series II Graphite lefty

[jazzyvee]

Not something you see often and first lefty i have seen  with a graphite neck  These must be rare.https://reverb.com/item/37445131-alembic-series-ii-2-4-string-bass-w-modulus-graphite-neck-lefty-left-1982-birdseye-maple

[gtrguy]

Also on EBay:


https://www.ebay.com/itm/Alembic-Series-II-4-string-bass-w-Modulus-Graphite-neck-lefty-left-handed/203206127413?hash=item2f50076f35:g:s5cAAOSwdo5fx-IB

[dela217]

Very rare!    Think about it a left handed Series II.   Graphite neck, and MEDIUM scale!   Gotta be the only one.

[ed_too]

OK...turns up on my birthday...nothing else to do during the pandemic...but, what about about that possible delamination at the peghead...any input anyone (Mica?)


Be well,


Ed

[ducatidoc]

OK...turns up on my birthday...nothing else to do during the pandemic...but, what about about that possible delamination at the peghead...any input anyone (Mica?)


Be well,


Ed

Dollars to donuts it’s a problem with the different expansion coefficients of the two materials, ie the graphite and the wood. I guesstimate that all of the graphite- necked basses show this to some degree or another,, although this example is pretty noticeable.

[ed_too]

David - that is a very well reasoned hypothesis - anyone with a graphite neck have any similar experience?

[dela217]

I had to go back to the original listing to have a peek.    Wow.    I have never seen anything like that delamination before.    I also checked my Series II graphite necked bass.    No delamination at all.    Can't even feel the seam.   I have no clue.

Maybe Mica can shed some light.   Those headstocks are not like the wood ones.   The headstocks on the graphite necked basses are hollow.   At least mine is.

Michael

[ducatidoc]

I had to go back to the original listing to have a peek.    Wow.    I have never seen anything like that delamination before.    I also checked my Series II graphite necked bass.    No delamination at all.    Can't even feel the seam.   I have no clue.

Maybe Mica can shed some light.   Those headstocks are not like the wood ones.   The headstocks on the graphite necked basses are hollow.   At least mine is.

Michael

Just a thought here, Michael. Has your bass ever been heavily "thermo-cycled" ? For example, has it seen time in an airplane cargo hold, first on the hot tarmac followed by a few hours at 35K feet, then back to ambient ground temperature ? The actual term is thermal expansion coefficient, but the bass would have to be subjected to some swings in temperature in order for it to rear it's ugly head.

Now we really do need for Mica to weigh in. I know the mothership sort of phased out the graphite necks in the early 80's.

[dela217]

Nope.   Never thermo-cycled.    It never goes anywhere.

[ducatidoc]

I hear ya’.  Mine get coddled better than most babies as well.  The Co-e of the graphite would be essentially zero. The wood sections would be doing the shrinking and expanding.

[mica]

Wow! That's an amazing piece of Bird's-eye Maple. No, I haven't seen a "delamination" as that before, but I see a chunk missing at the tip of the peghead. There are a lot of cracks in the top and body. This bass simultaneously looks clean AND abused. The graphite does in fact change dimension - it's not entirely graphite. But it's very small compared to wood.

[gearhed289]

I see a chunk missing at the tip of the peghead.

I was actually thinking it might have taken a hit hard enough to cause those cracks.