New To Community, Looking At Dream Series I

[MortallyWounded]

Hello all...

I'm new to the community and do not own an Alembic... yet. I have been playing bass for about 22 years and have never ventured into the realm of boutiques. My "prettiest" bass is an Ibanez SR1206E Premium, which is a great sixer for church and it has opened my eyes to the possibility of owning a much more expensive instrument. This would be more of an investment than anything else, but I wouldn't just let this sit in a case if I owned it. She'd get played. Moving on...

So yesterday a few of us at TalkBass were chatting about owning something from our date of birth. Today as fortune would have it, I ran across a Series I for sale, S/N 78 1287. She is complete with the power supply, purple lined blue case, and even the original sticker, plus all the cables and then some.

Seller says the potentiometer date codes place it in the 35th week of 1978, making it late August. My DOB would be mid-August 1978, so this is of high interest to me.

Sorry I'm very new to this forum but was hoping to get some info regarding the S/N. Seller purchased this instrument in 1980, so it is not likely she's been around here before. Do we have any sort of timeframe for this serial number? Also, I do not know which power supply this is. I am JUST starting to look into Alembics and haven't had much time to get into the meat of her.
Thanks!

[adriaan]

Hi Matt and welcome to the Club.


The serial number already tells you the birthyear of the bass - indubitably 1978. No need to look at manufacturing codes on pots, the serial number system is year of manufacture then - starting with the first non-Series instruments, the Distillate model - a model code if it's a non-Series instrument, followed by the overall serial number (still counting, getting close to 15,000).


If the pot dates to week 35, it stands to reason that the bass was finished later that year - but it was probably started a bit earlier in the year - these are simply not assembly-line instruments. There would have been a build sheet included with the instrument, back in the day, which would have recorded the date of birth.

[MortallyWounded]

Thanks. That was my assumption as well. I don't believe seller has the build sheets, and I estimated it was under construction already when I was born. From what I can see on the serial number list you guys already have going, there probably aren't enough adjacent serial siblings to get an accurate DOB.

I may keep chatting with seller, but after talking with the wife, it doesn't look like I'll be buying it anytime soon. Perhaps I should share his Craigslist link? Which thread would be best for that?

[adriaan]

Well, another member already posted a topic under the Swap Shop and Wish Lists section here http://club.alembic.com/index.php?topic=22508.0

[MortallyWounded]

Yup! That's it! It's Friday and I have my wife curled up on the sofa with me so forgive me for not digging deeper myself. Thanks for the help, and I'll stick around... I love the MTDs and modern Alembics coming out these days.

[adriaan]

You're welcome!

[edwin]

All I can say is that that looks like a great bass. My feeling is that medium scale is probably the way to go, but that's just me.

[MortallyWounded]

I've got several long scales and one 35" MTD, but I've always wanted to add a short or medium to the arsenal since I'm a light-fingered church player these days. The MTD was from my metal days so the bigger the badder. Not so much anymore.

[moongerm]

Welcome Matt. Best wishes on your search. For WIW, I got rid of all of my long and super longs scales (except for one) and switch to 32" primarily. You are on the right track .