Author Topic: Ebony Questions (Read 159 times)

photoshopdesigngeek · « **on:** April 09, 2007, 07:41:20 PM »

Hey guys,

Kinda new to alembics. Have a question about ebony. I've been checking around and I cannot find a strip of ebony anywhere that is long enough for a neck-through. Alembic does use one strip of ebony for the necks, right? Or do they splice two pieces together?

Also, Do they tint the ebony they use or is it natural? Do they cull the ebony that has the white grain in it? Is the ebony really that black naturally?

If anyone could answer these questions or give me a link to another post I'd appreciate it.

Thanks,
Ryan

the_8_string_king · « **Reply #1 on:** April 09, 2007, 08:43:03 PM »

Hi Ryan.

The Ebony neck laminates in Alembic instruments are continuous pieces of wood for the entire neck. They are NOT spliced together. Alembic doesn't splice together ANY neck laminates. Now the necks ARE cut at a diagonal angle at the peghead, and then the peghead is turned around at a 14 degree angle, and glued back on. This is to increase strength, and make it easier to repair broken pegheads when they occur. But the actual portion of laminates that runs from the nut to the tailpiece/end section of the instrument are continueous pieces of wood.

The ebony is NOT tinted. The black color is the natural color. My custom 8-String Europa has 6 Ebony laminates in the neck. While they are mostly black, there are naturally occuring small brown/caramel colored sections. They are pretty, part of the natural beauty of the wood, and I don't mind them.

You can see my bass' COTM thread through this link: http://www.alembic.com/info/8string.html

Further, if you go to the (Alembic) main page, click on Alembic Club (which you do to read/post here) and go to Alembic Basses and Guitar (instead of Miscellaneous -where you're at now) and scroll down and open up the Cool Necks! thread, you can see a pretty good close up of my 8-Strings' neck, and also of Rami's Dark Prince -which has a neck made completely of Ebony and Purpleheart. If you go to Factory to Customer and look up Mark's Custom 6-String Bass you can see my custom in progress, which has a center Ebony laminate. And if you use the Search function -look for it at the bottom of the page, and type in Ebony Neck Laminates that might help you find others.

Actually, a significant portion of the new customs in the Factory To Customer section and also a significant portion of the newer Custom of the Months in the Custom Archives (including this month's COTM) have Ebony neck laminates. Dig around and you'll find a lot of them.

They look great, and sound great. The effect on the alreadly awesome sound of Alembics has to be heard and experienced to be believed and appreciated.

photoshopdesigngeek · « **Reply #2 on:** April 10, 2007, 05:05:05 AM »

Thanks 8 string. Yeah, I've looked at alot of the basses on the site. Awesome bass by the way. I know you prob tune to a b and a c but what are the other two tuned to? i think my hands would be a little small. Lol

The reason I'm asking is cause I'm doing research for a bass I'd like to build. I would love to get an alembic cause they're amazing, but I don't think I could warrent paying a quarter of my income for even the best bass. Hopefully later in life that won't be a problem. Lol Anyway, I have called tons of suppliers on the net and nobody sells a five foot piece of ebony. I finally found a local guy that thinks he can get me a piece. I was just wondering why it's so hard to find.

Another question. Do neckthroughs have a rod in them or not? And if they do, then I guess they would obviously not be adjustable, right?

Also, as far as the finish goes, is there a special type of lacquer you're supposed to use or can you use what you would use for conventional woodworking? Just don't wanna mess up my tone or anything.

Thanks,
Ryan

adriaan · « **Reply #3 on:** April 10, 2007, 05:27:46 AM »

Ryan,

All current Alembics have two truss rods, both set-neck and neck-through models. Quite the opposite to what you think, but the truss rods make any Alembic an eminently adjustable instrument!

The earliest Alembic instruments had just one truss rod, and the couple of dozen graphite neck instruments they've made had none.

Bradley Young · « **Reply #4 on:** April 10, 2007, 08:11:50 AM »

Gilmer wood.

They have all sorts of cool wood.

mica · « **Reply #5 on:** April 10, 2007, 09:16:35 AM »

We don't dye or tint any of the wood. Not all the Ebony in the necks is pure black, you'll see various browns in some pieces. We avoid the sap wood in necks, but it's okay to use for tops if you like the look.

We do select Ebony for necks that is free from the typical cracking and checking. This isn't an easy task for the 48 length we need for a typical bass neck. The board is always a good bit longer than that to find the best parts.

If you don't have truss rods in your build, there's no way to change you mind about the action, and no way to react to the woods' reaction to changes in humidity without reshaping the fingerboard. Even a very stiff neck will react, we wouldn't build an instrument without at least 1.

photoshopdesigngeek · « **Reply #6 on:** April 10, 2007, 09:23:33 AM »

Yeah, now that I think, that makes sense. So does alembic sell five or six foot strips of ebony? If so how much would a good piece cost?

mica · « **Reply #7 on:** April 10, 2007, 11:01:27 AM »

Sorry, that wood is really hard to come by, I'm not inclined to share what limited supply I have. We actually don't sell any wood or wooden parts. We do sell pickups/electronics systems and harwdare though.