Slap damage?

[hammer]

I admit that I use a pick 60% of the time and when I'm using my fingers it's in the traditional manner sans any slapping and popping, but can the latter technique really do this much damage to the PU covers.  Looks like some pretty deep grooves here in this Ebay offering.
 
 

[jazzyvee]

I saw that and wondered what playing technique could have caused that much mojo... :-)
 
Jazzyvee

[tubeperson]

It could be the strings were set too low without a proper neck adjustment, and an aggressive picking technique (ever see Will Lee with the Fab Faux tear up the upstrokes on his bass?), could have cause that damage.

[neyman]

I have a Steinberger with the same type of wear (except more extreme) on the bridge pickup. It comes from using a pick and playing hard over the pickup.

[hammer]

Wow! I've been a picker for 30+ years and never seen any damage done to the PUs on any of my basses or those of the people I know. It must be an incredibly aggressive technique in combination with the neck adjustment that the owner uses.
 
As far as aggressive upstrokes causing the damage, wouldn't the wear patters suggest it was the down stroke that was the culprit? And can one pick hard enough to hit the hum canceler which is lower than the PUs.

[tubeperson]

Hello Hammer:
 
I only brought up the power of Will Lee's upstrokes as an illustration that the powerful picking motion exerts a lot of force.  I would agree that it looks like down strokes are the culprit here.  If the picker was chanelling Pete Townsend and doing the windmill, then the hum canceller could have been marred as well.
 
I have seen damage to pickup covers on fretless basses as well. Same deal, strings too low in relation to the neck adjustment, and a whacking hand motion (anybody use a pick with a fretless?).

[flpete1uw]

Well this conversation is a little disconcerting. I'm in negotiations for this Bass. Any input from my Alembic brethren on this Bass would be appreciated.  
 
Always value the input here
 
Pete

[David Houck]

Perhaps more than neck adjustment, it may be that the wear is related to the pickups being raised to get them close to the strings for a bit more dirtier tone.  The neck pickup appears to be angled so that the trailing edge, where most of the wear is, is higher than the leading edge.  The bridge pickup seems more level; and if he was picking anywhere but right over the bridge pickup, then the leading edge would get the wear.  I don't think he was flailing away because the wood around the pickups looks great; just that the pickups are close to the strings.  It's a pre-77, single truss rod, so it could be that the same guy has been picking above those pickups for a long time.  As for the humx, I don't know.  Maybe he was anchoring his little finger there while picking and thirty years of sweat slowly wore it away.
 
Pete; I haven't seen the listing, but other than comments about the appearance of the pickups in close-up pictures, I don't know that anything has been said that would otherwise be disconcerting about the bass.

[flpete1uw]

Thank You Dave, I'll let you know when it arrives  
 
http://www.ebay.com/itm/1975-Alembic-Series-1-electric-bass-with-2-pre-amps-and-road-case-/170945166220?pt=Guitar&hash=item27cd203b8c

[David Houck]

Congrats!  Looks like you got a great deal on a very nice bass, two power supplies and two cases.  I love the back laminate!

[hammer]

Peter:
 
In spite of the PU cover marring, you purchased yourself a beautiful bass. Given the price you paid versus what I've seen a lot of other Series I basses go for you could in all likelihood purchase a sufficient number of PU covers to last you a life time.

[adriaan]

Nice one!
 
BTW the pickups do not have covers.

[flpete1uw]

What is the material that encases the pickups around the magnets? I was wondering if there was a way of filling these grooves in with multiple thin layers of a non magnetic epoxy or even Krazy Glue?

[dela217]

If it were me, I would not fill them in.  You could replace them with new pickups rather inexpensively, but I really would not do that either.  I wouldn't even polish that bridge.
 
I bid on that bass too because it was sooooo original, but you beat me to it.  It looks as though the neck q switch was changed, but thats it.  No adjustable nut, moved strap button or pickup selector switch, truss rod cover etc... was added.  Nice bass!  
 
For what it's worth there was a bass running around New Orleans for a while that was just two serial numbers away from that one.  It was a mirror image of this bass.  It had the zebra front with the koa back.  In fact, it looked as though the wood used on it were the next consecutive sheets.  I recognize the two knots on the front of your bass as exactly as what was on the rear of the one that was just two numbers away.  The zebrawood even followed the same pattern in the way in angles away from the horns.
 
Great score and I know you will enjoy that one.
 
Michael

[flpete1uw]

Wow!! Thank You Michael,  
I have no real intensions of doing anything at least impulsively. And I agree she has been alluring since the first time I laid eyes on her. That Koa is Beautiful. It's just that my mind never stops in a quest to repair or make things better (Real or Perceived). I guess I always like to know my options.  
 Nice call on the Q Switch I will look closer at it when she arrives.
Thank You for your kind words,
Peace
Pete