Alembic Guitars Club
Alembic products => Dreaming... for now => Topic started by: slawie on November 24, 2014, 04:04:11 PM
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OK, this is my target. It did actually come to me in a dream.
5 String
Fretless
Essence body style
Signature electronics
Side entry jack
Side LED's in green and yellow at 12th & 24th position.
Ebony fretboard
Front and back bookmatched superb walnut laminates
Ebony stringers in the neck recipe instead of walnut slightly wider at the D and E line of sight
Continuous wood back plates and truss rod cover.
Walnut Stained Maple body core.
Ebony laminate front and back of body
Body contour
Europa style peg head with contour edge
Embedded sterling silver logo with dark greenish coloured Abalone inlays.
Black nickel plate hardware.
Bird tail piece
Upsized bridge block
Ebony bridge saddles and ebony nut.
Recessed strap locks
Green abalone or ancient Redgum inlay Kasiana at 25 position
slawie
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This sounds very cool!
What do you mean by slightly wider at the D and E line of sight?
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Dave,
The neck laminates are say 0.5mm thick
Where the (normally walnut) laminates run under the D and E strings on a 5 string
I would like ebony laminates at 5mm thick.
slawie
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Ah!
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Great dream!
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So I am making my dream bass into a reality.
I have started to build my own neck-through 5 string fretless.
I am currently getting Signature Electronics package for her.
So far I have 13 piece neck Maple-purpleheart-cherry-maple-walnut-cherry-walnut-cherry-walnut-maple-cherry-purpleheart-maple.
Body is Mahogany with Gidgee front and back laminates with a black laminate of 0.6mm between the M and G
still so much more to go.
slawie
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Here are some pics.
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That looks amazing. Congrats, and I look forward to seeing it come to life!!
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Thanks Dan,
I'm hoping I can build something worthy of the Signature electronics.
The wood, Ringed Gidgee or Acacia Cambegai is one of the top 3 hardest woods on the planet add to that
they are found in semi arid regions of Australia they are also embedded with silica from sand storms.
Tools get chewed up at a fairly rapid rate but it is well worth the extra sharpening rate for the beauty
of the grain and ripple effect in some light it looks 3D.
So a couple of things have varied from my original dream
i.e. No ebony in the neck.
Mahogany not walnut body (lighter in weight)
No side LEDs found stuff called "Luminlay" phosphorescent flourescent luminescent (I don't know take your pick) markers.
Anyhow some more pics below
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Here are more pics
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Holy Smokes, it's coming to life, already!! (I'm putting on my seatbelt, as we speak!)
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And now a picture of the progress.
Don’t be fooled the body is yet to be attached to the neck through.
Just conveniently placed for the photo.
I have a number of hours to rasp, file and sand before gluing the body wings.
I’ve only ordered the Alembic parts.
1 x AXY
1 x Fatboy
1 x Bird Tailpiece
Bridge block
Adjustable nut.
Once the brass parts arrive it’s off to the players for black nickel plating
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*Platers not players
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Enjoying your build thread, Slawie. :)
Kinda' missing my shop already.
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Thanks Greg.
After doing this for a couple of months and working towards
kitting up my own shop I can appreciate your sentiment.
I hope you get better.
slawie
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Shaping the neck.
Headstock kind of complete
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Looking good! And a lot of focused attention.
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Your woodworking skills are admirable. Mine are dreadful.... !!
I'm quite surprised alembic sell the brass hardware and signature electronics for use on non alembic instruments. But if they do it's worth knowing for when I decide to have a go at making another guitar.
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Thanks guys.
I am really trying to be focused during every step of the build,
one error could spell disaster!
I don’t have the luxury of starting again or scrapping the material and a rebuild.
I’m working with a highly restrictive budget i.e. unemployed and broke. Ha.
Alembic have all bits for sale except Series I & II packages.
I have spoken to Mica a number of times for this build and she is encouraging, helpful and
It was her idea to post here to share the progress. Highly civilised of them.
I am buying what I can and will have to wait (for $) before I can install the electronics package.
I dreamed about this bass although it is slightly different to suit reality and accessibility to real parts.
I make no apologies for my build looking like an Alembic. If I was building a violin I would model
it on a Stradivarius. Same for bass and Alembic.
This exercise makes me appreciate all the work, talent and skill that goes into Alembic instruments and offers
me the opportunity and insight to experience of being the creator of my custom bass.
slawie
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You're doing just fine Slawie. Don't worry too much about the mistakes... you'll make them, as we all do - it's what you do after making them that counts. My mentor used to tell me- "wood is forgiving", and that really is a true statement. It's often very hard to put it back once you've taken it out, but it can be done.
Hardest thing for me to learn was when to lay the tools down and walk away for a while to think.
Shaping the necks for my Dad's banjos used to be among my favorite parts of the build! Making sawdust! ;D
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Hey there!
Time for a few more pictures.
I’ve slowed down progress to make sure I don’t mess up the neck profile.
I also did not want a headstock back laminate so that the full length of the
through neck was exposed.
I carved a volute hoping that it gives some strength to the neck
at the nut. I hope my thinking is correct here. Anyhow no major abominations
with the carve so I am happy.
Not quite yet convinced of the headstock shape just yet so that looks set to change
a fraction. The 3+2 configuration was a nice expected bonus with the bass fitting into
A standard Fender case. I have one of those I’m not using. ;)
slawie
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I'm speechless! Gorgeous!
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Looks beautiful! I have to admit to being extremely jealous of the woodworking and luthier skills you and a number of other board members possess. When I'm working with wood my first and foremost goal is to avoid losing/damaging any body parts.
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Looking sharp, Slawie. 8)
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Very nice!
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Thank you for the compliments.
Below are some pictures of the bridge I’ve carved
from a slab of Gidgee.
Being fretless, I think the intonation will take care of itself so
a bar bridge I think would be just fine.
Both sides dry and then wet to show grain.
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Will the bridge float on the top of the bass, held down by string tension?
I can tell you from personal experience that with fretless, the intonation does not take care of itself. It's pretty crucial to have the intonation just exactly perfect. Otherwise you can end up chasing yourself needlessly, especially if you end up playing in a noisy environment. As you probably know, intonation on a fretless is an exercise in constant vigilance and it's best not to create any addition obstacles.
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Under the bridge I have 2 channels that lets the unit swivel and move backwards and forwards.
I am getting a bridge block from Alembic and the two bridge mounting screws will be pins that allows
small movement. Works in progress.
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Yes Edwin I agree with your intonation statement.
I will be able to rough in the intonation for the 12th position and open
string. I have a bar bridge on my 4 string fretless and have not had issues
through string changes etc. to be able to hit the right note up and down the fingerboard.
I’m kind of going with a acoustic bass bridge type idea.
The shape I created is supposed to be “trumpet like” to amplify the vibrations down to the body/neck mass from the contact point of the bridge. I’m also thinking about inserting a fret on the top of the bridge.
I think I will build several and experiment.
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Can't wait to see and hear the results! Great work!
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The shape of the bridge with the smoothed radii’s is delicious!
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Ready for routing. Installing the AXY and the Fatboy, the bridge block and Bird tailpiece.
Thanks for the positive comments folks.
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Front routing done.
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Loading up some hardware and placing the knobs. I’m trying to make the back rout as small as possible so I will be making some internal electronic relocating. I quite fancy the three In-line knobs
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Looking good, Slawie... really starting to take shape now. :)
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Exemplary ! Congratulations on the stellar results of this project .
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Thank you gentlemen
Routing the back tomorrow and fitting the electronics
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Finished
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Wow,
You have done well...kudos!!
Does it sound and play like you expected?
I'd be OK with more pics, ;)
cheers
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Very nice, great work! :)
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Looks great Slawie - Very nice work! :)
*font size corrected. [sigh]
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VERY nice! (Congrats)
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Let's hear how it sounds! Can you provide some audio clips?
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Exemplary indeed !
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Thanks folks,
It has Rogue/Europa electronics so it does “sound” like an Alembic (how could it not?)
I have just finished it yesterday and I am doing it’s first setup.
Yes The two, dual action truss rods can give forward and backward adjustment bends solidly and I’ve not
tweaked it much at all.
Getting the electronics just right was more difficult setting the gain and pickups height.
I will record some audio and vision (pictures) as soon as I can.
I have to say that Mary has been so helpful courteous and concerned
about getting all the parts to me that I cannot begin to say how thankful
I am for her being a part of this all.
Thanks Mary and also Mica for all the preliminary work she had done.
I can’t remember who polished the brass hardware but Thanks mate!
Slawie
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Nicely done; congrats!
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Outstanding!!