Curious about Alembic's throughput.

[rowka]

It seems some of these custom instruments on the forum can take many months, if not several years, to complete.
 
So I'm curious -  
 
At any given time how many instruments are in progress?
 
How many are completed on a daily, weekly, monthly basis?
 
Hmmm?

[bsee]

Rowka, this has been discussed a few times before.  Serial number speculations give us an idea of how many instruments are created per year, and that's the best one can do without an official corporate statement.  I don't recall Alembic ever telling us exactly how many they make, but I'm not sure it is fair to ask them.  
 
In any case, if you do a search on something like instruments per year you may find a thread or two.
 
-bob

[keavin]

Well in the case of my bass it was the 12th one ever produced & mica stated it was completed by late 1972. and by 1973 there were only maybe 20 or 30 something made, But when stanley (clarke)& john (entwistle) started hitting the music airwaves with that alembic sound (by the mid to late 70's) the orders tripled ......so by the end of the late 70's alembic had already built over a thousand or so alembics & thus the craze for alembic instruments took off from there..............so nowadays yes it could take in some cases up to over a year to get the alembic of of your dreams!

[ajdover]

I would posit that it's not about quantity, it's about quality.  I ordered my custom over three years ago (it is nearing completion, though).  Many things conspired to have it take this long - body shape, fingerboard width, control placement, woods, etc. - but that's OK.  To me it means that there is a company where attention to detail is more important than mass production; service to the customer and making sure he/she gets exactly what she want is paramount; and that nothing is left to chance/question.  
 
I've been to the factory and met the people who make these amazing instruments.  I'd rather wait three years for a custom Alembic than have 20 off the rack instruments any day.  These folks deeply care about what they do on a daily basis and it shows.  I'm not saying that the mass producers don't care, but I just don't see the individual attention to detail there as I do in Alembics.
 
So, in summary, my custom will be worth the wait.  Too many others here have seconded that.  Excellence doesn't come cheap, nor does it come quickly.  As they say, you get what you pay (and wait) for.
 
Alan

[keith_h]

As I recall the serial numbers have not reached 15000 yet (still in mid-14k range I think). So that should give you a general idea of production numbers keeping in mind that they made far less per year in the early days.  
 
Keith

[white_cloud]

I feel the fact that the various Fender plants throw out more instruments in a week than Alembic produces in a year speaks volumes about the integrity of production at the mothership.
 
No fast food huge factory production at Alembic!

[richbass939]

One way a person could get approximate production figures would be to check the Owning an Alembic --> Serial Number / History section of the club.  There are many posts of serial numbers and birthdates for much of the period since 1971.
Rich

[bracheen]

Dan, this is totally off subject but I see you live in Jacksonville.  Me too!  Drop me a line sometime.
 
Sam