Adriaan posted this take on a Darling short(er)-scale bass VI on a different thread.
http://www.alembic.com/info/fc_crossroads.html
Very adaptable.
I think there are a lot of ways to get where you want to, and still stay with the older patterns. It's just easier with the newer, more ergonomic ones. Mica and Susan know what works and doesn't, and to what degree... how much off-balance you can tolerate, and weight constraints are choices when doing a Custom, but just a couple of a couple hundred.
I went that road, and loved every minute... my Custom fretless 5-string was an amalgamation of the 20th Anniversary Omega pattern and some 1970's curves, with a 3+2 Elan headstock, a combination of old and new. The 20th Anniversary Omega was a compromise - a little bit bigger than a 3/4, a little bit smaller than a Standard Series. Then mine was to be a 5-string... which added just a smidge... but when the template was made, they smoothed out those curves to perfection. The Omega-cut; no two were alike. I sent pictures of about 10, and they nailed it.
Like you, I was an instant convert to medium-scale, from my first Alembic, a Persuader 5-string, so my Custom was built as a fretless companion to it. It balances about the same; both are biased heavy neck, but not to a degree that it's a problem for me. Contrast that with my fretless Hyak, a long-scale on a very small body. That scroll-body thing is uber-cool, but is an absolute bullfight with gravity. There's just but so much you can do with a design like that.
Now, have you thought about electronics yet? Because if you're staying with a fretless, there isn't any better (in my opinion) than East-Meets-West, which adds a rotary bass and treble boost/cut to the classic lowpass filter/Q-switch circuit of your Spoiler. Add the new pan preamp so you can better balance the pickups, put an AXY Fatboy at the bridge, and you're set.
Have fun at that drawing board!
Hi Greg,
Thanks for the detailed descriptions and the eye candy!
I've been thinking a lot about balance. I touched on some of that in my original post, but since then I've actually come to a different opinion on my SC Signature. I had set it up as a tenor a couple of months ago, and decided a couple of weeks ago to throw the previous set of Optima flats back on just to run through some songs and remember how that short scale neck felt. I set it up as close to my fretless Spoiler as I could get (1.5 mm at the 12th fret with just a hint of relief, compared to 1.5 mm and dead straight for the Spoiler). I also ditched the padded leather strap I've been using for one with a fleece backing and swapped the strap locks for standard buttons, and the neck heaviness became totally manageable. It may sound odd, but I think the strap buttons did have something to do with the improvement.
Anyway, that confirmed for me that even the shorter distance between strap buttons on the small standard body will work in terms of balance with the right strap. Unless I'm really missing something, that the longer distance with a 3/4 Spoiler body should give an even better balance.
I haven't settled on anything yet in terms of electronics. For a little while I was toying with the idea of single AXY Persuader setup, with an added Q switch. That was mostly to shave a tiny amount of weight, but I know that realistically I should be looking at something more versatile - although I must admit that while my Persuader basically does one thing, it does it exceptionally well.
I love the bass boost switch on my Distillate, so I also thought about Rogue/Europa electronics for a while. The bass switch is rarely off when I play the Distillate, but I think the reason I rely on it so much is that it brings me close to the warmth of the Spoilers' neck pickup location and the koa bodies.
Right now I'm leaning toward either Special or Anniversary electronics. I have really liked the extra definition I get from dialing in the SC's bridge pickup. For what it's worth, on all of my Alembics I set the filters about 25% of the way open and almost always have the Q switches on. I play about 99% finger style and like to have a strong fundamental. Regardless of the controls, one thing that's definitely in the plan is having the neck pickup right up by the neck to bring out the low end, like on the earliest Spoilers.
And just as I go to click "post", the light flickers on over my head. East-Meets-West is like a Distillate, Rogue or Europa, except that you can dial in as much cut or boost as you want instead of a single preset value - correct? I could see that working very nicely.
I figured that I'll mull over the electronics a bit more after I've sorted out the body shape and the body/neck wood recipe.
Ken
