(x) 1996 Epic 4 Serial Number: 96W9676

[Tennesseemick]

A local dealer picked a 1996 Epic 4 at an estate sale. Soon after, I stopped by, actually hoping to not find an Alembic , when I met the beautiful instrument he had. It is in pristine condition. 18 hours later, it was mine.

There is some original paperwork* in the original soft shell case. At the top of the page there is a request to notify y'all if the instrument is sold or stolen. Well, it was sold.

Since this was acquired in an estate sale, the buyer couldn't establish much provenance for the bass. He did relay that he was told that it's #24 in the Epic line and the owner was a collector rather than a working musician.

That is the purpose of this message. I'd like to know a little more about it. Is there anything particular about the 24th series in the line? Was it ordered or was it from a showroom? What model/series are the pickups? If it was ordered, what tone was sought and how are the pickups and controls matched? Some electronics are standard options and then there is custom work; I just want to know where along that continuum this bass sits.

Any information you may share is appreciated. Even if some questions are unanswerable, I appreciate your considering this request.

*The other information follows.
Date of Completion: 2/14/1996
Serial Number: 96W9676
Model Name: Epic
Top Laminate: Wenge
Tuners: Gold
Accent Wood: --
Inlays: None
Body Wood: Mahogany
Strings: 45, 60, 80, 105
Neck: Maple
Electronics: Volume, Pan, Bass, Treble
Fingerboard: Ebony
Veneers; Maple
Finish: Clear
Custom Features: --

Then there is a list of 20 people, technicians and craftspersons, who participated in building the instrument.

Aside from specifics of this instrument, I am wondering what year(s) Guitar Center carried Alembic. I couldn't find that information anywhere. Just wondering, though.... 

I love this bass! Yeah, I really love this bass.

[Tennesseemick]

Pictures of my Epic

[growlypants]

Congrats, and welcome!  Beautiful looking bass (and, nice looking dog, too!). You absolutely will not find a more helpful place than this to answer the kinds of questions you have.  Sit back, relax, and enjoy.

[adriaan]

With the buildsheet, you should already have all the information that a serial number lookup would provide.

Guitar Center was a dealer for a couple of years, and they had two special editions of 60 Epics, in 97 and 98. Both versions had a brass trussrod cover with "Special Edition / ... of 60" engraved, and a brass backplate, which doesn't match your picture - also, the serial number starts with 96, so it's too early to be in either of those runs anyway.

Perhaps there was another Epic in the original estate, that was "24 of 60"?

[Tennesseemick]

Thanks for the info. I was prettty sure mine wasn’t from Guitar Center because of the original paperwork that was included. I just couldn’t find anything about when GC carried Alembic. Your post confirmed that it was ordered by the previous and original owner.

Thanks!

[mica]

You do have what I have in the file, so that's confirmed. #24 in the series? I can't tell you what they meant by that. We don't track individual models, usually because it's just too hard to put custom instruments in categories. The bass was made for Shomaker Music.

Guitar Center carried Alembic basses in their stores from near the beginning when they only had 2 stores, until March of 1999. At that time, we actually stopped selling to all chain stores.

Glad you're enjoying your bass. 

[Tennesseemick]

Mica,
How would I find out what model pickups are in the bass?

[adriaan]

You can tell the pickups are MXYs just by how narrow the shell is on these. If you had pickups with the wider shells, those could be either AXYs or Fatboys. The MXYs are the same as AXYs on the inside but in shells that are closer to the size of the actual coils in an AXY. Fatboys have coils that are about as wide as the shell itself, around a magnet that is also wider, in other words Fatboys have a wide aperture just as the single coil pickups on the Series basses. MXYs and AXYs and Fatboys are all humcancelling, with a second coil underneath the pickup that cancels the hum - they're not humbuckers though.

[Tennesseemick]

Thanks. Just a few minutes ago I read the post about pickups.