Author Topic: Hole in my Alembic (Read 754 times)

lysosome · « **on:** May 30, 2006, 09:44:23 PM »

Hello all. I've had my '83 Spoiler for about 4-5 months now. I bought it from my boss, who sold it to me for a very generous price. The whole bass is in decent shape (nothing spectacular, but it is 23 years old) except for the lower right side of the body itself, where there is a hole. I'm not sure what happened to it, or why the hole is there, but it is. Actually, it seems like when the electronics were messed with (there is no 4-way switch/knob), they removed something, leaving a hole. The hole is about the size of a quarter..just a big gaping hole in my bass. I was wondering, what would be the best way to fix this up (cosmetically)? I'll post some pics if I can. Thanks in advance.

David Houck · « **Reply #1 on:** May 31, 2006, 03:02:25 PM »

Yes, a picture would be helpful. How have the electronics been changed? (I can't remember if this has been discussed before.) Looking at this picture, it does look like the hole is where the selector switch was; and it looks like the knobs are not stock. I can't tell from the picture if the Q switch is still there. If the selector switch is gone but the rest of the original electronics are intact, then you could get another selector switch or even a pan control.

lysosome · « **Reply #2 on:** May 31, 2006, 03:08:09 PM »

The hole is below the jack in that picture. No, the knobs are not stock; theyre brass. there are 2 knobs; a volume and a tone. i'm not sure if the tone knob is stock or not. about half way up, its at high tone, then anything past half way up, it has a wah type effect built in, which is pretty cool. and, there is a pickup 3 way selector switch.

i'll do my best to have some pictures up by tomorrow, or maybe even tonight if possible.

David Houck · « **Reply #3 on:** May 31, 2006, 03:12:09 PM »

While you're taking pictures, take some of the inside of the electronics cavity.

lysosome · « **Reply #4 on:** May 31, 2006, 03:16:03 PM »

I found this Spoiler, which looks alot like mine. I used paint to change it around and labeled everything according to how mine is set up. I'll have some actual pictures tomorrow.

keith_h · « **Reply #5 on:** May 31, 2006, 03:34:31 PM »

If it wasn't for the size I would have thought it might have been for the power LED some of the older basses had. Could the old jack hole have been damaged so someone enlarged and moved the jack to the LED hole?

Keith

David Houck · « **Reply #6 on:** May 31, 2006, 04:04:00 PM »

Jimmy; there's definitely something strange going on here. Without seeing the real pictures yet, my guess is that someone stepped on a chord, yanking the plug straight down and cracking the top around the jack. The jack appears to have been moved to where the Q switch was located. The volume has been moved to where the filter control was located. The 3-way pickup switch is located where the original pickup selector switch was located. And the tone control may be the original filter control, since, as you described, it still partially has the wah effect.

In my personal view, I think consideration should be given to more than just a cosmetic filling of the hole. I think as a first step it would be helpful to determine the current state of the electronics.

David Houck · « **Reply #7 on:** May 31, 2006, 04:10:34 PM »

Keith; it took me a while to post my response and I didn't see you suggestion. I didn't think about there being a power LED.

keith_h · « **Reply #8 on:** May 31, 2006, 04:47:05 PM »

Dave,
I don't know the old instruments well enough to know what goes where. I think your description of the current jack being where the Q switch normally resides is correct. The one thing that I am pretty sure of and you brought up also is that the original jack hole had a problem so the jack was relocated to another location in the cavity.

Jimmy,
If it is only the Q switch that's missing you could see about adding an inlay to fill the body hole. This would also provide a place to remount the Q switch.

Keith

lysosome · « **Reply #9 on:** May 31, 2006, 05:47:37 PM »

Actually, I moved the jack to where it is now. It used to be where the hole is; they just had some kind of cover on it, but it eventually fell off. Since it would have ripped the wires out if I had left the jack there, I put it in the spot where it is now. there was also an empty hole there, but the jack fit perfectly in, so i decided to just leave it alone.

lysosome · « **Reply #10 on:** June 01, 2006, 08:09:13 PM »

Ok, here are some actual photos

keavin · « **Reply #11 on:** June 02, 2006, 05:45:34 AM »

what i would do is get some sort of pick guard custom fitted so that it would look as if it were an original part of the bass......thats a nasty little hole!

lbpesq · « **Reply #12 on:** June 02, 2006, 07:10:04 AM »

Good place for an inlay, maybe? Sort of like Jeff's Dire Wolf?

http://www.alembic.com/info/fc_direwolf.html

Bill, the guitar one

lysosome · « **Reply #13 on:** June 02, 2006, 12:22:01 PM »

Yeah..I had considered both of those ideas. I'm not sure what I'm going to go yet though...just curious, about how much do you guys think this bass is worth with that damage? The rest of the bass is in fairly good shape; there may be a small ding here and there, but this is the only part of it that looks BAD. I paid $900 for this bass..do you think it was worth it? And about how much do you think I could get out of it if I was to put it up for sale?

keavin · « **Reply #14 on:** June 02, 2006, 04:53:10 PM »

I would only sell it after some sort of repair mainly because who' ever purchaces it from you might not want to give you what(you) paid for it.so it's your best bet to fix & perhaps play it,......dont feel bad my old alembic has been decapitated several times over the 26yrs ive owned it & it's still my main bass for gigging still today