The bass weighs 9 pounds 3 ounces, which I thought was very lightweight for an Alembic. Shoot, I've had Les Pauls that weighed more. And it's been played a lot and well taken care of, which is always a great sign. Billy F Gibbons once told me that you don't play a guitar a lot if it doesn't sound good and a guitar doesn't sound good until it's been played a lot, so if you're buying used you look for the played ones.* This one's been played, and plays good, sounds good, feels good, and I like it a lot. There's definitely something about it that sets it apart from the other basses I have.
The figuring on the maple is elusive, in some circles it's called 'floor flame' because you have to lay the guitar down on the floor and walk around it to see the figure, or 'Houdini flame' because it moves a lot and disappears at different angles. There's a lot of birdseye blistering and very little medulary grain at all. If you look at it at the right angle, it's got some quilting action happening and from another angle it's pretty plain, while from a third it's got some mild flame. In any case, I don't really care what the figuring looks like, all I'm ever concerned with in a guitar or bass is how it sounds, plays, and feels, and how long it'll last, and this one kicks butt in all categories and feels solid as a rock. I think I got a really good deal on it, I'm just wondering what these go for these days.
* Actually that wasn't EXACTLY what he said, I think he speaks in some sort of secret code, but that's the Gibbonspeak-to-English translation as provided by Babelfish;)
