Author Topic: (x) 91K6533 (Read 241 times)

jolly_rancher · « **on:** November 04, 2006, 09:56:49 AM »

I recently picked up this Alembic 5-string Epic used for $1200. It's a bit dinged up, and has some wear on the fretboard, including a small gouge in the fretboard at the first fret.

57basstra · « **Reply #1 on:** November 04, 2006, 04:50:50 PM »

Hello, Scott. Welcome to the Club. Have fun with the Epic!

David

jolly_rancher · « **Reply #2 on:** November 04, 2006, 06:53:35 PM »

I checked the serial number and discovered that it was actually an Essence. I didn't think they made Epics with neck-through construction.

jolly_rancher · « **Reply #3 on:** November 13, 2006, 12:00:23 PM »

Could I please have the build history on this bass?

David Houck · « **Reply #4 on:** November 13, 2006, 04:51:49 PM »

Hi Scott, congrats on the Essence! There are only a couple people at the shop who look up serial number requests, and they essentially do so in their spare time after the shop is closed. Sometimes it can be a while before an opportunity presents itself for catching up on serial number requests. As you can tell by glancing at the thread titles in this section marked with an X for completion, yours is not the only request waiting to be filled; so hopefully it won't be too long before someone has time to start pulling build cards and typing up responses.

mica · « **Reply #5 on:** November 17, 2006, 11:08:07 AM »

Hi Scott,

Here's the details about your bass - sorry it's taken me so long to get this researched for you:

Essence KLB5

top: Flame Maple
accent: Walnut pinstripe
body: Maple
neck: 7-piece Maple (is there a darker woo din the neck too?), 34 long scale
fingerboard: Ebony
pickups: MXY56
controls: volume, pan, bass, treble, mono output
originally made for: Make'n Music
birthday: May 20, 1991

The original owner was from IL. There's no other record of previous owners or repairs.

jolly_rancher · « **Reply #6 on:** November 19, 2006, 08:20:01 PM »

Thanks for the info Mica.

It looks like this bass has been a long time Chicago resident, for I found it in the South Suburbs less than twenty miles from where it was sold.

There is no other wood than maple in the neck. My one concern about the bass is that the neck laminates are beginning to separate. Do you have any advice?

When I bought the bass I was told that the original owner thought the pick ups were too rockin' for his taste and that Alembic sent him a new pair of jazzier pick ups which he had installed. I received the extra pick ups in the deal, and may install one of these supposedly rockin' pick ups in the bridge position to hear how it sounds.

I am a little confused about the controls. There is a volume and a pan, but I thought the other knob was a low pass filter. There is also a toggle switch which I believe to be a Q switch.

mica · « **Reply #7 on:** November 20, 2006, 11:05:59 AM »

You'r right - it was originally volume, pan, filter. I did a lot of history research last week, sorry about the mistake.

I doubt that the layers of Maple in the neck are actually separating. It's a natural process referred to as shrinkage. Each piece of wood changes at a different rate. You're likly feeling the joint between each piece, and the different dimension each has settled to. If you look at each joint in the bass, you'll probably find that there is a difference in dimension on each. The neck as it passes throgh the back of the body usually suffers the most from this. You can have the back of the neck refinished at some point if the feeling interferes with your ability to play the instrument.

I don't have any notes of the Q switch in the file, (but I just made one). As far as the pickups go, we tried to make a FatBoy like pickup in the MXY shell for a while. These may be what you have. It proved to be extremely difficult and so we do not offer these anymore.