Dela, that was quite tactless of you to mention the lost-in-transit incident. I mean really, he's practically just a kid, obviously hasn't had time to study up on his Buddhism (or oysters), so we need to be gentle and supportive.
At least you didn't mention the time where UPS nearly broke off the peghead on one of Wayne's - EEuuwwh, darn, I didn't mean to say that. Well nevermind, I happened to see that one while it was being spliced back together, and (though it was taking a while) it was clearly going to come out so close to perfect that you'd have to be within inches to see any traces, and it was going to play and feel as good as new. (No link here, it's not for the faint of heart.)
Someday we might have a further discussion on the different kinds of waiting. Clearly there are at least two major categories: waiting for Alembic to finish building, and then waiting for delivery (with variations such as coming up with the cash to finally pay for it, not having another bass in the meantime, and so forth).
As Kayo points out, having Alembic take a longer time is often not a bad thing. In my case, it meant refining the electronics (a major cause of further delay), getting the fancy new Switchcraft jack they introduced in the last few months, and at least one other innovation (in due course) - things I wouldn't have ended up with if I'd gotten it as early as I'd hoped. The extra build time really worked out very much in my favor.
This appears to be a very mysterious process, and I'm convinced that not even the folks at Alembic understand it. At one point, I switched over from asking when it would be ready, to how long can you be sure it won't be ready?, which was quite a bit more pleasant all around. As I think I said elsewhere, once you accept the fact that you really have no way of knowing when you'll get it, it becomes much easier to live with.
I'm one of the lucky ones who didn't have to deal with the agonies of shipping, Alembic being less than a two hour drive from me. But I admit (despite my alleged patience) that I've spent some time tracking other UPS or FedEx shipments (why is it stuck in Pittsburgh???). This is clearly a different class of waiting/anxiety, because you don't know the people involved, and you may have some reasonable grounds to be suspicious or concerned, and nothing that happens in this phase is going to improve the final result. But it's still totally beyond your control.
As long as we're on the subject, I might as well dribble out a bit more of my own story...
Once upon a time, there was an email from Mica saying, I'm really sorry, but it just isn't going to be ready for Christmas. Looks like it's going to be a News Years bass.
We had already missed Thanksgiving (a long shot, but originally possible) because the first neck turned out to be a reject, so we had a do-over.
Well, trying to manage my expectations, I emailed back to clarify, Does that mean I'll actually be able to play it on New Year's Day - week after next - or that it will be done sometime early in the coming year?, and as you've probably guessed by how long this is dragging on, it was the latter. And to jump ahead a bit, this was the end of 2002 (a year ago).
Okay, fine. Time passes, and eventually I start thinking it would be nice to be done by my birthday, in early April. Nope. Well then, maybe the planets will align, and it will be done by Mica's birthday, which by coincidence was the same day as my very first visit to Alembic (vaguely end of May).
After that, Doc (my official dealer at Guitar Showcase) very generously offered me the use of his birthday, late June or early July. But alas, it was not to be.
Time passes, and the arc of the sun gradually migrates from the north to the south... and that annoying late-afternoon glare returns to my kitchen once again. We bandy about the notion of being ready for Thanksgiving, but that's clearly not realistic.
Then I'm on standby for the last few weeks leading up to Christmas, we reschedule at least a couple of times, and (though I truly am incredibly patient, really), I'm at the point of saying let me just borrow it over the holidays, even if it doesn't have any electronics!.
Finally, I get the word to come up late Wednesday, week before Xmas. I arrive, curiously peering around the showroom expecting to get my first glimpse, everyone's being friendly, saying Hi, all that - and then Mica explains that they're having some last minute problem with one of the pots, so it might be a while yet... can you say AARRGGHHH?
But no, I wasn't at all stressed at this point. I was there, they knew I wasn't leaving empty handed, and I could tell that at least half a dozen of them (some just for moral support) were determined to stay all night if that's what it took. In fact, as it turned out, Ron had less than four hours sleep the night before, trying to get it finished in time. So I had a really wonderful chat with Susan, Mary made us all some coffee, I got to see a bunch of other beautiful instruments in progress, and finally - after two hours - got the first glimpse of mine (though it was a bit longer before I actually got to touch it).
And if I hadn't been so damned hungry by the time I finally left, I probably would have pulled over somewhere on the drive home to stop and take another look (an odd twist on the shipment style of waiting, no?). But we'll save the rest of it for chapter two.
So Paul - the allegedly angelic but ARRGHING Alembic anticipator - think of this as a character-building experience. It will come (possibly even before I finish rambling, given the time difference, who knows), and it will be wonderful. I'll just suggest that the more you can relax before then, the better you'll be able to appreciate it. Good luck.
But by all means, let us know the moment it arrives :-)
-Bob
