Longtime Club members might remember my bass, a 2007 Custom of the Month (
http://www.alembic.com/info/fc_monty.html ). Susan and Mica and the Alembic team helped me to realize my dream bass, which they dubbed ?Monty?:
There is an extensive build thread, ?Marc?s ?Simple? Bass?, in the Factory to Customer section of the Club (
http://alembic.com/club/messages/631/6455.html?1234137132 ).
The project extended over more than three years, due first to a shortage of Gabon ebony, and then due to my going through a lengthy divorce, which began while the build was in progress. After Monty was completed, the terms of the divorce forced me to sell my business and surrender most of the money generated from the sale, which was a huge financial blow. A couple of years later I lost my home in the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis. I was able to get an engineering job at the IBM semiconductor facility in Essex Junction, Vermont, but last year, just as I was getting back on my feet, I was laid off -- ?resource-actioned?, as they call it in IBMSpeak -- along with 12% of the workforce of almost 4000. There have been more layoffs since then, dumping more people with similar technical credentials into the relatively tiny Vermont job market.
I wasn?t able to find a suitable job in Vermont (where I?d like to stay if I can) during the term of my unemployment insurance. The circumstances of the IBM layoffs made me (and essentially everyone else who was laid off) eligible for a federal program called TRADE, which aims to improve employability through reeducation or continuing education. I?m back in school, at least through the Spring term and possibly through next summer, and hoping to return to my original field of mineral spectroscopy, which is being used increasingly in mineral exploration.
Meanwhile my financial situation has become pretty dire. I need to sell whatever assets I can to generate money to help tide me over until I can get back into the workforce. A good job is probably a year off, and probably not in Vermont.
Sadly, I have no choice but to try to sell Monty. I really don't have any idea of how to price her for sale (I know it may sound weird to call Monty ?her?, but ?guitar? and ?bass? are feminine nouns in languages that have gendered nouns, e.g., French, so I?m going with that as a model). I know what I paid in 2007, and Susan Wickersham has prepared an estimate of the cost to build her now, which is much more:
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Owning an Alembic bass was a dream and aspiration of my entire adult life. It was an incredible joy to be able to realize that dream, and it has been wonderful to be able to play Monty and enjoy her for these years. I wouldn't sell her if I didn?t need the money to survive. I'm posting here because my hope is to find an owner who understands what an Alembic bass is, and would appreciate Monty and get joy from owning and playing her.
(Message edited by adriaan on November 05, 2014)
