Updated and corrected...
Welcome home 75-183, now affectionately known as Rosie. Well, almost. At least welcome back to the USA...
Several years ago I posted a note hoping to find the new owner of a Zebrawood Series 1, that I traded in for an upright, so I could buy her back. I purchased the bass from Guitar Ressurrection around 1992, for $1,050.00. The details are hard to remember, but I had just gotten married, and that was a lot of money for me. I think they let me put it on lawaway, or maybe I used a credit card. (Though I can’t imagine having a card, at that time, with a credit limit that high.). Of course I am the typical bass player whose world changed when I heard School Days, and dreamt of an Alembic since.
It was around ‘99 when I traded it in at Nashville Discount Music. ( I wanted the upright for jazz, and I had switched to a 5 string (a nice sounding Carvin, best I could afford at the time) because I was playing a lot of jazz charts written for a 5 string.) Every so often I would do an internet search, hoping to find the bass again. In 2011, she appeared online at Elderly Instruments. I saw it on a Friday, they were asking $3,500.00. Still a lot of money. I called and asked about making an offer. They told me it was just posted, so no reductions right now. I thought about it over the weekend and decided I would go ahead, borrow from the 401k, whatever I had to do. I called them on Monday... it had sold on Saturday.
In July of 2017 I posted a note here, hoping a member would know about it, but nothing that lead me to her. (I’m sorry, Mica, you asked for pictures on that occasion, but somehow I dropped the ball and did not respond.) Then, around October of this year she showed up on eBay, and was in Japan. I contacted one of the numerous eBay “sellers” of the bass and received some additional photos, but something wasn’t right. I found out how these sellers list other people’s property. (Funny, it is still listed for sale, though it was purchased and picked up 2 weeks ago.). Picure saw her on Digimart, Thanks Picure! so I looked there, but had some difficulty. Then RV-Bass posted a reply that he saw the bass on a listing at a store in a certain area of Japan. Thanks RV-Bass!! Then Eiji found it at a store, but for some reason I couldn’t find it there, I’m sure it was my fault. Thanks Eiji! Then ... Joe found the store where the bass was listed for sale and posted a link, and I was able to see the bass in their listing, and obviously for less than the eBay resellers were advertising. Thanks Joe!! If I did not list your name specifically, and you helped, please remind me! And thank you!! Without the Alembic Family here, there is no way I would have found her. Mica, Greg and others helped me identify her. And Greg probably was the one the pushed me over the top, encouraging me to pursue her. His comments on this bass’ uniqueness and rarity were persuasive. Thanks again to all of you.
Many of you watched the next phase unfold. I sent numerous emails to the store. I tried calling, but that didn’t work. They finally responded to email and the store was happy to sell, but could not ship due to CITES regulations. I felt almost back at square one, almost worse, knowing the bass was there but I could not have it. They said I could pick it up in person and would be ok, with regard to CITES, but no shipping. A trip to Japan would be fun, but not feasible... 2 kids in college, plus, I figured the bass would have a total price tag of around $10,000.00 once you add up all of the travel expenses. Never-the-less I began the research on CITES. The articles either told me I could bring it home, or I could not bring it home. Some had success, others , confiscation. Joe, Greg, Mica, and others joined in with helpful advice. Although Mica put another scare in me, She basically said if I get past the rosewood, there is the ban on Abalone to deal with! Joe had a good idea, so I emailed the shop and asked if they would remove the fretboard and sell me the rest of the bass. They did not want to start disassembling a 600,000 Yen Alembic. Again, thanks for everyone that ch8med in and educated me on CITES.
I called Elderly, to see if they would help me locate the person that purchased it from their website. I thought that person might still actually own the bass. Elderly would only reveal that a Japanese Collector purchased the bass from them in 2011. No contact or I’d details. (They still have the custom flight case I had made for it. I guess the collector did not want to pay the cost of shipping two cases.). I also asked if the would broker the sale for me. I thought maybe the collector was selling on consignment, and they had the relationship, and maybe they had experience with CITE permits. They politely told me that is not what they do. So, back, again, to square one.
One day my wife and I are talking with her mother, who tells us of her sister-in-law, Bonnie, and her Thanksgiving plans. She is planning a visit on Thanksgiving rather than Christmas, because her son Clint is coming home for Christmas, so she won’t travel then. “Coming home from where?” we asked. “Japan.” In unison, my wife and I said, “Tokyo?!” I learned how to Message someone on Facebook, and communicated with my cousin, despite the 15 hour time difference, and eventually sent him a check and asked him to go shopping. After only one (fortunately) wrong store, he located the bass, and FaceTimed me to make sure it was THE one. He bought the bass.
So now at least my cousin owns the bass, but getting it home is still an issue. He can’t ship it, it would have to go through one of the CITES ports, and who knows what would happen. He would have to take it with him on the plane. Even then, would a CITES official be at customs? I started looking at the process of obtaining a CITES permit. The process is fairly clear for musicians leaving the US to go abroad and play, then return. It is an import/export permit. Then there is an export permit. But it was not so clear about only importing. So I contacted a CITES official who told me if I could prove the age, I would not need a permit. Mica then was nice enough to help with the proof of age. But the official also told me I better check with his counter-part in Japan. I tried, but they would not return any emails.
We now think there is a good chance well get past customs\Fish and Wildlife in the US, but still don’t know if it can leave Japan, and then the other issue...will the bass make it back in one piece? I assume the plywood case is 43 years old also, like the bass it carries, so I didn’t have much faith in it. It appears to be held together mostly with black duck tape. I considered purchasing the old flight case from Elderly and shipping it to Japan, but my cousin said we didn’t have time to get it there before his flight. He looked for a local flight case to purchase, but to no avail. So he wrapped well with bubble wrap inside the case and we decided we would take our chances. (Delta was not very cooperative about bringing into the cabin and placing in the cloak closet, or even gate checking it. (Another concern was that it would be stolen from the baggage claim if Clint wasn’t the first to arrive.). On December 17th, at 6 am, I received a message that he and Rosie were on the plane.
My wonderful cousin, Staff Sgt (he said I could use his name) Clint Gardner, flew Rosie from Tokyo to Atlanta. Clint also named her, perfectly, after the wood of which she was made, which created the trouble in the first place. The funny thing... after all that concern about CITES... he received not one question about the composition or age of the instrument, or where it was made. Atlanta was only a stopover for Clint, he was changing planes and going on to his home. Unfortunately my son had a surgery scheduled for the same day as Clint and Rosie’s arrival. So Clint’s sweet mother volunteered to meet him and retrieve Rosie for me. This type of adventure is right up Bonnie’s alley. She is a musician, her other son is as well, and, years ago, Bonnie hired some piano movers to move a piano out of a second floor apartment. They had to use a crane of some sort to lift it from a patio, because it would not fit down the stairs, and no elevator. The movers were successful in lowering the panel to the back of a truck. Then the truck pulled off, only the piano had not been secured, and it fell off of the back! So Bonnie drove about an hour and met Clint at the airport yesterday.
I asked for photos all along the way to memorialize the story, and also, I wanted to see a photo of the bass after landing, so I would know she arrived safely. I have read stories of everything looking ok, no case damage, only to find a broken neck inside. So yesterday I receive a photo of Clint giving me a thumbs up, and pointing to a case in Bonnie’s car. I texted back... “that’s great, but open the case”! No response until several hours later, Clint said he didn’t have time, he had to run back into the airport to catch the next flight. No response from Bonnie because she was already making her return drive. Ahhhhhh!!!!
I still have not received a photo from Bonnie of the bass. I don’t know if doesn’t want to open the case, or ... we’ll, I can’t even think of the negative possibilities. I’m sure she is fine. I have a photo of her packed well in bubble wrap, and of the case with red Fragile stickers, so I am sure she is fine. The first chance I will have to go and get her ( about a four hour drive to Bonnie’s for me) is Friday.
Greg mentioned the bass was on a long strange trip. The trip continues. Hopefully on Saturday I will post some pictures when we finally get her back home. And hopefully they will be of a bass in one piece. I want to thank Mica, Greg, Joe, Picure, Eiji, Jazzyvee, and everyone else here that was helpful and encouraging. (Again, if I omitted your name, please forgive me and let me know.). There is no question that without this club I would not have found her. Thanks, Wickershams and all at Alembic for supporting this forum. Look for an update soon. Allen
