The Featured Bass in the Window

[hendixclarke]

http://www3.alembic.com/img/inst/13752_plate3L.jpg

[terryc]

Does a Digitech Whammy pedal do the same as a mechanical vibrato??
When I spoke to Mica back in 2000 I mentioned the Bigsby on Stan's bass and he requested it so they did it for him.
You can hear him use it on the title track 'I Wanna Play For You' after the one of the chorus lines..
I agree with the majority..could not bring myself to do that modification..maybe on a cheap bass but not my MK signature

[hendixclarke]

...And thought I was the only one scared to put a bigsby on my Alembic...(I can't do it)
 
Scan upward, and you should see my blue fretless bass with a bigsby. It was easy to support this idea on my blue OHara bass. But to be honest, my OHara is a limited production bass too. You will never see another bass like this on the planet, for this is the only one around.  
 
My Alembic (pictured next to the blue bass) didn't have enough room for the bigsby anyway. The OHara had much more room, and it plays great. I never seen a fretless bass with a bigsby, so I would be the first to try it  
 
Sound wonderful too.

[blazer]

Not too long ago I put a Kahler bass whammy on a Cheap musicman copy for a customer who wanted to do the kind of tricks that Les Claypool does on his bass.
 
I'd say the Kahler works a lot better than a Bigsby and can be fine tuned to meet certain demands on how smooth or stiff the player wants it to feel.

[811952]

The Kahler is worlds apart from the Bigsby in terms of elegance and functionality.  The Bigsby looks really cool though..  

[81distillate]

I have a new Kahler Hybrid on an Ibanez Prestiege that Ive tricked out to be like Vic Wooten's Fodera.  The Kahler is awesome in many ways, but the most being larger mass and contact with body wood, plus springs returning the string vibrations back into the strings, much like the Alembic brass tone bar.  Bending harmonics is cool, too.  I spoke with Brian Barrett at the Low End about modding my Distillate with a Kahler and of course, he thought it would destroy the value.  My 1981 Distillate looks showroom new with only minimal wear on the hardware and ultra-fine scratches in the finish from cheap polishing clothes that I have almost removed with Smith Classic Polish!