I find it impossible to swallow that Alembic had the wrong serial number posted on the day you posted the serial number of the stolen bass on these boards. The only reason I became involved with this instrument is because the serial number you posted matched what was then on the list of stolen instruments. So, when did they supposedly post the wrong number and change it?
TBO I still don't know what the real serial is. According to the owner it's 1636, it looks more like 1633 to me, but again worn from 25 years of slapping. I was not even aware of the stolen bass page, my original post on the bass was my first visit here and it takes some navigation to find all these different pages (ex, where is that body shapes page again?). I only became aware of it after I returned it to tom. That night I checked and they had it listed 1635, I checked back later to see if it was still on there, it was with the serial 1636, I believe tom told them that was the serial but it still looks more like a 3 to me. So it was only changed after the bass was returned.
If you really couldn't read the serial number, why didn't you edit your post to say that it could have been 1633, 1635 or 1636 when asking for information instead of editing your post to make it seem you were certain it was 1633? If you thought that 'your' bass might be 1635 or 1636 at that point and you saw a matching serial number on the stolen instruments list, why didn't you contact Alembic then to make sure you had a legitimate bass? If I remember your original post, you did come by this bass under peculiar circumstances and at a ridiculously low price. None of these things made you wonder?
I did say something similar to that, that I couldn't read it clearly, and I was at work going from memory, which is %100 true. 1633 is the number I posted, and as I said because of the wear there is confusion. Alembic said 1635, tom says 1636, I say 1633. I suspect Alembic's original number was the correct one. You ask me why I didn't notify them that I had one on the stolen page, again I didn't at that point know such a page existed. Why didn't I contact them? What do you think my post was, a friendly hello? I posted details of this bass and was given no indication it was hot until tom emailed me.
And you imply that I was trying to make it look like 1633 was the number. Go back to the archives and look at it, I deliberately said that I wasn't sure what the last number was.
A note about the rediculously low price: I've been playing for under six months now and had no idea what an Alembic was. I knew it was a fine instrument, actually if it hadn't had the trussrod plate engraved with alembic I might still have it, not knowing what it is. At the time 800 seemed like a lot to me for a used bass, although now I know different.
Finally, you posted several message over the course of a few days when you received the bass. You seemed awfully keen to know about the construction at the time, and then edited the serial number out of a post and stopped asking. Just an observation, but interesting under the circumstances.
Not hearing a response made me wonder, maybe I had posted the wrong number, maybe they were too busy at the moment. And no I did not stop replying, I was waiting for a reply and answered the second I received tom's email. To say I stopped responding is a gross mischaracterization. Either way at that point I was begining to understand what an amazing company alembic is an what a fine board this is, and did not want to seem like an IMPATIENT NUISANCE to alembic. I already explained why that edit was made, because at that point it seemed pushy and needless to post another number FROM MEMORY that may or may not be right. I was expecting a birth report on 1633 at that point.
And of course you're not saying I had any part in stealing it, that would be slander. It was gone for four years and all of a sudden I'm going to pop up on this site? Not likely actions of a thief. I'm sure it went through many hands before arriving in mine.
To finish, the owner, the authorities, and mother susan herself have all been involved in this and have never implied that I did anything wrong. For me that's enough and should also be instructive for you I hope.
