Modulous alembic bassstar

[lembic810]

help! ive owned an old basstar that i dearly love and have always wanted to know more info.
had the bass 25 years was supposedly purchased in europe im the second owner. jazz body with an obl bridge and and bartolini neck. headstock says modulous alembic bassstar but no serial #.any help appreciated.

[mrben]

I have one of these too! It's a wonderful, if absurdly heavy bass. Mine's a P bass type body made of solid koa. With a P/J pickup combination of unknown maker and a gold Badass bridge. Mine has a profoundly deep, even tone, unlike any other bass I have, Alembics included, and as a souped-up Fender substutute it's quite brilliant. Not a substitute for my Series II however!
 
I recently emailed Geoff Gould, founder of Modulus, about my bass and he was extremely helpful about it. The neck is essentially an early Modulus graphite chopped strand affair. The body and assembly was probably by Stars Guitars, who apparently shared premises in San Francisco with Modulus at this early stage.  
 
Geoff Gould says the Almebic name was licenced to them for a short while, hence Modulus/Alembic title. I'd be very interested to hear Alembic's side of this story too! Later Bassstars dropped the Alembic tag I think.  
 
I've never taken the neck off mine but the serial number may apparently be on the hidden end of the neck.
 
Ben

[wcv]

You guys are in good company, if you look in John Entwistle's book Bass Culture (see Alembic Section), you will find that he liked his as well.
 
Bill

[David Houck]

Here are some threads:
 
http://club.alembic.com/Images/393/6673.html
 
http://club.alembic.com/Images/393/2455.html

[mrben]

Those old threads concur with what Geoff Gould told me in his emails.  In case anyone's interested (!), here are a couple of pictures of my Bassstar. It may not be an Alembic in anything other than the most nominal way but it's an interesting piece of history nonetheless and takes the Fender principle to great heights.  Ben  

 

  (Message edited by davehouck on September 09, 2007)

[palembic]

Great looking bass!!!
Very ...how should I put this ...classic?
 
Paul TBO
 
I really love the old long shaft tuning machines

[mrben]

Ah thank you, very diplomatically put! It certainly has character....
 
Ben

[bassman10096]

Very nice bass, Ben.  You are fortunate.  I like the wood and it's certainly a piece of history.  You seem to really appreciate it.  I've never found a Bassstar in both the right condition and at the right price.  Thus frustrated, I've always entertained the temptation to build a custom using a graphite replacement neck, a Warmoth (or other) body with choice laminates and Alembic p/j activators.  
 
Bill

[mrben]

I am indeed fortunate in that the very decent guy I bought it from in London, who'd owned it and constantly used it for ten years, didn't quite know what it was after all that time and had rather mis-advertised the bass. Thus the price was very right indeed. One of those hand over the cash and feel slightly guilty kind of moments.  
 
I don't know how many of these exist. Mine is the only one I've seen this side of the pond....
 
Ben

[palembic]

Hey Ben ...and you have an Alembic Series II ^ string too??
Mmmmm ...did I hear the PICTURES choir coming up??
Have you seen Jan the river one's Marylin???
 
Paul TBO

[bassman10096]

The last time that happened to me was when I traded a single pick up Ric (the sub-3000 model that was taken out of production because of its inferior performance) for a perfect, 2 month old Jazz bass.  The year was 1973.  Even at the time, I knew I had the better end of the bargain.  When I finally let go of the Jazz, it paid me enough that I could afford my first Alembic.

[mrben]

That's the way to do it alright, unfortunately I've done done deals the wrong way round a couple of times too, in case you mistake me for an inveterate deal stealer.  
 
Ah, yes Marylin, very beautiful indeed.  My SII's not blonde, but its beauty is in no way diminished.  I'd better get the camera out for a bass family photo but it won't be 'til next week when I'm back home...  
 
Ben

[edwardofhuncote]

This seems like an appropriate thread to deposit these pictures in. I found this pamphlet buried in an old case from the late-70's early-80's... no idea if it was intended as ad copy, or accompanied a complete instrument at one time. Don't even know how it got where it was! 

(any thread with Paul in it is worth a bump anyway)

[jwright9]

Very cool. Thanks for sharing those photos of the brochure.

[elwoodblue]

Neato.
 I love my BassStar fretless neck