Author Topic: ETA on basses... (Read 936 times)

benson_murrensun · « **Reply #60 on:** December 15, 2009, 09:53:24 AM »

The good thing about coke ('caine) is that it enables you to drink more whiskey and stay awake. And the thing about whiskey is that is makes you want more coke. It's symbiotic!
Have we strayed from the topic of the thread? Again?

David Houck · « **Reply #61 on:** December 15, 2009, 09:53:44 AM »

Adriaan; coke did indeed come in bottles at one time. Cocaine was one of the primary ingredients in the original version of Coca-Cola. And yes, Coca-Cola was declared kosher in 1935, but long after cocaine was removed as an ingredient.

hydrargyrum · « **Reply #62 on:** December 15, 2009, 11:11:26 AM »

As long as we're going round the bend in this thread, I'll chip in a bit of useless trivia. It is my understanding that Coke for passover is different than coke for the rest of the year. In order to be kosher for passover, corn syrup cannot be used, and instead, beet sugar is substituted. Funny enough, this is closer to the recipe for coke as it used to be, before the switch to high fructose corn syrup, and some claim to be able to taste the difference.

lbpesq · « **Reply #63 on:** December 15, 2009, 11:17:26 AM »

In California, there are some stores and restaurants that carry coke from Mexico where it is still made with real sugar. The difference in taste is quite significant. I hate the common corn syrup coke. I really enjoy the Mexican sugar coke. And the price has come down considerably from the days when it cost $100 per gram! lol

Bill, tgo

(Message edited by lbpesq on December 15, 2009)

bracheen · « **Reply #64 on:** December 15, 2009, 11:28:08 AM »

This is sorta related to snorting coke. I have the particularly useless abilitiy to smell the difference in diet coke and regular coke. (a cola)

Sam

adriaan · « **Reply #65 on:** December 15, 2009, 12:59:06 PM »

Diet coke - like anything containing artificial sweeteners - tastes pretty bitter to me. Then again I don't like most natural sweeteners other than refined white sugar ---- honey, cane sugar - yuck!

Alcohol and 'caine is a pretty bad combo. Once saw a co-worker continue to drink heavily and not keel over - scary.

cozmik_cowboy · « **Reply #66 on:** December 15, 2009, 01:30:40 PM »

Sam, I have a friend who goes into anaphalactic (sp?) shock with diet - your ability would be quite useful to him!

Did you hear about the guy who got busted snorting Sweet'N'Low? He thought it was diet coke.

Peter

hb3 · « **Reply #67 on:** December 15, 2009, 08:56:33 PM »

As long as we're going round the bend in this thread, I'll chip in a bit of useless trivia. It is my understanding that Coke for passover is different than coke for the rest of the year. In order to be kosher for passover, corn syrup cannot be used, and instead, beet sugar is substituted. Funny enough, this is closer to the recipe for coke as it used to be, before the switch to high fructose corn syrup, and some claim to be able to taste the difference.

I was really obsessed with this for awhile. Passover Coke is the same as Mexican Coke. I believe the plastic bottle cap on Passover Coke is yellow. Mexican Coke is occasionally available at BevMo, but very inconsistently. There are sometimes strange shipments to places like KMart, but it's usually gone before you find out about it. In Europe, I understand you can pretty easily find Coke from different countries, all with unique variations in character.

peoplechipper · « **Reply #68 on:** December 16, 2009, 11:09:44 PM »

Wow, this thread derails bad! but I just had to say a cocaine and scotch hangover sounds like one of the worst things ever...ow. Tony

dhoch · « **Reply #69 on:** January 12, 2010, 05:07:11 AM »

Wow this thread really took a turn for the worse after I stopped posting too it.

An update (for those who are interested).

I got some pictures (from Mica) on the 16th of December:

Hi Dave,

Thought you'd like to see your bass very nearly completed. It's rubbed out and will be setup any day now and it's really really pretty.

Best regards,
Mica

Since then I've sent two emails asking for an update and haven't heard back.

As I said in the very beginning of this thread I'm more than willing to wait, AND I'm willing to wait through fixes if there is communication (I run a software business generating $33M/year, so I have to know about customer service and communications, it's part of why my customers like me), but again I'm disappointed in the communication from Alembic.

Dave

jacko · « **Reply #70 on:** January 12, 2010, 07:47:05 AM »

So you've had a personal email from Mica (who seems to be very busy these days) which included photos. Sounds to me like that's more than any other company would do. You have to remember that Mica's job is running a very busy musical instrument workshop, not a website or a photographic studio. The fact you've not had any correspondence over the holiday period and the start of the year (which has traditionally been very busy for Alembic) doesn't surprise me at all. If you really want updates you should phone them.

Graeme.

(Message edited by jacko on January 12, 2010)

rjmsteel · « **Reply #71 on:** January 12, 2010, 08:42:34 AM »

I have to agree with Graeme. I did not expect to hear from them, (on my custom build), during the holidays either, considering that they are a small family business.

the_jester · « **Reply #72 on:** January 12, 2010, 08:45:45 AM »

Dave, your bass will be awesome bro.

Story-Time... (A interview with Stanley Clarke)

Interview Question:

What's the coolest recent addition to your bass set-up?

Stanley Clarke:

The coolest thing for me was getting a new bass. I've been using an Alembic bass for a long time and it was getting trashed and I never got a fret job on it because it just had this sound. I remember years and years ago I had a bass that I liked and I got a fret job on it. It changed everything so I just never touched this bass. Instead, I got a bass that was a duplicate of this bass. I had the Alembic people come to the house. They came in and they measured this old bass and duplicated it perfectly. The new bass is probably the best instrument I've ever had. I think it's tremendous, tremendous, the best thing they've ever made for me was this instrument! It's so nice that I actually look forward to playing it. You know what I mean? It really sounds good!

Interview Question:

So the duplication process came off well?

Stanley Clarke:

Yeah! It came off perfectly. It's much better than I thought. I mean they brought their measuring sticks. They measured every part of this bass. They literally duplicated everything down to the wood, the size of the neck, the frets, the weight of the particular wood, the machines, the hardware, the separation of strings, every little nuance of the bass. They wrote all the information up and then, maybe a year later, they came back with the bass. I plugged it in and it was like the cleanest, coolest-sounding bass that I've ever had. It had this amazing sound, actually better, it sounded better than the original red bass! Amazing! They told me they got lucky. The wood was right, it had the right temperament to it, it vibrated and it was just perfect, everything was perfect, so I'm really happy about that.

Analysis:

Stanley Clarke waited around a year for his new bass and was very pleased with the bass, and Alembic's customer service.

Dave, I don't see the relationship to the critical and urgency needs of software as a fair comparison. Both areas of interest, operate on different clocks and technologies.

Custom Software is easily created, and could be easily copied and distributed to the masses within seconds.

Alembics are not copied. Every bass is an original, and made exactly for each customers needs.

Sorry, I just don't get your point of all the millions your business is generating because of it's great CS.

Alembic shines on project completion.

Ref: http://gc.guitarcenter.com/interview/stanleyclarke/

Peace and Love,

Hal-

(Message edited by the_jester on January 12, 2010)

adriaan · « **Reply #73 on:** January 13, 2010, 12:17:06 AM »

Hal - not all software is for the masses. Even so, software is not easily created, and cannot be easily copied and distributed within seconds.

You may be thinking of tweets on Twitter, but that's content, not software.

the_jester · « **Reply #74 on:** January 13, 2010, 12:46:42 AM »

Not all Alembics are for the masses either...

Some software is for the masses.

Some software is easily created.

Some software is easily copied and easily distributed within seconds.

I never used Tweets or Twitter in my life, but if those sites are hosting content, they are using software to do this. If Twitter is on a application server, it's running software.

It's take seconds to copy some software, and it takes months to years to make an Alembic.

Apple and Oranges for the sake of discussion, and it means nothing to the price of tea in China.

Love and Peace,

Hal-

(Message edited by the_jester on January 13, 2010)