Bill -
Could be. So far, I've come across 12 instruments born in 2005:
4 Brown Basses
3 Tributes
2 Skylarks
1 Further
1 SC Deluxe
1 S2 Custom
so, 6 guitars and 6 basses.
Out of 61 2004s I've ID'd, 18 are guitars. So, based on a _very_ small sampling, over the past two years about 1/3 are guitars. If we look at only the past 12 months or so, it's almost 1/2.
Historically, based on a sample of 618 instruments:
303 49% 4-string basses
135 22% 5-string basses
30 5% 6-string basses
69 11% other or unknown type basses*
80 13% 6-string guitars
1 0% 12-string guitar
(* other includes 1 doubleneck and 1 8-string bass; unknown means it's a bass, but I don't know what the string configuration is)
From this, we can _very generally_ say that Alembic has, in its history and NOT counting instruments not included in the main S/N sequence (like anniversary instruments and some exports), built approximately the following number of guitars and basses:
6594 4-string basses
2938 5-string basses
653 6-string basses
1502 unknown or other type basses
1741 6-string guitars
22 12-string guitars
Again, this is all based on a very small sample of Alembic's total production, and so may be off by 5-10% on any given instrument type.
But it does give an indication of the historical breakdown, and confirms that Alembic is building as higher percentage of 6-string guitars now than they generally have in the past. Guitars really started to take off in 2002, when the Tribute and Skylark models were introduced. A lot of that can be attributed to the price point: compare Alembic's pricing to Fender and Gibson custom shop clones, or the pricier boutique makers.
And, based on the Little Bear prototype, I expect the new Darling style to be a BIG hit. The photo showing it next to the Les Paul really shows the small Balance K body to be a lean, mean, playin' machine. Total sonic versatility that weighs 2-3 lbs less than a Les Paul, and looks like a trillion dollars? Hard to beat that. Let's see how long it takes Mica to add it to the product pages and price list. :-)
nic
