My first Series II just popped up on eBay....for $13K!!!

[malthumb]

Exhibit A for reasons to keep your Alembics close.  I’m pretty certain this is the same bass, even though they say it is a 1980 and I had pegged it as a 1979.  I gaurantee you I got nowhere near this price for it when I sold it in 2000.  I sold it and another Alembic to fund the purchase of my 5-string.  Which I still have, thank you very much.


https://www.ebay.com/itm/1980-Alembic-Series-II-SSB-Short-Scale-Bass-the-Ultimate-Stanley-Bass/153257867792?hash=item23aee17a10:g:qisAAOSwaPNb6Zzs


Here’s my Alembic Club post of the same(?) bass....


http://club.alembic.com/index.php?topic=8321.0

[gtrguy]

That's some in-yer-face zebra wood, all right! I guess he needs the high price to pay for the vintage red Porsche race car pictured in the first photo!

[keith_h]

The serial number stamped on the end of the fretboard in the 2nd to last picture says 1980. I can't make out the rest of the serial due to wear.

[edwardofhuncote]

Sure looks like the same bass, James, with that distinctive dark band through all three of the volume controls. Must have been tough to let it go! While that is a spectacular instrument of the highest order, I think the price is a bit unrealistic... I do hope the bass will ultimately end up in the hands of a(nother) appreciative player. 

Serial number looks like a very worn 80-1537... though the second digit in the sequencing might be a 6 rather than a 5. (I've been squinting at it for quite a while this morning, and digging through the old serial number lookups...)   

[malthumb]

It was tough to let it go.  But I felt like I REALLY needed a 5-string and wanted the 5-string to be a Series II.  Since I received two really awesome basses in June 2000, it soothed the sting quite a bit.  I still have both those basses (2000 Mark King Dlx 5-string w/Series II electronics and 1987 Series I).

[allgood]

So fun to see your old bass.  I know!  I had to get mine back from Japan.  Come on... what’s $13k, really? !   😉

[glocke]

13k...

wow..With prices like that I'll never get back into the Series bass game.  I don't really regret selling the SI or SII basses I had, as it was the right thing to do for me at the time, but I'd really like to have another one.

[edwardofhuncote]

If you're seriously considering it Greg, I would not take this ad as any real indication of what you'd expect to spend on a Series bass. Sometimes we just like to look at pretty stuff here. 

This comes up all the time. People can ask whatever they want to, but just for the sake of valuation, there is a vintage Series II Custom for sale by a member of this Board right now for about half that price. I know of one guy on here who bought an older Series I for about $1200. (though admittedly that was an extremely fortunate encounter) Most will fall in the $3000-5000 range depending upon condition, appointments, and upgrades performed.

That still ain't what most people call cheap, but then most people don't understand what the big deal is about these 'Olympic' basses in the first place. 

[malthumb]

Gotta agree with Edward.  If that bass sells for close to that price, I might have to reconsider what I do with mine.  It will likely go in the $6 -7,000 range, and even then it will likely take a lot of patience to wait for the right buyer to find it.