My first Alembic. Two weeks pass, and I get a rather decent deal on another Alembic. So it goes.
It appears that this happened to the two previous owners as well... So one can only assume that if you purchase this Epic, you'll be confronted with another Alembic option rather quickly
Anyways, here she is:
Top - Bocote (S. American rosewood)
Inlays - none
Birthday - 1996
Scale length - 34.00
Neck - 3 piece maple, set-neck
Headstock Veneer - Zebrawood
Fingerboard - The DARKEST un-stained Ebony ever;)
Nut width - 1.625
24th fret width - 2.360
Truss rods - Dual, body adjust
Body material - Mahogany w/ Maple laminate
Body depth - 1.750
Finish - High gloss polyester
Pickups - MXY4
Controls - Active Alembic Volume, Pan, Bass, Treble
Tailpiece - Solid brass, half-moon
Machine heads - Gold Alembic-Gotoh
Good: Almost everything! This is the work I performed: Fret recrown, new Kalium Balanced-Tension strings, FULL instrument setup including completely anal pickup setup (height, string-to-string output balance, pickup gain balance, additional pickup lead winding around ferrite bead), first-fret clearance adjustment, intonation, and action. This neck is virtually FLAT and plays AMAZINGLY. The piece de resistance? I made a finger ramp from five pieces of cocobolo and laminated maple for ridiculously smooth playability, which also doubles as a full-length thumbrest. It matches the bocote WONDERFULLY! It is adhered with double-side tape that can be removed with alcohol without damage to the finish.
Ugly: The finish is dinged and scratched, with the worst being thumb wear between the pickups, and at the peak of the headstock. The overall finish quality is nothing catastrophic, but this bass could use a buffing and polishing. Second - the top has separated at the bookmatch, from a ~.002 on the bottom of the body to ~.050 at the neck. This does not have any perceived effect on the bass other than cosmetic; the neck joint is AMAZING with absolutely no threat of movement. I purchased the instrument in this condition (as did the previous owners), and if I were to keep it, I would probably leave it as it is. I considered routing the middle of the top and inlaying a .200 wide strip of highly flamed maple, but decided to go for the finger ramp project instead as it is easily reversible, beautiful and extremely functional!
I put a fair amount of work into the instrument, and it is 100% ready to play for another 20 years! On to the next project...
NOTE: The straplock pins will be replaced with the stock gold Alembic pins.
Paypal accepted at
gbh82@yahoo.com; free shipping to the ContiUS and $50usd credit to outside US sales!
Thanks for looking.
LOOKING FOR: ALEMBIC SF-2 // Series I / II & Distillate
Also have for sale: Gibson/Orville T-bird//Crest 2.0 DSP//Yamaha PB1//Fender TBP-1// Sunfire Subwoofers (x2 units) // Emotiva XSP-1
Possibly have for sale/trade: Alembic Europa 4 w/ red side LED's
