Alembic Guitars Club

Alembic products => Factory to Customer => Topic started by: mica on December 08, 2004, 07:49:44 PM

Title: Dave's Short Scale Buckeye Burl
Post by: mica on December 08, 2004, 07:49:44 PM: Here's the back with the plates cut out for the continuous wood backplates:

(http://club.alembic.com/Images/631/14964.jpg)

I don't usually get to catch a shot at this phase.
Title: Re: Dave's Short Scale Buckeye Burl
Post by: bassman10096 on December 09, 2004, 05:35:11 AM: It's been a while since we've watched a buckeye burl bass get built. I'm very partial to the blue/grey w/cream color combination here. My (very, very loose) association, looking at the wood is that it's marble, or that it's something edible - maybe an exotic new ice cream flavor?

(What's that, doctor? My therapy session is over and the orderlies have come to put me back in my straightjacket? Oh well...)
Title: Re: Dave's Short Scale Buckeye Burl
Post by: eastcoastepic on December 09, 2004, 12:08:27 PM: I've had that response to my bass also, Bill. Boy, that bass must be heavy...is that granite or marble?

I can only imagine what a guitar of granite would weigh! :o

Congrats, Dave...welcome to the wonderful world of Buckeye Burl. Very nice selection of wood; good coloring and pattern there. Best of luck, and may patience be with you....
Chris
Title: Re: Dave's Short Scale Buckeye Burl
Post by: dmldds on December 15, 2004, 05:55:46 AM: Cool-this Looks great. ANY more Pics?
Title: Re: Dave's Short Scale Buckeye Burl
Post by: mica on December 15, 2004, 06:37:07 PM: There will be pics all along the way, I collect them even if I don't get a chance to pos the right away. Here's some others of your body:
(http://club.alembic.com/Images/631/15113.jpg)

(http://club.alembic.com/Images/631/15114.jpg)
It's gonna be a beaut.
Title: Re: Dave's Short Scale Buckeye Burl
Post by: dmldds on December 16, 2004, 12:37:16 PM: Mica,

Too cool. It looks awesome! Tell me, is this the current stage of construction? Any idea on ETA?

thanks,

DML
Title: Re: Dave's Short Scale Buckeye Burl
Post by: pace on December 17, 2004, 04:47:24 PM: Dave, beautiful BB! Is this a standard SC shape or are the horns more round?!? It almost looks like a Gibson 335 or EB-2
Title: Re: Dave's Short Scale Buckeye Burl
Post by: dmldds on December 18, 2004, 07:07:08 PM: Hey Pace,

Thanks. I've become quite an aficionado of buckeye burl. It's beautiful wood. The bass is a custom SC.

Cheers!

DML
Title: Re: Dave's Short Scale Buckeye Burl
Post by: jeff on December 22, 2004, 05:40:30 AM: Buckeye burl has really grown on me the past couple of years. Another club member remarked that when he played his buckeye burl bass, people remarked that the bass must be darn heavy with all of that marble on it! It actually looks more like granite, which is fabulous. Buckeye burl is a beautiful mix of swirly wood grain and a variety of colors. Dave, your bass has all of these features in spades. She's gonna be a real beauty.

Don't know if Ed Roman (I know, I said the ER word; sorry) still has that stunning Series I buckeye burl bass, but I'm still tempted to make an offer.
Title: Re: Dave's Short Scale Buckeye Burl
Post by: dmldds on December 22, 2004, 08:35:33 AM: Jeff,

Hey, thanks for the post.

This will be my second buckeye burl - I had Spector make an NS 5 for me in BB (BB laminate over walnut back) and it's beautiful both visually and aurically. I did (unfortunately) purchase it thru Ed Roman, and I do believe that series 1 is still there. I say (unfortunately) because they're a crusty bunch at Roman, and I'd be hard pressed to deal with them again. I'm so glad Alembic will work without the bother of a middle-man (or person).

Anyhow, I am anxious to get the guitar and thanks for your words of support.
Title: Re: Dave's Short Scale Buckeye Burl
Post by: jlpicard on December 22, 2004, 01:11:22 PM: Jeff, I was at Ed Romans in late Oct. and it was still there. They grudgingly let me play it for a few minutes. great bass! most impressive in person
If it were left handed it would be mine!
Title: Re: Dave's Short Scale Buckeye Burl
Post by: dmldds on December 22, 2004, 04:14:09 PM: Oh yes.........
Title: Re: Dave's Short Scale Buckeye Burl
Post by: dmldds on December 22, 2004, 04:20:52 PM: The only thing that Series I has going for it, given it's in the hands of ER, is that you have Alembic and Thor backing it up. Those guys at ER are a bunch of neolithic clods (sorry for the expletive).

To which ER would reply What's in your wallet??

Beautiful bass. I think Susan mentioned to me at one point it is a bit heavy though.

Regards,

DML
Title: Re: Dave's Short Scale Buckeye Burl
Post by: bigbadbill on December 24, 2004, 09:18:13 AM: ER's Triple O is probably the most beautiful bass I've ever seen in the flesh(wood?), although personally I'd prefer a knobby headstock. If I could have any bass (non player-associated), that would be it. BTW, just out of interest, is it possible to change a crown h/stock into a knobby after the event? Not that it's likely that I'll ever be able to get that Triple O, but I have seen a Rogue with a crown that set me thinking...BTW, back on thread, those are fantastic woods Dave!
Title: Re: Dave's Short Scale Buckeye Burl
Post by: mica on January 13, 2005, 05:18:41 PM: These are from the last week of December:
(http://club.alembic.com/Images/631/15845.jpg)

(http://club.alembic.com/Images/631/15846.jpg)

(http://club.alembic.com/Images/631/15847.jpg)
I know your bass is in the finish department, and I'll add some more pics soon so you can see how nice the grain and color pops with the paint.
Title: Re: Dave's Short Scale Buckeye Burl
Post by: hollis on January 13, 2005, 05:39:07 PM: Sweet!
Title: Re: Dave's Short Scale Buckeye Burl
Post by: flaxattack on January 13, 2005, 07:25:46 PM: looks like marble... neeeet
Title: Re: Dave's Short Scale Buckeye Burl
Post by: bsee on January 13, 2005, 07:49:06 PM: Fabulous top - I love the blue stuff!
Title: Re: Dave's Short Scale Buckeye Burl
Post by: the_mule on January 14, 2005, 05:44:31 AM: This will be a stunning looker, and I've no doubt that it will sound great too. I love the picture of the rough neck 'joint' (wrong term with a neck thru bass, I know). Makes you realise what it all began with: back to the roots! (well, at least to the tree)

Wilfred
Title: Re: Dave's Short Scale Buckeye Burl
Post by: dmldds on January 15, 2005, 08:19:19 PM: Mica,

Awwwwwwwwww...she's a beaut...and then some...great work folks!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Thanks to hollis, flaxattack, bsee, and Wilfred for the kudos...

David Lambert
Title: Re: Dave's Short Scale Buckeye Burl
Post by: dmldds on January 16, 2005, 12:02:42 PM: Now folks here's a stretch...

...there's buckeye burl...and then there's buckeye burl. My Spector NS 5 is buckeye burl - and it looks nothing like this SC short scale.

I'm a doc and the thought occured to me...the wood looks like some pathology I've seen on slides...it looks almost exactly like polymorphous low grade adenocarcinoma of the salivary glands.

I should post a pic...
Title: Re: Dave's Short Scale Buckeye Burl
Post by: marcm on January 16, 2005, 03:26:38 PM: david

as beautiful as that buckeye burl is as the top- and back wood for your new bass, i imagine that it might be rather terrifying to be shown an image of a tissue specimen from one's own body that bore a close, if incidental, resemblance to it (imagine the late gilda radner, as the character emily latella (?) from the original saturday night live, saying did THAT come out of me?)

perhaps not so incidental. aren't burls essentially benign tumors?

in any event, that's off-topic. you've chosen amazing wood for your top and back, and it is perfectly complimented by the purpleheart neck- and accent lams

it's a knockout. congratulations!

marc
Title: Re: Dave's Short Scale Buckeye Burl
Post by: dmldds on January 16, 2005, 05:51:06 PM: (g)...

Thanks. I'm in love with it too...
Title: Re: Dave's Short Scale Buckeye Burl
Post by: hydrargyrum on January 17, 2005, 11:02:37 AM: Hmm,

Histology of woods. I can't wait to see those necrotic lesions all shined up.

Something just sounds wrong about that . . . beautiful bass though.
Title: Re: Dave's Short Scale Buckeye Burl
Post by: jeff on January 18, 2005, 06:25:51 AM: When the finish hits this baby, she's gonna be a real looker. David, you must be one proud papa to be.
Title: Re: Dave's Short Scale Buckeye Burl
Post by: dmldds on January 18, 2005, 12:56:56 PM: Mica,

Too cool. It looks awesome! Tell me, is this the current stage of construction? Any idea on ETA?

thanks,

DML
Title: Re: Dave's Short Scale Buckeye Burl
Post by: mica on January 18, 2005, 01:17:41 PM: As of last week, your bass was in the finish department. I keep missing Bob for a pre-prep picture, but here's one from yesterday with most of the top sanded:

(http://club.alembic.com/Images/631/15936.jpg)

Hope to get one before prepping so you can see the wood better, but there's a peek along the edge. It's looking great.

Very hard to estimate the finish time on burl woods. Even though this looks mostly done, it's still sucking up the paint. I will guess that this bass will be with Bob in finish for 7-10 days more. After curing, rubout, buffing and setup, that should put it sqarely at 1 month.
Title: Re: Dave's Short Scale Buckeye Burl
Post by: dmldds on January 18, 2005, 08:22:54 PM: Wow, Mica..............outstanding!!

She's a looker, no doubt! I know she'll sound awesome too.

I'm wondering if the light in the shop is playing tricks on me or what. It seems to have a greenish hue to it.

I'm so impressed. Already at this preliminary point, aesthetically it goes well beyond my expectation. Thanks for uploading the photo. And thanks for the update on the ETA.

Give my regards to everybody.

DML
Title: Re: Dave's Short Scale Buckeye Burl
Post by: dmldds on January 18, 2005, 08:28:46 PM: ........damn......now I'm going to want another one....

DML
Title: Re: Dave's Short Scale Buckeye Burl
Post by: 1stbass on January 20, 2005, 04:57:37 AM: David,
WOW, That is a beautiful SC. Ya that's the problem. These things are like potato chips, you can't have just one.
BOL.

Doug
Title: Re: Dave's Short Scale Buckeye Burl
Post by: dgcarbu on January 20, 2005, 07:08:06 AM: Dave,

Good lord man, this thread has a lot of us salivating...please don't disect our tongues...ha ha.

Your bass is coming along nicely, I can only imagine how nice it is going to sound.

p.s.
Where are you from?

Peace,
Darrell
Title: Re: Dave's Short Scale Buckeye Burl
Post by: serialnumber12 on January 20, 2005, 07:31:28 AM: Surely a featured custom!!!
Title: Re: Dave's Short Scale Buckeye Burl
Post by: lbpesq on January 20, 2005, 07:42:07 AM: Dave:

Very cool! But a hell of an expensive potato chip, I'll bet! LOL

Bill, tgo
Title: Re: Dave's Short Scale Buckeye Burl
Post by: dmldds on January 20, 2005, 11:13:21 AM: I'm in the great tar heel state of North Carolina, USA!!

Actually, this is not the first they've done. If you go to the Alembic Store, towards the end of the page there's a custom SC in BB too...it will be very similar to that one...

DML
Title: Re: Dave's Short Scale Buckeye Burl
Post by: mica on January 24, 2005, 02:28:28 PM: It's a pretty typical color of slightly greenish blue stain. I don't bother with color correction on the FTC threads, a girl's gotta sleep sometime

Here's a couple of new shots:

Logo inlaid, and ready to go back to finish for the last few coats.

As nice as it looks, standard disclaimer of it always looks even nicer in person.
Title: Re: Dave's Short Scale Buckeye Burl
Post by: dmldds on January 24, 2005, 04:44:43 PM: Hey Mica,

Thanks for keeping the pictures coming.

She's a beaut...
Title: Re: Dave's Short Scale Buckeye Burl
Post by: foth on January 25, 2005, 01:51:21 PM: The abundance of red in this buckeye burl is brought out nicely by the pinstripe color...extraordinary! It looks like lots of galaxies floating amongst interstellar gas clouds. A space bass, yes yes yes...
Dave, how 'bout playing the opening line to Dark Star when you first get this, you know, to see if it works? ;-)
Title: Re: Dave's Short Scale Buckeye Burl
Post by: foth on January 25, 2005, 01:53:43 PM: The abundance of red in this buckeye burl is brought out nicely by the pinstripe color...extraordinary! It looks like lots of galaxies floating amongst interstellar gas clouds. A space bass, yes yes yes...
Dave, how 'bout playing the opening line to Dark Star when you first get this, you know, to see if it works? ;-)
Title: Re: Dave's Short Scale Buckeye Burl
Post by: dmldds on January 25, 2005, 04:32:30 PM: Foth,

Checked out the Orion Nebula lately??

I'll have to look at the score, but yes...I'll do it and upload the mpeg or wav.

DML
Title: Re: Dave's Short Scale Buckeye Burl
Post by: dmldds on January 25, 2005, 04:37:43 PM: Foth,

Dark Star by which artist????
Title: Re: Dave's Short Scale Buckeye Burl
Post by: lbpesq on January 25, 2005, 05:38:20 PM: David:

Dark Star by which artist????

I guess since you're fairly new around here, you may not have noticed that this site is inhabited by a healthy contingent of Deadheads and that the history of Alembic is substantially entwined with that of the Grateful Dead. If you are not familiar with Dark Star, may I recommend my favorite version which is found on Live Dead which, IMHO, is the recording that most closely recreates the live experience.

Bill, tgo
Title: Re: Dave's Short Scale Buckeye Burl
Post by: dmldds on January 25, 2005, 08:33:04 PM: Bill,

That's what I thought, but I thought I would ask!

DML
Title: Re: Dave's Short Scale Buckeye Burl
Post by: marcm on January 26, 2005, 06:25:58 AM: hi david

the 'live dead' version of dark star is of course a revered classic in the deadhead community. but this is, after all, the alembic club, so i have an alternate suggestion. imho the commercially-released version of dark star that offers the most quintessentially alembic sound is on the 'closing of winterland' cd. the filters on phil lesh's bass were set especially nicely for that performance

marc
Title: Re: Dave's Short Scale Buckeye Burl
Post by: hydrargyrum on January 26, 2005, 06:48:22 AM: Looks like peacock feathers in the burl to me. Very pretty.
Title: Re: Dave's Short Scale Buckeye Burl
Post by: foth on January 26, 2005, 01:45:21 PM: Hmmm...you're right Dave, a striking resemblance to the Orion Nebula. http://hubblesite.org/newscenter/newsdesk/archive/releases/1995/45/ (http://hubblesite.org/newscenter/newsdesk/archive/releases/1995/45/)
Title: Re: Dave's Short Scale Buckeye Burl
Post by: David Houck on January 26, 2005, 02:10:53 PM: Nice pic of the Orion Nebula.
Title: Re: Dave's Short Scale Buckeye Burl
Post by: dmldds on January 26, 2005, 04:27:51 PM: Very nice pic...
Title: Re: Dave's Short Scale Buckeye Burl
Post by: mica on February 04, 2005, 09:24:45 PM: James added the rays before your bass went back to spray, my last picture caught it before this impressive bit of work:

(http://club.alembic.com/Images/631/16339.jpg)

He selected some great pieces of shell, I love the ones that have ripples almost perpendicular to the rays - so cool.
Title: Re: Dave's Short Scale Buckeye Burl
Post by: the_mule on February 05, 2005, 12:22:05 AM: Wow, must be the most beautiful headstock I've ever seen!
The grain and that fabulous logo! Dave, you're a lucky man!

Wilfred
Title: Re: Dave's Short Scale Buckeye Burl
Post by: David Houck on February 05, 2005, 04:43:17 PM: Wow is right! This is an amazing bass.
Title: Re: Dave's Short Scale Buckeye Burl
Post by: dmldds on February 06, 2005, 06:11:45 PM: Thanks guys. I never thought this would turn out as well as it did.

Kudos to Susan on design.
Title: Re: Dave's Short Scale Buckeye Burl
Post by: dmldds on February 16, 2005, 09:14:05 AM: FWIW, Susan contacted me yesterday to say the guitar is ready to ship...and they'll forgo posting any futher pictures until I have a chance to lay eyes on the final.

Will keep you posted and upload that rendition of Dark Star.

DML
Title: Re: Dave's Short Scale Buckeye Burl
Post by: jeff on April 01, 2005, 06:53:40 AM: Congratulations David on being the owner of the incredible bass that is the April, 2005 Featured Custom. Your choice of body laminates, nickle plated hardware and blue LED's conspire to make a synergistic whole that is worthy of such an honor. Enjoy!
Title: Re: Dave's Short Scale Buckeye Burl
Post by: David Houck on April 01, 2005, 07:33:00 AM: Yes, congrats! Great pics in the feature.
Title: Re: Dave's Short Scale Buckeye Burl
Post by: palembic on April 01, 2005, 09:45:26 AM: Hurrah!
GReat bass Dave !

PTBO

Hum ...can anybody set that counter back to zero? 1973 ...JEEEEZ ...I want to be a freshman again. I am feeling up at 2000.
Title: Re: Dave's Short Scale Buckeye Burl
Post by: pace on April 02, 2005, 03:24:36 AM: I hope that twilight brings you years and years of enjoyment to all your sensory inputs...

(well~ sound, sight, & feel, at the very least!!!)
Title: Re: Dave's Short Scale Buckeye Burl
Post by: eastcoastepic on April 02, 2005, 10:32:03 AM: Congrats, Dave! She is quite lovely! I especially love the back wood coloring, it's a real nice contrast to the very dark top wood. And I agree - superb color/grain on your headstock, one of the best I've seen. Good luck!

P.S. Brother Paul TBO - no worries, mate; Alembicians (like their Alembics) only get better with age. May you continue to enjoy good health and happiness at post #2000.....
Title: Re: Dave's Short Scale Buckeye Burl
Post by: dmldds on April 06, 2005, 11:49:49 AM: Hey folks,

Thanks for the kind words on the bass. She is even more beautiful up front in person than she appears to be in picture. And most importantly, she is equally beautiful to hear. So yes, a total sensory experience and delight!

Cheers,

DML
Title: Re: Dave's Short Scale Buckeye Burl
Post by: dmldds on April 06, 2005, 11:53:22 AM: Oh, one last thing...be on the lookout for Ms. Susan. She is a crafty one. She soooooooooo set me up on this one...led me to believe *maybe someday* Twilight would be a featured...lo and behold...it was the featured the month following delivery.

Very, very crafty...but fun!

Cheers,

DML