Author Topic: Series I 4 String (Read 731 times)

bsee · « **Reply #30 on:** July 16, 2006, 12:26:27 PM »

Senny, just for our info and since you no longer intend to sell, will you disclose your reserve?

Thanks-
Bob

PS- Good to see you around Danno!

senny · « **Reply #31 on:** July 16, 2006, 12:52:00 PM »

Yes i will-- my reserve was 7 thousand dollars.Please... no retaliatory attacks!

drjenney · « **Reply #32 on:** July 16, 2006, 01:40:52 PM »

Ah,,,, no problem then...

How about a straight up trade for two $3500 music stands? :-)

bsee · « **Reply #33 on:** July 16, 2006, 09:13:08 PM »

No attacks at all. It's clear that you value your bass very highly, and I am happy to hear it. I do think a little research would have saved you an eBay listing fee, though.

On the other hand, I think seeing your auction push to $4K should give pause to any around here currently considering the sale of their Series basses. If anyone has an instrument of similar condition, they should probably be looking for something closer to $3500 than they might previously have expected. If a few people benefit from that lesson, then the value of Alembics will continue to appreciate. Thanks for pushing the envelope.

Oh, and a belated welcome to the boards...

-bob

gtrguy · « **Reply #34 on:** July 17, 2006, 08:51:21 AM »

it was a dangerous experiment that i devised to get a barometer on what the world thinks about the Alembic legacy

The English sounds plain enough to me.

made_a_rose · « **Reply #35 on:** July 17, 2006, 11:11:01 PM »

An observation on eBay? Using the Alembic F2-B which was included with the series 1 bass, it is a great example of how pricing follows no rules on eBay.
On 7/8 David asked a question of how much is a F2-B worth?
Bob answered with a sound estimate ?an F-2B is in the $450-500 range. They went for $400 when list price for a new one was $750. Now that it has gone up over $1K, the used market should be on the upswing for recent models.?

Now for what really happened;

In June 2006 2 Alembic F2-B preamps were sold on eBay; both were buy it now. 1 sold in 2hrs 31 minutes for $ 399.00 and the other sold in 5 hrs 31 minutes and went for $49.99. That?s correct $49.99. It was listed at 11:36 pm and sold at 5:07am the next day. The $49.99 unit works,The New owner said there are some scratches but no problems.

Today there is another F2 B listed for $800.00.

EBay as a pricing resource is unreliable at best. It has skewed the price of used guitars, automobiles and many other items.

mip · « **Reply #36 on:** July 17, 2006, 11:37:11 PM »

FWIW, the $49.99 Buy It Now had to have been a typo (consider how close it is to $499.99, a recent buy it now price for the same item). It's possible (though unlikely) that it was a huge gack by someone who had no idea what they were selling. But - you are right about ebay providing widely varying estimates of prices. What I miss is being able to get historical data on things sold. It seems completed auctions only go back 2-3 months now, whereas they used to go back a year or more.

bsee · « **Reply #37 on:** July 18, 2006, 08:43:35 AM »

Rich-

A Buy Now sale is not an auction. If the price is at the low end of the range, the sale happens quickly. This can serve to depress prices for others by creating hope in watchful buyers of a similar deal being repeated. They might be less willing to buy one for $499 if they thought $399 might come back around. It doesn't say that buyers won't pay $500 for them, though.

Both of the F-2Bs you identified were probably purchased by the first few interested parties to see the offerings. The $49.99 sale might have been slower because of the overnight hours or because the buyers were scrutinizing the listing a little bit longer. Personally, I would be afraid of an item offered on eBay at ten percent of its reasonable value. Pulling the quick trigger on that auction would make me feel I was risking my rating. I would certainly do a little communicating with the seller before actually sending money.

The new listing at $800 has maybe a 5% chance of someone taking the offer. Was that the seller that claimed these things never sold at discount? I suspect that you can buy a new one of these for a hair under $900 from the dealer network. The claim of no discount available makes the seller either ignorant of the market or attempting to deceive. Either way, it doesn't make for an auction that you want to look at to guage the market.

Without getting into a serious discussion of eBay, statistics, and economic theory, I think it's a pretty good source for information. I believe that free auctions do a pretty good job of showing the market value of most Alembic gear. I wouldn't count on any individual sale or short period for info, but watching over the course of several months or years can show trends pretty well.

Just my opinions and observations...
-Bob

kmh364 · « **Reply #38 on:** July 18, 2006, 11:15:37 AM »

Welcome to the site, Tony!

It's an honor to have such a distinguished pro player here amongst the club forum.

BTW, is there a way to get your CD without using PayPal? I'd like to buy it, but I'm not in love with PayPal's practices and security (or lack thereof). I'm in Joisey, if that helps.

Cheers,

Kevin

keith_h · « **Reply #39 on:** July 18, 2006, 11:44:05 AM »

Kevin,
I ordered it through cdbaby.com with my credit card.

Keith

senny · « **Reply #40 on:** July 18, 2006, 11:51:49 AM »

Hi Kevin,
Either CDBABY, or,Vintage Vinyl in Woodbridge, NJ..but call them first because they only had one last time i checked...
and i am very glad to be here..
Tony S

kmh364 · « **Reply #41 on:** July 18, 2006, 12:03:19 PM »

Done! Cdbaby.com it is! $12.99 plus s&h (20% discount for two or more). FWIW, Vintage Vinyl didn't have it listed on their site.

senny · « **Reply #42 on:** July 18, 2006, 12:48:22 PM »

When you receive it, please take note of the liner notes.. Much of the melodic and harmonic duties are handled by various bass guitars... i purposely orchestrated the music without a lot of electric guitar...BTW- i saw Allan Holdsworth last month at the Turning Point in Nyack...Jimmy Johnson was on bass, Alembic of course, and it seemed as if he was plugged DI into the house, with no amp... he was absolutely amazing, the whole band was..

dadabass2001 · « **Reply #43 on:** July 18, 2006, 02:49:25 PM »

Senny,
Yeah I saw a similar setup for Alan H, Jimmy J, and Chad W at a Drum Pad clinic here in Chicago (actually Palatine). Jimmy ran straight off a power supply and into the mains. All Jimmy had on stage was two floor wedge monitors.
... talk about reducing loadin and loadout, Very Cool!
Mike

senny · « **Reply #44 on:** July 18, 2006, 04:53:38 PM »

I met Jimmy Johnson back in 1987 when he played with Holdsworth at the Bottom Line in NYC.(playing a Yamaha because his Alembic was stolen)
I had already been in the biz since 1980, but
was a newcomer for sure.. After the gig, i hung out for a bit for the chance to speak with him.
I had a demo tape that i was getting around at that time, and Jimmy was very gracious to me, and expressed interest in hearing what i was up to, and was receptive to hearing the demo tape that i gave him..He's a class act.. not too self absorbed to hear that he's shaped lives and given inspiration to so many..That is a lot more than i can say for some of the big name bassists that i have met and been sorry that i did..I rarely gig live with my Alembic, but when i do, i run it in stereo-- neck pickup through an Ampeg B-18, bridge pickup through an Ampeg B-15...Also- interesting to note, i most often use the neck pickup only when i record with my Alembic-- i just recorded a new CD project with my Alembic in this way...Like a P bass , but better,,,, rounder and deeper..