Alembic Guitars Club

Connecting => Introductions => Topic started by: onoffon on February 14, 2007, 10:36:08 PM

Title: 1982 LSB Stereo Alembic
Post by: onoffon on February 14, 2007, 10:36:08 PM: Yes - first owner - only owner.

I bought my Alembic after seeing Greg Lake perform at the Mobile Municipal Auditorium in Alabama while I was working special effects in Navarre Beach, Florida, on Jaws II.

Once I heard it, I knew I had to own one. I picked it up at the Hollywood Guitar Center in early 1983 and I've played it ever since. I own six other basses but this one's my baby...

It still sounds as great as the first day I plugged it in. Every recording studio I've ever worked at, the engineer says, Don't touch a thing! The most phenomenal instrument I've ever had the pleasure of playing.

Thanks Alembic for a wonderful bass.

Von Babasin
http://www.onoffon.com/ (http://www.onoffon.com/)
http://www.jazzinhollywood.com/
Title: 1982 LSB Stereo Alembic
Post by: jacko on February 15, 2007, 04:43:58 AM: Welcome to the club Von. let's see some pictures of your instrument, I'm intrigued to know what LSB stands for.

Graeme
Title: 1982 LSB Stereo Alembic
Post by: adriaan on February 15, 2007, 06:08:43 AM: Graeme, sorry to lift the veil of mystery but LSB stands for Long Scale Bass. Doesn't mean the bass is by any means less beautiful!
Title: 1982 LSB Stereo Alembic
Post by: onoffon on February 15, 2007, 08:52:32 AM: Hi Graeme - hi Adriaan - thanks for the welcome!

It is a Series I - Vermillion top and back, Mahogany core, Maple and Purpleheart neck, Ebony fingerboard, and Vermillion peghead veneer -

Not the greatest pic but you get the idea -

(http://club.alembic.com/Images/397/36280.jpg)

Everyone who hears it seems to like it...
Title: 1982 LSB Stereo Alembic
Post by: adriaan on February 15, 2007, 08:55:58 AM: See, I didn't even have to wait for the picture to know that it's a beauty!
Title: 1982 LSB Stereo Alembic
Post by: onoffon on February 15, 2007, 09:03:21 AM: hehehe....

And she sounds as good as she looks....

Cheers!
Title: 1982 LSB Stereo Alembic
Post by: bracheen on February 15, 2007, 10:36:02 AM: It is a beauty and seems to be in excellent shape for it's age.
Glad to make your aquaintence and good luck with the project honoring your father.

Sam
Title: 1982 LSB Stereo Alembic
Post by: onoffon on February 15, 2007, 11:28:24 AM: Nice to meet you too, Sam.

Yeah - she's 25 years old and there's not a scratch on the wood. The brass plates on the back have a few scratches. I've put her through quite a lot in our quarter century together.

Thanks for your support toward my father's project. Trust me when I say he innovated jazz in ways that still effect the artform today...
Title: 1982 LSB Stereo Alembic
Post by: the_8_string_king on February 16, 2007, 05:36:55 PM: I thought I already said this elsewhere... but I don't see it, and am not sure, so...

welcome to the club!

(Sorry if this is redundant!)

And of course... the bass looks great!
Title: 1982 LSB Stereo Alembic
Post by: onoffon on February 20, 2007, 09:44:29 AM: Hi 8StringKing -

You did indeed welcome me - over on my introduction thread. Thanks for doing so....

The funniest thing about this bass, I went into Guitar Center and played it. Get this - the salesman told me it was a 'factory-second'. It made me leary so he gave me the phone number to Alembic so I could ask a few questions. I couldn't see any problem at all with it and it played and sounded like a dream. So, when I called and asked why it was a factory second they told me, because the mahogany was too grey. Because the mahogany was too grey?!?!!?!?!??!??!

Hahahahahahahaha.....

I went back the next day and bought it - immediately. I actually liked the contrast of the colors in the woods - it was what originally attracted me to it in the first place.

One man's ceiling is another man's floor...
Title: 1982 LSB Stereo Alembic
Post by: lbpesq on February 20, 2007, 12:05:21 PM: Von:

I suspect there was some miscommunication or hazy memory involved here. My understanding is that a factory second never leaves Alembic. They will cut up a second rather than putting out anything with the Alembic name that doesn't meet their high standards. Perhaps your instrument was initially ordered by someone who didn't like the color, which made it available for you.

Bill, the guitar one
Title: 1982 LSB Stereo Alembic
Post by: onoffon on February 20, 2007, 10:37:40 PM: Hi Bill -

Interestingly enough, the letters FS are in the serial number.

But you could be right - it might have been made for someone and rejected.

His loss - my gain...
Title: 1982 LSB Stereo Alembic
Post by: onoffon on February 20, 2007, 10:39:21 PM: BTW - hazy memory my *ss... :D
Title: 1982 LSB Stereo Alembic
Post by: onoffon on February 21, 2007, 01:04:30 PM: Thanks Bill for pointing this out to me.

On further exploration, I discovered on the Alembic support reference page, that the letters FS aren't even listed in their chart.

I have a VERY rare instrument indeed...
Title: 1982 LSB Stereo Alembic
Post by: lbpesq on February 21, 2007, 01:29:45 PM: Von:

The FS marking is very curious. You might want to give Mica a call. I wouldn't be surprised if she can shed some light on this mystery. I know I'm curious.

Bill, tgo
Title: 1982 LSB Stereo Alembic
Post by: onoffon on February 21, 2007, 02:07:11 PM: Bill -

I just discovered the Serial Number thread, asking about the history of an instrument. I have just left a post in regard to my serial number.

I'm excited to know - I wonder who this bass may have been originally built for?!?!?!??!??!!?

That's the only explanation that makes sense to me...
Title: 1982 LSB Stereo Alembic
Post by: mica on February 21, 2007, 02:48:03 PM: Initials of the owner aren't part of the serial number. There are very few so-called factory seconds out there. They have been marked various ways, FS, B, 2ND but we stopped considering things like the shade of the wood as a second, and simply wait for the right person to come along that it appeals to.

There's probably about a dozen or so instruments marked this way (and probably other ways as the mood determined that day). For at least 20 years we have not released a so-called second. If the instrument has a failure, it is simply either not completed, or it is kept for doing experiments and training, but they aren't serialized.

Sometimes, personal project instrumens will have the initials of the builder as part of the serial number. We don't have records of most of these instruments.

It will probably be sometime next week when I do another round of serial number research. I'll post to your history request then.
Title: 1982 LSB Stereo Alembic
Post by: onoffon on February 21, 2007, 04:24:04 PM: Thanks Mica - I never thought that the FS might be someone's initials. I always thought it meant factory second. And, as I called the company back then to ask, they confirmed it was a factory second specifically because of the color of the mahogany.

I still have all my paperwork and a letter from Beverly Lee, dated May 16, 1983. I also have the list of fifteen craftsmen that participated in the building of my bass. None have the initials FS.

Don't get me wrong - I LOVE everything about this bass. I own six other basses and really only play my Alembic...

Thanks for your time,

Von
Title: 1982 LSB Stereo Alembic
Post by: onoffon on March 02, 2007, 08:33:38 AM: Well... it would seem that if there were only a dozen or so instruments marked this way, I would indeed have one of the rarest Alembics out there.

Kind of like having an Inverted Jenny....
Title: 1982 LSB Stereo Alembic
Post by: onoffon on May 21, 2007, 03:51:25 PM: Well... just for a little closure...

Mica confirmed that my bass may very well be a one-of-a-kind - the FS designation could be the only one ever marked in this way.

Let's see... what would that make it worth...