Just got my first Alembic

[dgansz]

Greetings, all--

I've been a guitarist my entire life, and I'm pushing 60 years old.  I just picked this up this 28" scale custom, and even an old guitarist can play it!

Cheers,

David Gansz

[fmm]

Congratulations!

[goran]

Congrats, beautiful bass!

[keith_h]

Congratulations on move to the low end though you might find it habit forming.

The scale is not measured from nut to bridge. You measure it from the nut to the middle of the 12th fret then double it. For Alembic the standard scale lengths will be 30.75 inches for a short scale, 32 inches for a medium and 34 inches for a long scale. Most likely it is a medium or maybe a short scale.

[dgansz]

Thanks for the scoop.

I'll re-measure the scale tonight as per your directions and let you know...

Cheers,

David

[edwardofhuncote]

Welcome to the Alembic Club! (again!) 


Keith is 100% right, doubling the measurement from nut to 12th fret is the most accurate way to determine scale length, but your bass is most assuredly a 28" scale (originally piccolo-tuned) Custom. Here is another 28" scale Custom Alembic made for standard pitch tuning- http://club.alembic.com/index.php?topic=7466.75

[dgansz]

Interesting!

I'll wait for Mica to chime in with the original specs.

While it arrived to me tuned piccolo, the tailpiece slots and the bridge and nut grooves handled the 45-100 string set without any filing or modification necessary, leading me to believe this left the factory originally intended for standard tuning...

[dgansz]

The plot thickens.

Measuring from the nut to the middle of the 12th fret yields 13 1/2".  Doubling that = 27 inches.

So is the scale 27" or 28"

[gearhed289]

That's actually 14'' to the fret. I think by "middle of the fret", Keith meant the actual fret wire, not the space between. Cool bass! Looking forward to seeing the specs.

[dgansz]

Aha!

Many thanks for the clarification.

28" it is, then.

Cheers,

David

[StefanieJones]

What a nice looking bass! I never knew they came with that short of a scale. Supercool!

[dgansz]

I'll be curious to hear from Mica if this is the first 28" Alembic bass, as it dates from 2006.

The other one I know about is from 2009: http://club.alembic.com/index.php?topic=7466.75

[mica]

I'd be curious to know as well, but we just don't track individual attributes - there are just too many variable to monitor!

[dgansz]

 

[jazzyvee]

There are shorter scale custom basses made by alembic.
This one ordered by Edwin Van Huik is a piccolo bass that was for his daughter and the scale length is 25.5 so not standard pitch tuning.