This beautiful guitar arrived today!! It was all I could do to pry it from my hands to write this.
What an amazing instrument! It is stunning in appearance and tone. Upon opening the case my heart stopped - pure beauty! The inlays are absolutely sublime. The depth and richness of the shell is not like anything I've seen - it fairly shimmers and moves before your eyes. Front to back, top to bottom the wood is gorgeous and craftsmanship flawless.
Then I plugged it in.
I was pretty sure there would be no big surprises here. I already have an incredible Skylark with exceptional tone and versatility and I'm very familiar with the Alembic electronics. But . . . the combination of neck-through construction, the three-pickup configuration, this particular wood recipe, and the indefinable mojo - spirit - soul that was built into the guitar by the artists and alchemists at Alembic truly created an unexpectedly rich tonal palette. There are tonal similarities to the skylark, especially in terms of clarity and definition of notes, but there seem to be richer overtones, a bit more sustain and even broader variety of tone. I'm looking forward to exploring it's possibilities.
Thanks to all for the kind words on this thread - I'll post some photos in the showcase when I get a chance to to take some in good light.
Deepest heartfelt thanks to Susan, Mica, Mary, Ron, Bob, James, and all of the artists who contributed to creating this incredible instrument.
Peace and Happy New Year!
Tom