch.
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Bravo!
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Incredible!
Graeme
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And I thought the inlays on the previous FC Fantasy were intricate.
It now appears that those were just the warm-up exercises for this one...
Holy ****....!
Seriously, is there another group of artists anywhere on this planet who could A. envision this concept and B. execute it with such breathtaking precision?
And, by the way, I'm sure the MUSICAL INSTRUMENT that is the framework for all of those inlays plays and sounds as amazing as it looks.
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That inlaid logo is the most striking I've seen since Will Gunn's custom Essence! After some reflection, I think my favorite details are the unstrung harp inlay in the headstock, and the way the tailpiece mounted on an ebony(?) shim.
The whole thing is unimaginably clever. Just... amazing, really. Makes me think they might be bored by building my (purposefully) plain bass. =)
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This is an AMAZING piece in every respect. I know this has been a LONG time coming. Susan described some of this guitar to me years ago, when we were still designing mine!
Congratulations on this build - all good things in all good time.
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The inlaid logo is perhaps the nicest I have seen.
Number of instruments that will feature amazing inlays currently in production. If you dream it they can make it happen.
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I am completely speechless.
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Just looking at Ripple again. There is just so much going on... and Mica deserves a big shout-out for the amazing pictures of all the details.
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The harp is a little masterpiece. Frankly, it's like looking at a thousand-year-old bonsai tree or something. It makes you want to find words to express how you feel about its, but that's not what it's about. Quite the opposite. Words fail. It inspires stillness. Awe. (Hell, I just have to remember to mop the drool off my keyboard once in awhile.)
(http://alembic.com/club/messages/393/226288.jpg)
I looked closely at my guitar headstock to guesstimate the size of the harp inlay, and compared it to the Alembic emblem (say that quick three times). I came up with a rule of thumb:
Using your thumb and forefinger, pretend to hold a silver dollar. 'Bout that big.
Look how incredibly figured the slivers of wood are, and perfectly arrayed to infer 3D.
I'm going to digress for a moment to point something out that's so cool.
The photographer Ansel Adams created Zone System (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zone_System), which divides light into ten zones. I taught it at a camera store I worked at in college, which should give you an idea of how stupid-simple it is (I have take my shoes off for anything above 11, if that tells you anything).
I can show you the principle, in fact. After all, it was created decades before color film or light meters: hold your hand out at waist level with fingers spread, and look at its shadow. The degree of sharpness along the edges is what you want to look at. If they're razor sharp, that's a 10. Now close your eyes. That's zero. Now divide the difference into ten zones. Piece o' cake. It applies to every image you've ever seen in your whole life. Every painting, every photo.
There's some other stuff, but that's all we need for now.
The reason I mention it is because our eyes are drawn to lighter shades, and by placing light in the background and darker shades in the foreground, it creates a sense of distance between them (Ansel called that the event) as well as from the perspective of the viewer. Our hunter/gatherer-evolved eyes travel through the scene. You can't help it. (It also explains why dogs aren't impressed by photographs.)
(http://alembic.com/club/messages/393/226289.jpg)
Italian intarsia artists were particularly good at it:
(http://alembic.com/club/messages/393/226290.jpg)
Let's take a look at that baby again:
(http://alembic.com/club/messages/393/226291.jpg)
See how carefully they selected just the right shade of just the right figuring on just the right wood and angled the grain to suggest size, punctuated with those two skinny, tall triangular strips of maple(?) They chose just the right piece of abalone for the foot of the harp (I looked it up, that's what it's called) to make it look so solid, you could knock it over (a reality check technique popular in the 70s).
It's simply stunning. Any chance of the artist(s) taking a bow, to bask in the warmth of our adulation until sated, utterly?
Sorry about the visual aids, but like I said: words fail.
That hasn't stopped me from trying, though.
P.S.; the maestro on the body end of the neck is playing THE Alembic acoustic guitar. Nice touch. I'll bet they didn't drink any coffee that morning.
(Message edited by Ed_zeppelin on March 03, 2016)
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Here's more than you ever wanted to know about the harp inlay and the process we use. The harp is 1.28 x 3.0 inches. It's pretty small, but big enough to have a strong visual impact. The inlays are really a collaboration between my mom, the customer, myself, and the actual inlay artist. We have four people here that do the inlays: Bob, James, Kris, and Jack. On this guitar, Kris did the harp and the medallion, and Jack did the fingerboard inlays and the back of the peghead. I forget who did the logo! The process we follow these days is helping us to create some truly amazing inlays. Thanks for the kind words on the photography, Steve, but you really have to see this stuff in person to appreciate it. They are even better that they look here. What starts as a conversation is then sketched by my mom. I try to get her to keep it gestural and free flowing - but she will always sneak details in there. I just want her initial thoughts preserved, as that is the drawing that typically guides each of us. I scan that drawing then use Illustrator to make vector-based artwork of the design. This is tedious, and I don't use any automation - all pen tool! We can then make modifications to the design pretty easy, and go back to an earlier version if we go down the wrong path. If we are doing a fingerboard inlay, we place it on a fingerboard in Illustrator and see where the frets hit and the strings to try and make sure important details are not lost. Once we are happy with the line art, then I can make a mock-up in Photoshop. I draw from my collection of images to clone the materials in their positions. This step helps us avoid some real disasters - even if you are really good at visualizing, it's nice to see the same thing as someone else and keep the collaboration going.
(http://club.alembic.com/Images/393/226316.jpg)
Then we make a material key - usually it's just a quick sketch like this:
(http://club.alembic.com/Images/393/226317.jpg)
because it's hard to see in the mock up some of the small details. Then the cut sheet is printed on architectural self adhesive film. This material lets us select the shell or wood quite easily. The lines are the same width as the kerf of the blade, so once Kris starts cutting, the pieces should really fit together quite well as he follows the pattern. The sheet is on the left side in this picture:
(http://club.alembic.com/Images/393/226318.jpg)
Kris is also getting started with the Flame Maple soundboards. Actually, we had discussed having it bookmatched, but Kris went one step further and angled the bookmatch to suggest the 3D projection. This is where the material selection gets really important. Usually Susan and the inlay artist work together on the materials. We also are willing to cut something away if the idea didn't really work out (nothing on this inlay needed the redux). Here's the little carefully selected splinters drying:
(http://club.alembic.com/Images/393/226319.jpg)
And even more pieces coming together:
(http://club.alembic.com/Images/393/226320.jpg)
The white mother of pearl was chosen for the convex shape the figuring suggested. And here's the inlay ready to sink:
(http://club.alembic.com/Images/393/226321.jpg)
We stash TONS of wood for future inlays. Anything with the "frog's hair" size fiddle back figure, or any other small scale interesting figure. Burls yield lots of interesting things. For the shell we sift through loads of blanks and keep all the scraps. Knee caps on skeletons look better when a little dome of dimple figure helps suggest the form. The only shading in inlays is the juxtaposition of materials. What I think makes the work we are doing now especially nice is the input from each person involved. We get great ideas from our customers, the inlay artists here, and sometimes I even have a suggestion. It's all orchestrated by my mom, and her artistic point of view is really transferred from an idea to a real thing. I just love how it's working!
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Really amazing work of art. Not quite sure what one does with an instrument like this. Do you play it? And, if so, at home only or do you dare take it out? I'd be scared shitless to pick it up.
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Thanks for the write up Mica. it really shows how much work goes into even the smallest aspects of our instruments and I, for one, really appreciate you taking the time to pass this on to us.
Graeme
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Excellent work!
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It's nice to see the pieces and how they come together.
Keith
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(Looking down, eyes closed, shaking head gently from side to side...) You guys are amazing.
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Expanding a bit on what I wrote above:
IF (that's a big if) there is another group of artists anywhere on this planet who could A. envision this concept and B. execute it with such breathtaking precision - would they please step forward and identify themselves?
IMO, we should all feel very fortunate to have the opportunity to collaborate with such rare talent.
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Mica, thank you for the magnanimity of your gift to us.
It took me a week to find the right word:
quote:MAGNANIMITY, n. [L. magnanimitas; magnus, great, and animus, mind.]
Greatness of mind; that elevation or dignity of soul, which encounters danger and trouble with tranquility and firmness, which raises the possessor above revenge, and makes them delight in acts of benevolence, which makes them disdain injustice and meanness, and prompts them to sacrifice personal ease, interest and safety for the accomplishment of useful and noble objects. - Noah Webster
I have to tell you about what it felt like to read your post for the first (of many) times. I know it may seem weird, but it's from the heart.
I was living in the smog pit of Sudden California in the late 70s when I heard that a ski resort in Big Bear was hiring. By that weekend I was working there. I had never been on skis in my life. One day I met an Austrian who ran the ski patrol and when I told him I couldn't ski, he offered to teach me. That day. He took me to the bunny slope and showed me how to snowplow and all the basics - even how to fall.
Before I even had time to think about it, we were on the big lift going to the top of the mountain. I was beside myself in pure, chattering terror. I swear, I don't think I've ever been more scared in my life (outside a dentist's chair). I protested. I begged. I spewed a litany of excuses and swore we could do it another day, to no avail. He just smiled.
When we got to the top, he just said; follow right behind me, and do what I do. And off we went. I was convinced I was going to die.
This is why I kept thinking of that experience when I read the details in your magnanimous gift to us: somewhere up there on that mountain, I got it. I stopped being afraid and felt my soul take flight.
At one particular point that will always stand out in my memory like a steeple on a flat plain, I let go. I stopped staring at his skis. I looked up and saw the whole snow-covered glory spread out below us. The fear evaporated and was replaced with pure joy. Elation. I changed up there on that mountain, somewhere. It wasn't until much later that I realized I hadn't merely stopped being afraid, I threw it away as hard as I could.
That memory is like an old, comfortable robe to me. Every once in a great while, that same feeling of utter exhilaration and joy comes along and I embrace it, like I embraced that heartless Teutonic bastard who tried to kill me, when we got to the bottom of that mountain.
Later I ran across that word magnanimous and realized that it perfectly described the kindness and generosity of spirit with which he shared his mastery. He didn't have to. He just did it because I wanted to know, and he knew I wouldn't understand until he hauled my Dumas up that mountain and taught me to fly.
And now you have, too.
quote:Greatness of mind; that elevation or dignity of soul, which encounters danger and trouble with tranquility and firmness, which raises the possessor above revenge and makes them delight in acts of benevolence, which makes them disdain injustice and meanness, and prompts them to sacrifice personal ease, interest and safety for the accomplishment of useful and noble objects.