Alembic Guitars Club
Connecting => Introductions => Topic started by: ed_zeppelin on January 19, 2010, 02:52:08 PM
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Hey, Alembiphiles!
I've been a pro bassist and repairman since the early 70s. In the early 90's, I was working as a repairman for the world's largest (at the time) purveyor of used musical instruments.
One day, while dropping off some repairs at one of our stores, I saw an Alembic bass pulsating on the wall, surrounded by a blue-green aura which seemed to be quietly chanting my name... suddenly it floated across the room to me (or vice-versa, I'm not sure which) into my naked, steaming hands and looked up at me and said; Papa!
The geek behind the counter said; I think it's called an 'Olympic...' and I plucked my credit card out of my wallet and slapped it on the counter. RING IT UP! I screamed.
Then he fetched the custom Anvil flight case... Listen, I'd tell you the mere pittance I forked over, but I don't want to make people smack their monitors with their foreheads.
Later, when I got the pedigree from Alembic I found out that it is a '75 custom Series II, with top and back made of zebrawood on a koa core, and maple/walnut neck.
I rewired the quarter-inch plug to mono, and built a splitter/power supply in an ancient Star Trek metal lunch box. I've played thousands of gigs with it since, running the neck pickup through an 18 cab with a 600-watt amp, and a 4x10 w/piezo tweeter cab with a 500 watt amp for the bridge pickup. (I send the mono line to a direct box into the main mixing board and for the monitors). I also use an upright bass most of the time, with its own setup.
Here's a pic. Sorry about the quality, but I had to kinda stand it up in my gear closet, squeezed in next to my upright.(http://club.alembic.com/Images/397/75574.jpg)
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For some reason, the pic came out sideways.
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That is a beauty! Love the case interior too. I had a chance to buy a '76 in the early 1990's but but could not afford it then. I had 2 in the late 1990's and now have a '76 Series 1 bass. There is just something about the early basses.
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Super awesome!
Would love to see more pics of that beauty!
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it's a serie I.
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That seems correct. Also, the photo is titled 75574. Maybe it could be a 1976 bass as the 574 number would coincide with that year.
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Odd. That's just coincidence, like 666 in the serial number or something. Just a random number generated by this site, I suppose. (The actual title is My Olympic, btw.)
It's a 1975 Series II, like I said. Sandi King sent me the pedigree in '92.
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I would love to get that Alembic (http://club.alembic.com/Images/397/75604.gif) (666)
Your bass does look like a Series I (2 x Q switch instead of CVQ controls)
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Upon doing some research, I'm convinced that you're right; it is a Series I. In particular, this post from talkbass.com:
http://www.talkbass.com/forum/archive/index.php/t-23594.html (http://www.talkbass.com/forum/archive/index.php/t-23594.html)
...The diff between Series I & II are:
a) Series II has more body & neck laminates
b) Series II has continuously variable Q controls, Series I has two 3-position switches
c) Series II has a master volume control in addition to the individual p/u vol controls. ...
Sure sounds like mine, to be honest. In '92, when I asked Brad T (Tuttle?) at Alembic for schematics for the power supply and for rewiring the quarter-inch plug for mono, he sent Series II schematics.
It's obviously a Series I, though, so I've been gloating for nearly twenty years in complete ignoramousness.
That's it; I'm going to build a bonfire out back tonight, and soothe my poor betrayed heart with the smoky stench of charred cocobolo and zebrawood. Maybe I'll throw a spotted owl on the pyre for good measure...
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Malthumb drops by from time to time... he'll get a kick out of the 2001 TalkBass reference.