Fretless Essence on eBay

[edwardofhuncote]

Looks pretty nice. 


http://www.ebay.com/itm/253710771408

[CaseyVancouver]

Yep.

'played less than 25 hours'...!

[garyhead]

Less than 25 hours....good.....It wont need an oil change for another 75 hours!   

[deepwood]

Hey Everyone-


It has been a while! I had the good fortune of connecting with a very patient member last year who was selling a fretless, but the timing didn't work out and I missed the sale.


I REALLY would like an Alembic fretless, as I'm playing mostly fretless around town these days- and this Essence might be it...


I've contacted the seller. Seller says de-fret was done at the Mothership in '04, then uses Dana Music (Luthier in Delaware) as a reference? He can't locate the Alembic paperwork, and said I could communicate with "Dana at Alembic"? Hmmm. He says he's the original owner.   


Time is of the Essence (pun intended) as I'm off to the U.K. in a couple weeks, and will be playing the Fringe! Festival in Edinburgh come early August.


I'm not sure Mica can pull-off an emergency serial# search quick enough.  Any other recommendations to get to the bottom of this? Good questions to ask the seller? I'm a player (not collector) whose lucky enough to have a Rogue4 as my go-to fretted bass. I just love Alembics: Wickersham magic.


What kind of tonal-palette will the Essence provide with that wood mix? I have some idea, but others here know so much more.


Thanks for reading all this. I'm long-winded after a long day.

[edwardofhuncote]

I would just make sure the electronics are straight. I see no red flags here... looks like a nice stock Essence at a pretty fair price. If you can get any verification the Mothership did indeed do the fretless conversion then I wouldn't lose a wink of sleep over it. Maybe give Mica a call later... she may remember something.

As for what to expect, Essence is a fairly simple circuit. http://club.alembic.com/index.php?topic=237.0

It will be a little less adjustable than your Rogue 4, lacking the Q-switch and the Bass and Treble boost/flat/cut switches. Adding a Q-switch is also a fairly simple modification... you may not even find it particularly needful. If I'm not mistaken, the Q is always on (6dB?) when no switch is provided to toggle it off. With both of my fretless Alembics, I find that the Q is almost always on anyway.


Good Luck! 

[CaseyVancouver]

I agree with Mr Edwardofhuncote.

I have a 2004 fretless Essence. It is a wonderful bass. I have the q switch, but don't really use it. I set the bass to something neutral and forget about the knobs as long as the thing sounds good. It always does.

Nice weight balance, long scale sound, amazing build quality. A top shelf instrument

[adriaan]

Indeed if you have an Essence without the Q switch then the boost is always "on", an 8 dB lift around the cut-off frequency that you can vary by turning the filter knob. If you like what you're hearing then perhaps no reason to change. If you feel the accent is a bit strong, it's fairly easy to add the switch.

[gearhed289]

I'm a fan of the switch, and generally leave it off.

[sonicus]

I have a 92 Essence . It came into my life without the cue switch however  I opted to have the 3 position Q switch added as well as the dual trimpot pan pot and a brass block under bridge at the Mother Ship . I love these options .