Alembic Guitars Club

Alembic products => Showcase => Essence Basses => Topic started by: David Houck on January 11, 2005, 02:27:34 PM

Title: 1997 Essence 6
Post by: David Houck on January 11, 2005, 02:27:34 PM

(http://club.alembic.com/Images/411/15798.jpg)
 
(http://club.alembic.com/Images/411/15799.jpg)
 
(http://club.alembic.com/Images/411/15800.jpg)
 
(http://club.alembic.com/Images/411/15801.jpg)
 
(http://club.alembic.com/Images/411/15802.jpg)
 

Title: 1997 Essence 6
Post by: hollis on January 11, 2005, 02:37:28 PM

I love the top's grain patterns.  Very sweet Dave.

Title: 1997 Essence 6
Post by: David Houck on January 11, 2005, 02:39:20 PM

Thanks! I like it too!!

Title: 1997 Essence 6
Post by: bracheen on January 11, 2005, 02:40:00 PM

Dave,
That is awesome! It's a '97? Except for the nice patina on the bridge it looks about 5 minutes old. What is that amazing top wood? Is it some type of walnut? The long top horn is also great.
 
Sam

Title: 1997 Essence 6
Post by: David Houck on January 11, 2005, 02:45:52 PM

Yes, it's Flame Walnut.

Title: 1997 Essence 6
Post by: rami on January 11, 2005, 03:45:31 PM

That's a real beauty.  I noticed it's extra long upper horn, almost like a Rogue.  Must have great balance.
 
Congrats Dave

Title: 1997 Essence 6
Post by: David Houck on January 11, 2005, 04:28:26 PM

Thanks Rami; yes it balances well for a six string.  And I think with the horn the overall shape of the body works well.

Title: 1997 Essence 6
Post by: palembic on January 11, 2005, 11:15:58 PM

Nice, the woods are beautiful ...very! Is it your place?
 
Paul the bad one
 
yeah-yeah ...of course I like the bass too ...though ...wel you know ...me and the pointed headstock ...na-ah.

Title: 1997 Essence 6
Post by: 1stbass on January 12, 2005, 04:18:25 AM

Dave,  
That is a beautiful bass. The walnut is super.
Best of luck.
Doug

Title: 1997 Essence 6
Post by: David Houck on January 12, 2005, 06:29:42 AM

Thanks Doug.
 
Paul; yes, that's my home and I do live in the woods back in the mountains of North Carolina.  And yes, the woods are indeed beautiful!

Title: 1997 Essence 6
Post by: the_mule on January 13, 2005, 09:44:55 AM

I love that walnut top, somewhat like a stormcloud passing the sun. The body shape with elongated horn works very well visually. And there's something about undisturbed ebony fingerboards: like on my Orion, it looks very good IMHO...
 
Wilfred

Title: 1997 Essence 6
Post by: midnight_sun on January 14, 2005, 12:24:36 PM

Hi, I new and just registered to this forum. I have just bought a similar 6 string essence from ebay and want to know your input. This will be my first 6 string. How does the taper differ from a 5 string? My sister also lives in NC while my family and I settled in northern Scandinavia. Please enlightem me with what you know about the bass. I saw you were looking to change into a narrower series. Thanks

Title: 1997 Essence 6
Post by: David Houck on January 14, 2005, 05:21:36 PM

The string spacings on the 5 and 6 string wide taper basses are the same.  I also have a wide taper 4 string which I love; unfortunately I've been without it for the past 10 months.  Since it's been away, I've been playing a couple of narrow spacing 4 string basses, and I've grown accustomed to the narrow taper neck.  Just as different scale lengths have their advantages and disadvantages, so too do the narrow and wide tapers have their advantages and disadvantages.  Admittedly, I primarily play four string and only recently have been playing the six string with any frequency.  I've never played a narrow taper six string, so I don't know that I will actually prefer it.  It's been a long time now since I've played my four string wide taper bass, but I imagine that when it returns I will still love it.  One other thing about wide taper six strings, and this was touched on by another member of the club recently, the massive neck does have an effect on the tone.  An open E on the six string is a lot bigger sound than an open E on the four string.

Title: 1997 Essence 6
Post by: midnight_sun on January 14, 2005, 11:22:40 PM

Thanks. I will let you know when I get my hands on my Essence. I have played on 4 and 5 string Fender Jazz, Warwick and more now a days on a 5 string Tobias. I'm not a tall guy so the size of the bass and neck is quite particular to me. Fenders tend to feel big and long for me. I don't mind wide necks since I play with my thumb behind the neck but I do react to very heavy basses because I have to do 4-6 hours gigs with short breaks in between. I have to do some research on my bass which admittedly I know not much about.

Title: 1997 Essence 6
Post by: midnight_sun on February 07, 2005, 01:12:04 PM

Hi Dave, I just got home my 6 string Essence. I love the tone. I just have a few questions since I noticed you're the one to turn to for good answers.  
1. One of the potts is loose and I want to tighten the nut. How is the best way to pry the outside knob out?
2. The frets are sticking out on both upper and lower ends all through out the lenght of the neck. They're sharpen edged and could make a nasty cut on the palm if not careful. Is this normal? I could of course file or sand the edges off. I was just wondering since the quality of the bass is so good why this is so. It does not look like the frets have been redone though.  
3. Compared to my other active basses, the volume output of this Essence is very low. It required me to push the gain a lot higher to get the same volume as the others. What do you think?
4. I want to buy a hard shell case for this. Where can I get one?
 
As a whole, I'm very happy with this beautiful bass. I just have to get use to the weight, broad neck, and the 1 extra string that sometime gets my fingers coordinations confused when playing fast on the higher strings. Sorry about all the questions. I want to learn as much about this beauty. I'll post some pictures of it soon. Thanks.

Title: 1997 Essence 6
Post by: palembic on February 07, 2005, 02:59:28 PM

Hi Marlon,
welcome to the club.
Dave will be in in a moment but I think he is modering somewhere.
 
1. Be carefull with the pots. The topcap can be lifted off with your fingernail or a sharp edge. The inbus screw is inside and must be loose before taking off the knob. Than you can tighten the pot itself. Do this with the backplate of the electronics open so you can check that the pot and electronics never touch the sides of the cavity.
2. The fact that the frets are sticking out meqns that the guitar fretboard was never taken care for. You have to oil the freatboard at least 2 times a year. In fact I do it with every change of the season so 4 times. Brothers here in the club have a good laugh with me that until now I oiled the fingerboard of Bonnie with a good Extra Virgine olive oil. I can tell: it really feeds the fretboard. Of course I agree that Guitarhoney or Lemonoil (look for the lemon essential oils in healthstores, NOT the oils with lemon perfume). The frets are coming loose becquse the fretboard is too dry. I have NO idea if starting oiling now will reverse that process.
3. Did you checked the batteries and moer inportant inside the bass the small blue screws on the elctronic printplates of each pot??
4. Thre are good cases available. I once had a case with the funny name Just in case. It fitted my guitar well (not an Alembic but as valuable to me those days). People who make custom (flight)cases for amps will be happy to do you a proposal.
 
Oh yes ...did I mentioned pictures???
N??d??n.
 
Paul the bad one

Title: 1997 Essence 6
Post by: keith_h on February 07, 2005, 04:10:17 PM

1.) The knobs use a collet to attach to the pots.
    you access the collet by carefully removing    
    the center cap on knobs. The collet can be  
    tightened or loosend with a standard  
    screwdriver.
2.)I have just gone through this with both of my  
   basses and is even covered in the owners  
   information. Both of my basses recently moved  
   from very humid Florida to North Carolina. The
   furnace has lowered my humidity and caused  
   some shrinkage on the fingerboard. The result
   is fret ends sticking out.
   The fix is to file the ends down. Mica can  
   provide instructions or you can take it to
   your service person and have them do it.
   According to the owners information this  
   should only have to be done once.  
3.)I noticed this with my Orion also (Essence  
   electronics). I actually like it as I don't  
   have to change the volume when I switch to  
   my passive basses. If there is a way to adjust  
   the output I would be interested in learning  
   how to do it.  
4.)As Paul said you should be able to get a quote  
   from any of the companies that manufacture
   flight cases. My Brown Bass has a traditional
   hard shell case made by G&G here in the states.
   It is form fitting and seems to be well built.
   I suspect they could make a form fitting case
   for your bass also.  
 
Keith

Title: 1997 Essence 6
Post by: David Houck on February 07, 2005, 04:52:25 PM

On point 3, remove the control cavity plate on the back of the bass.  Look for a little blue cube with a white dial.  There is a slot in the dial for a screw driver.  Turn the dial clockwise to increase the output gain.

Title: 1997 Essence 6
Post by: David Houck on February 07, 2005, 04:54:59 PM

Hi Keith, welcome to the group!

Title: 1997 Essence 6
Post by: midnight_sun on February 08, 2005, 05:41:18 AM

Hi to all who responded to my inquiries. Thanks. I appreciate the wise advices. I've never really been interested in the details of all my previous basses except for how they sound but this one makes me hungry for information. I'll get the pics posted this weekend.

Title: 1997 Essence 6
Post by: effclef on February 08, 2005, 01:20:52 PM

To any moderator: would the extended upper horn now be a possible option on the Essence or would it still be a custom shape? In other words, have the forms been saved and available for use?
 
EffClef

Title: 1997 Essence 6
Post by: mica on February 08, 2005, 03:15:40 PM

We never throw out a template. If you order a 6-string Essence, you'll get the 6-string horn length. You would need to specify if you wanted it on a 5-string though.

Title: 1997 Essence 6
Post by: roberto on March 08, 2008, 07:50:09 AM

Hi Dave!
Im  ordering a custom Essence and n the middle of construction and I realy need some infos regarding body shape.I remember this Essence so I hope you wll be kind enough to spare some time and gve some measurements.Heres what I need:
Could you please tell me the 24th fretwidth and the total body width of this ESSENCE.
And please tell me ,does it balance well sitting down as well as standing position?
Thank you very much Dave.
Best regards.
robert

Title: 1997 Essence 6
Post by: David Houck on March 08, 2008, 04:34:16 PM

I think it balances very nicely.  It has the Comfort taper neck, which is standard on an Essence, so the width at the 24th fret is 3.56.  Of course you can order it with the Classic taper or a custom taper.  The width of the body at its widest point in the area of the controls is about 13.

Title: 1997 Essence 6
Post by: roberto on March 08, 2008, 09:03:24 PM

Yhank you very much for your kindness
Best regards.
robert

Title: 1997 Essence 6
Post by: oddmetersam on December 23, 2009, 09:56:15 PM

Dave, I just had to go back and look at your basses.  This one is especially mesmerizing and is probably my favorite Essence out of all of them in the forum.  The elongated horn and the forward moving grain of the walnut front are very compelling.  You should post this in the sexiest Alembic thread!  
 
Best holiday wishes to you!
-Sam

Title: 1997 Essence 6
Post by: sonicus on December 23, 2009, 10:02:30 PM

Very nice.

Title: 1997 Essence 6
Post by: mario_farufyno on December 24, 2009, 07:16:23 AM

I dream about having a 6 string Essence... Thanks dave for sharing this Pics (now I know I'm gonna have one of these someday!).

Title: 1997 Essence 6
Post by: David Houck on January 02, 2010, 06:54:57 PM

Thanks guys; it is a beautiful top.

Title: 1997 Essence 6
Post by: keith_h on January 02, 2010, 07:00:52 PM

The picture background looks familiar. :-) It is some nice walnut. I also noticed my first post is here. Hard to believe that 5 years has flown by so quickly.  
 
Keith
 
(Message edited by keith_h on January 02, 2010)

Title: 1997 Essence 6
Post by: David Houck on January 02, 2010, 07:14:48 PM

You should see it with 13 inches of snow; the background, not the bass.