Author Topic: "Stormburst" Elan, Great price! (Read 380 times)

sjhoffma · « **on:** May 31, 2012, 01:51:48 PM »

This should go quick...

http://www.gbase.com/gear/alembic-elan-1989-stormburst

tubeperson · « **Reply #1 on:** May 31, 2012, 01:54:09 PM »

As Fee Waybill sang, She's a beauty! and nicely priced to boot.

FC Bass · « **Reply #2 on:** May 31, 2012, 03:25:53 PM »

Twin sister! :-)

hifiguy · « **Reply #3 on:** May 31, 2012, 03:56:31 PM »

Ooh, one sexy beast!

mtjam · « **Reply #4 on:** June 01, 2012, 01:35:36 PM »

Looks like someone pounced on this one; it's on hold. If it was someone on here, enjoy!

a_martin · « **Reply #5 on:** June 01, 2012, 07:34:52 PM »

This one happened to be in my neck of the woods. So I pounced
She is very minty and has a brilliant sound. The maple growls. I need to work on the bow in her neck a bit.

sjhoffma · « **Reply #6 on:** June 01, 2012, 08:35:42 PM »

Enjoy! I knew a club member would find this one!

jazzyvee · « **Reply #7 on:** June 01, 2012, 11:50:51 PM »

Well caught. In relation to the neck bow, I had bow on my Elan 4 for ages and couldn't get it out however I adjusted the the truss rod, it eventually kept coming back and choking the strings.

In the end it transpired that the strings that came on the bass when I bought it were quite a bit lighter gauge than I normally used and lower tension. One of the members here FC_Spoiler recommended some RCocco strings, which i bought and they sorted the problem out completely and gave me the adjustment I need to get the bow out of the neck.

Now everything is fine. It may be something for you to consider if you can't get any joy in other ways.

Jazzyvee

a_martin · « **Reply #8 on:** June 02, 2012, 08:28:32 AM »

Thank you Sjhoffma - it was your post that clued me in. I am indebted to you.

Jazzyvee thank you for the input - I've read some of your previous posts on the matter more then once! The Elan came with Warwick mediums - .045, .065,.085, and .105. The store had set the bass up for players who like a gradually increasing action as you move away from the nut. While it certainly worked without buzz it is not the way I set my gear up. Last night I dropped the bridge and adjusted each truss rod less then a quarter of a turn. There was a noticeable improvement within a few hours.
The action was in my range of acceptable this morning but I also saw it could be fine tuned more to my tastes. I made minor adjustments to the truss rods and am playing it while waiting for the adjustments to do their thing. So far there is no fret buzz I can attribute to the bass. I haven't tried the Rcocco strings yet but they are the next set I'm purchasing.
Over all I'm exuberant about this bass - the timbre is rich and brilliant, I can't help but smile as I play

A bump for the store - Guitar Gallery of New England is a little west of Manchester, New Hampshire USA. http://www.guitargallery.com/
I spent some time chatting with Don who works at the store and found him knowledgeable and pleasant. He was patient giving me directions to the store, as I called several times en route to confirm I hadn?t strayed to far from the path. If you find yourself in the area I think it is worth while to drop in.

David Houck · « **Reply #9 on:** June 02, 2012, 08:35:11 AM »

Congrats!

hifiguy · « **Reply #10 on:** June 02, 2012, 09:08:06 AM »

If all else fails, a, send her back to the Mothership for a heat reset. I had to do that with my Stanley Standard shortly after I bought her. A little application of Alembic TLC left my bass just fine for the last decade, needing only seasonal tweaks.

You also might want to try a .40 - .100 set if you find it comfortable.

That is one beautiful bass!

Paul

hammer · « **Reply #11 on:** June 04, 2012, 01:31:55 PM »

That's a nice bass in which I had some interest when it was first posted. I actually didn't follow through on it because, given the levels at which I've seen shops and individuals pricing Alembic basses recently, I figured something had to be wrong with it. Congrats on a nice bass and kudos to a shop for selling an Alembic at a fair price.

bigredbass · « **Reply #12 on:** June 04, 2012, 08:18:19 PM »

Nice axe, the P/J Activators will RUIN you for any other Fender(ish) pickups. Interesting how single-coilish the J sounds, as it's a stack. Typically this set is VERY quiet.

You will certainly get the action the way you want it.

Notice that a martin has it down cold:

'dropped the bridge and moved the truss rods a QUARTER turn' and he let it take a set overnight.

A little more and he's waiting it out. Especially older Alembics, in many cases the wood has taken its final form, barring huge, prolonged changes in atmosphere. And since Alembic is so careful wood-selection wise, they get a lot bigger percentage of keepers than most. So often on older axes, they just DON'T move RIGHT NOW, you have to wait them out. It's a bit frustrating, but on the other hand, once they're like you want, they rarely change, provided you've settled on the same brand/guages of strings. My red Spoiler was set up four years ago, has worn the same guages/brand since, and once a year I begin a setup tuneup . . . and then stop, as it just ain't moved enough to worry with it. It stays at home, but still . . . . Amazing.

J o e y

a_martin · « **Reply #13 on:** June 05, 2012, 11:35:21 AM »

Joey, your post is saved in my favorites. http://club.alembic.com/Images/16271/16318.html?1107545766
By sharing your method and experience you have helped me tremendously without ever previously knowing of it.
When I first got this Elan it had quite a forward bow. In my previous post I skipped over a few steps I took in adjusting the bass. First I checked the nut, it was already completely dropped and there was no issue with buzz on the first few frets. The bridge height in combination with the bow made the action further up the neck so ridiculously high I jumped to step three and dropped the bridge and tuned up before touching the truss rods. That is when I did the quarter turns on the Truss Rods. I played and let it settle. In the morning I adjusted the truss rods a little more and had the bridge dropped completely. No fret buzz but there was a new click sound added to the attack on almost every note I played on the E string. I may want to take a look at my technique but for now I raised the E side of the bridge one full turn (360 degrees). The click is gone but the action is still low and very playable. Now that the bass is in the ball park I'm going to fine tune the action using a standard measuring gauge like a pick as Joey suggests.

Arunas

bigredbass · « **Reply #14 on:** June 05, 2012, 02:05:21 PM »

Arunas, I'm always careful to admit I stole the whole thing from Dan Erlewine, and his terrific book, 'The Guitar Player Repair Guide', available thru Stewart-McDonald (www.stewmac.com), who stocks lots of parts and many more terrific books regarding guitar building and repairing.

As you get used to the process (and believe me, I turned my Spoiler into a LOG more than once until I got it straight in my mind), you will associate the way it feels with the way you set it up. Your hands will know when it's right, and when it's wrong, and when it's wrong, you'll know what to do. Believe me, if I can figure this out, ANYBODY can !

This is really important, as a lot of us don't live anywhere near good guitar techs. Now you won't have to use one for setups, you can do it yourself, and that is not to be under-estimated.

After all of the 'glamor' of Alembics, the great secret, if you will, is that they are designed (whether deliberately or not, I'd love to know) to be maintained by the player. Adjustable brass nut. One piece brass bridge. Plug in electronics, damn few solder joints. And on and on. Most of the things on basses most of us are used to (wood screws, crappy solder/shielding, half-ass pickups and wiring, plastic nuts, pot metal bridges, etc.) just don't exist on these things.

I often think Ron is working on folding space and warp drive, but these things do make a case that he really considered perpetual motion machines.

J o e y