Author Topic: Ed Roman dropped Alembic from Worlds Besat Guitar list? (Read 235 times)

jerico · « **on:** January 02, 2006, 04:39:30 PM »

Anyone notice that Ed Roman dropped Alembic from his world's best guitars list? They're still in the world's best basses list, though.

Justin

jalevinemd · « **Reply #1 on:** January 02, 2006, 06:59:03 PM »

Considering that 7 of the 12 names listed are Ed's own creations, I wouldn't pay too much attention to it.

alembic76407 · « **Reply #2 on:** January 03, 2006, 11:00:52 AM »

I dropped Ed Roman from my World's best Music store list, too
I hope he's not loosin any sleep, I'm not

jerico · « **Reply #3 on:** January 03, 2006, 03:25:59 PM »

Yeah don't pay him much mind. I found the drop interesting though.

Justin

lbpesq · « **Reply #4 on:** January 03, 2006, 07:35:03 PM »

If you click on the Alembic bass section of World's Best, Alembic guitars are also covered. Interestingly he identifies the Alembic guitars he carries as the Jerry Garcia Tribute and the Jerry Garcia Further.

Bill, tgo

grateful · « **Reply #5 on:** January 04, 2006, 02:25:49 AM »

But he refers to the Tribute and Further as stereo guitars. Really knowledgable guy obviously! (Sarcasm- LOL)

Mark, ago

bigredbass · « **Reply #6 on:** January 04, 2006, 09:55:36 AM »

Ed Roman certainly has a website!! I keep thinking next time I go there, he'll be selling the Arc of the Covenant and the Munster Coach. He certainly must be a legend in his own mind.

But I must admit that his 'rants' are just priceless, and the kind of inside stuff a lot of people won't talk about in broad daylight. I wonder if he's related to Jeff Berlin, another guy most people won't admit is right a lot of the time. I enjoy the rants a lot, and he's right a lot of the time. I get the feeling Ed could probably sell ice to an Eskimo.

J o e y

jlpicard · « **Reply #7 on:** January 04, 2006, 08:15:34 PM »

Ed certainly is a charactor! I had occasion to stop there on the way to the Phoenix Paul McCartney concert at the Glendale Arena last November with my keyboard player. It happened to come up in the conversation with Ed that my keyboard player owns Pauls old Steinway that he toured with during the Wings era,(true story) and suddenly it became a session of can you top this. Ed had to tell us that Elton John gave him a ridiculously expensive wristwatch in exchange for some gear..that the really big time people don't use cash..it's beneath them so they just trade you something of value etc..I'll say this much. He seem full of... ahem, interesting stories! I do appreciate his no nonsence approach to this business of ours.

keurosix · « **Reply #8 on:** January 19, 2006, 07:02:13 PM »

Hey, lighten up on Ed, he used to sell Harley parts. He may be sarcastic, but he tells it like it is. I got my first Series 1 from him back when his store was in Danbury CT. He was friggin anal about anyone coming into the store to try it out. You had to be Seriously considering a purchase. You had to take your belt off! you had to sit down and play it. You were forbidden to take it off the wall or put it back. Nobody played this guitar ever! It even had the paper on the brass plates still on the back, and not one single scratch! I actually traded equipment that I wasn't using for this guitar, and only had to pay about $1,000.00 cash after trade ins. It was a dream come true. They wouldn'nt even take the power supply and 5-pin cord out of the case for you to try it. Instead, they provided a mono guitar cable which only allowed one pickup to play. No wonder no one ever wanted it. It had original flatwound strings on it and it sounded dead as a doornail. But WOW! when I put on a new set of roundwounds it came to life! ED was great. I thank him for such an opportunity. This bass changed my life, and sold me to the Alembic sound!

2400wattman · « **Reply #9 on:** January 19, 2006, 08:26:13 PM »

After navigating through Ed's site enough I have assumated that he is a BUSINESS MAN & if you are going to talk to him or any of his salesmen about discounts or getting a deal you must be wanting and ready to buy. Also he wants to make sure that every guitar/bass on his wall is in perfect shape for the customer that will ACTUALLY BUY IT. If anybody will take the time and read his rants and technical articles he has valuable and sometimes money saving info. Read the one on pick-ups(it's a goody). I have heard stories that he is hard to deal with and so forth but I believe that with the kind of money that one can spend in his store or anywhere else should have their ducks in order like buying a car or a house etc. etc...

jlpicard · « **Reply #10 on:** January 21, 2006, 12:22:34 AM »

Actually, I was just having some fun at Ed's expense. I really like the guy. Believe it or not, more than once he has let me play the beautiful Buckeye burl Triple Omega five that he has posted on his web site for over an hour and for that matter, any other Alembic he had in the store. Unfortunately, it was sold before my latest visit. I make it a point to stop in every time I am in town. There is no other store on the planet as impressive as his, especialy the bass section! I even got a tour of his custom shop too! He can build just about anything that you desire.

lbpesq · « **Reply #11 on:** January 21, 2006, 09:25:29 AM »

Adam:

Where on Ed's site can the rant on pickups be found? I checked the rants list and pickups doesn't seem to appear.

I visited his store in Vegas last summer. Very impressive quantity, a little less impressive quality IMHO. Of course I go for the vintage/unusual/downright wierdo stuff. I spoke with Ed for a bit. He's definitely a character and can be entertaining, but I wonder about the accuracy of some of his claims. For example, I brought up the Bond Electraglide.

For those who never heard of it, the Bond Electraglide guitar was built by Andrew Bond in Scotland in 1984 and 1985. About 1400 total were built. It is a revolutionary, if not the most revolutionary guitar ever produced. The main features were one-piece carbon fiber construction, active electronics with LED readouts for volume, bass and treble settings, an external power supply ala Alembic, but using a stereo TRS phono plug, and the most unique feature, no frets! Instead the fingerboard, made of carbon covered (?) aluminum had a step system, kind of like overlapping roof shingles. VERY easy to play. VERY cool! I own three of the Bonds in good condition which I'm converting to one in excellent condition, one for sale, and one for backup/parts.

Anyway, Ed proceeds to tell me he knows all about the Bonds and that the company was financed by Mick Jagger's brother. While I don't have any personal knowledge about this, I have read about everything out there about the Electraglide and the Bond factory. Never has there been any reference to Jagger's brother, something that I would expect to have read about somewhere if this were true. (Some of the info I've read even came from Andrew Bond's kid). Ed told a great story, but I doubt he really knew his facts.

As for Ed's custom built guitars, after reading numerous negative reviews on
http://www.harmony-central.com/User_Reviews/ I wouldn't consider one.

Bill, tgo

2400wattman · « **Reply #12 on:** January 21, 2006, 06:04:41 PM »

Bill, The piece on pick-ups is under parts then click on pickups/Seymour Duncan. Just an eye opener on cost of production versus marketed price.