Author Topic: How many Alembic basses are out there? (Read 486 times)

tncaveman · « **on:** March 21, 2011, 08:20:40 PM »

I was curious about how many instruments have been made by Alembic? It would be cool to see a tally - especially the number of each model. I have a Rogue and have never personally seen another one. I have only seen a few other Alembic models over the years, other than in photos. I have never seen an Alembic guitar in person.

Stephen

FC Bass · « **Reply #1 on:** March 21, 2011, 09:27:41 PM »

They are heading for 14200, I think it's almost impossible to tell per model...

Check out this list: Click here

jazzyvee · « **Reply #2 on:** March 22, 2011, 12:28:18 AM »

14,000 is a very small number when you consider the number made by the big boys over the same number of years.

I've only ever seen my Alembic Guitars in person. They still seem to be rare in public. In saying that, I've only seen an alembic bass live in the hands of Stanley Clarke.

Hopefully some of the UK owners will post some gigs nearer to where I live so I can get a chance to hear.

Jazzyvee

rustyg61 · « **Reply #3 on:** March 22, 2011, 12:47:12 AM »

I asked Mica that same question when I spoke to her on the phone right after I got my Alembic. My serial # is 14148, but she said there were maybe 600 - 800 additional Alembics that had duplicate serial numbers, so the total count could be around 15,000. Still a very elite owner's group when you consider that lots of people own more than one Alembic, so the total number of owners is much smaller than the total number of Alembics.

rustyg61 · « **Reply #4 on:** March 22, 2011, 01:58:53 AM »

I just checked out your list FC, VERY impressive! Where did you get all the data?

serialnumber12 · « **Reply #5 on:** March 22, 2011, 04:17:13 AM »

serialnumber12 · « **Reply #6 on:** March 22, 2011, 04:20:24 AM »

serialnumber12 · « **Reply #7 on:** March 22, 2011, 04:22:53 AM »

the Gang!

tncaveman · « **Reply #8 on:** March 22, 2011, 05:04:46 AM »

39 years and 14,200 -------> average of 364 per year - that's one a day! But I would assume that the efficiency and number per year somewhat increased over the years.

And, Barnes (ser#12) that is one heck of a photo - are they all yours or from a gathering?

jacko · « **Reply #9 on:** March 22, 2011, 05:34:44 AM »

Jazzyvee..Hopefully some of the UK owners will post some gigs nearer to where I live so I can get a chance to hear

You'll need to move to Scotland ;-)

graeme

serialnumber12 · « **Reply #10 on:** March 22, 2011, 07:01:39 AM »

they all belong to various members from the chicago gathering two yrs ago

dadabass2001 · « **Reply #11 on:** March 22, 2011, 07:06:03 AM »

tncaveman,
The group instrument shot is from the Chicago Alembic gathering in May 2009. It was a fabulous day at Bag End.
Mike

terryc · « **Reply #12 on:** March 22, 2011, 07:31:53 AM »

I love nostalgie and looking at the catalogues is really interesting.
Mine is proudly in the list

FC Bass · « **Reply #13 on:** March 22, 2011, 11:02:26 AM »

@ Rusty: Got most of the info (about 99%) right here from the club, so thanx Ya'll!
It gives a pretty good idea of production per year (see summary @ the bottom), huge peak in the 90s (Newsted influence?)

Extremely fun project, though in desperate need of an update...

Pretty close family, with +/-15000 Alembics and some of us that are actually insane enough to own more than one. :-)

serialnumber12 · « **Reply #14 on:** March 22, 2011, 11:29:38 AM »

Here's a summary/log of quite a few so far. http://painandgrief.com/aaa/fcbasssite/alembic/10.htm