A light weight bass

[Charles David Tichenor (alembic76407)]

Mica, has Alembic ever tryed to build an ultra light weight bass that still has all the sound of an Alembic, or does the weight have somthing to do with the sound. Whats your thought on that.
David T

[richard campbell (bigfoot)]

Great topic! Having thought about this for years with a back that has recurring (congenital) problems, and Loving the sound of my Alembics SO...  
     My feeling is, having played many many basses, the mass density of the neckwoods, which is the bulk of the weight, is necessary for the even-ness of the instrument's tone.  
     My graphite bass is much lighter, and as I recall that was one of the reasons for Alembic's experimenting with the material. The graphite on mine is stable, luckily, and playable. The tone of the graphite bass (Series I long) is considerably different than my wood one (medium Series I fretless); brasher, more aggressive, brighter. I love it. The graphite resonates very evenly, and what sustain ...  and it IS much easier to bear on the wearability index...
       

[mica]

What do you define as ultra light weight? An Essence 4-string typically weighs in at about 8.5 pounds, which in Alembic terms is pretty light. I know I'm used to heavy basses spending my entire life at Alembic, so the Essence is ultra light weight to me. I've seen some makers build basses that are down to 4 pounds. I think our hardware and pickups are almost that heavy on their own.  
 
It's a sad truth for your back, but in my experience, the heavier the bass, the heavier the sound.

[Wayne McLemore (wayne)]

Mica, I think you're being generous .... I'd swear that the Unicorn weighed half as much when it was naked.  That would make the hardware and electronics weigh in at closer to 7 pounds....
 
C-Ya............wayne