Good morning everyone. Well, I woke up this morning and had to go downstairs to the living room to see if #10 was actually sitting on the stand, or if it was all a dream. I can report it's still there. And George, I'm jealous of myself! I can't believe this historic guitar is under my roof! Looking at it in the daylight, it really is a VERY interesting instrument. It's actually a little primitive or crude compared even to my '76 Series I. It has no Q switches, but seems have the pre-amp trim pots sticking up through the pickguard. There is a mini two pole throw switch next to the 5-pin jack which, at present, doesn't do anything. The switch has a locking thingee on it. It is locked in position until you pull up a tiny spring-loaded outside sleeve on the toggle. Then you can move it to the other position, let go of the sleeve and it locks in that position. The pickups are not centered under the strings. They are significantly shifted to the treble side. I don't know if there was an electronic reason for this, or it's just beginner guitar building. The pickups are surrounded by obviously hand-carved wooden pickup rings - not symmetrical, but clearly made specifically for this guitar. The logo is very unusual. I've only seen one other Alembic with a logo like this - also a very early one, seen
here. I spoke with Mica yesterday, and she told me she believes there were only around 20 Alembics that have this type of logo. By the way, does anyone know of the first 10 Alembics, how many were basses and how many were guitars?
I'm on the fence regarding restoration. I guess I've seen too many episodes of Antiques Roadshow (your tiffany lamp is worth $5000, but if you hadn't polished it it would have been worth $75,000). Should I polish all the brass or leave it tarnished? Refinish? All questions I'll be pondering over the next few days. Suggestions and recommendations are very welcome. I think I'll probably bring it up to the mothership and talk to Susan, Mica, and Ron before I do anything. And I promise pictures sometime this weekend.
I have to remember to breath.
Bill, tgo
(Message edited by lbpesq on September 19, 2009)
(Message edited by lbpesq on September 19, 2009)
