I have a bocate Europa which currently has non alembic electronics in it by the same guy who designed the innards for Stanley Clarke's personal spellbinder. Anyway I am not using that bass as much as I would like and this is mainly due to the mid range not cutting it for me and it is a tad noisy which drives me mad. It is the easiest of my 5 stringers to play from a right hand perspective if i need to slap since there is more space between the base of the neck and the neck pickup making certain thumbing techniques easier to articulate.
So I have been thinking of putting back the standard Europa electronics into it but I've delayed that because, after years alembic use I realise I prefer the one filter per pickup arrangement and think it might be cool to put a signature set into that bass. However since the Europa holes don't match the standard layout for sig electronics I've been thinking of a way of getting this done without compromising the signature layout that I'm familiar with.
Send the bass back to Alembic to have signature electronics put into it and keep the quick tone changes. To do this and keep the bass looking nice and the buttons and switches in the right place I would need to have a new top and matching headstock laminate put on. I would like to consider something like coco bolo, madagascar ebony or blackwood and if possible maybe keep some of the bocate as an accent stripe in the sandwich for sentimental value.
Another option would be to add a contrasting inlaid top laminate over the control panel area only in order to mount the controls or even go for a real retro look with a brass cover over the bottom half of the bass similar to No:12 has with a planished finish that I think would look great with the existing bocate top wood.
Also add the 5pin socket so that I have a choice between using the DS-5 or batteries. So that would give me mono out of the jack and stereo from the 5pin socket.
Maybe a dummy hum-canceller for effect. :-)
However I fear the cost of that may approach the cost of a new build especially if it needs a re-finish too. But I will call Mica later and seek wisdom from her. But in the meantime if you have any views or advice on my thoughts please share.
Jazzyvee
