John -
I haven't been up to visit the factory for a few years now, but the last time I was up there, I don't think the build process was a lot different than in the 80s. In the 80's (and possibly going back to the 70's), Alembic was on the leading edge of instrument manufacture using a computer-controlled milling machine to cut fret slots and the sites for the standard oval inlays. This gave them the unusual ability for you to specify ANY scale length and nut/joint widths, which were all scaled by the computer and cut to spec. There was also some automation in the equipment that cut the brass bridge rails.
But back then, through the 90's and perhaps even up 'til now, everything else was done by skilled hands guiding power tools, and in many cases, hand tools. This means that your body was shaped with a grinder and your neck profile was probably finished with a hand scraper.
If you go to today's Fender factory or even Paul Reed Smith, things like body shaping are virtually completely done by CNC robotic tools. A rough block of wood is set on the tool table by a person who's not an artisan and the CNC mill does all the work. But this isn't how Alembics were made in the past (and again, I don't know if this is still the case today).
On my visits to Alembic in the past, it was clear that Alembic had invested heavily in having high quality tools and fixtures made to support the efforts, but the key work was done by people who were really, really good at their jobs. Unlike a Strat factory where automation help improve the quality of products where mass quantities of identical instruments are produced, almost everything going down the line at Alembic is slightly different which makes it difficult if not impossible to have CAD templates and CNC programming done for every aspect of the instrument.
There's often discussion about what it means for an instrument to be hand-made. Does that mean assembled from CNC parts by a skilled setup guy (a la Sadowsky)? Built by an artisan using power tools? Built by an artisan using only hand tools? I don't know of any place that builds instruments without power tools, but Alembic was as far up on that scale as any electric instrument manufacturer I've seen.
I happened to visit the Santa Cruz Guitars factory (fine acoustics) maybe 10 years ago and was fairly shocked to see an incredible LACK of power tools in construction. There were planers and bandsaws for cutting tops, but most of the tools were custom-built hand tools. The body shell-bending tools were manual, the edges of the tops were shaved with planes, the braces are cut and tuned by carving tools on long, bent extension arms. The clamps to hold the back and shell together while they're being glued is a box-like frame with about 50 pushblocks on long flexible wooden sticks. There was only one tool on the floor which was not guided by hand - a CNC mill that was used to cut the slot for their logo. Amazing stuff.
If full CNC would improve the quality of finished instruments, then I'm certainly not opposed to it, but there's a certain amount of pride that comes from having an instrument that was hand constructed by a team of aces.
David Fung
