Paul,
I'm one of the lucky ones too. I live 45 minutes or so from Santa Rosa. It's so great to be able to go and visit or to bring your bass up for modifications or whatever. First, Susan, Mica & co are always very friendly and helpful; second, they have a lot of patience (they never kicked me out, even though my visits always seem to last 3-4 hours minimum); third, they'll jump though hoops to help you, if they possibly can, no matter what time it is. To give you an example, my last time up at Alembic was December 31st; I went to finalize specs on my new bass and made an appointment with Mica. Going up I decided to take my fretless so that Alembic could look & trace the ouline of my plastic electronics cover, and hopefully make me a brass one instead. I definitely did not expect them to tackle the job right away on the afternoon of the last day of the year; as soon as I told Mica what I wanted she asked James if he could make me a brass cover, and James very kindly said yes and did it on the spot and in very little time, so I went home with it. I was stoked, impressed, and greatful.
Every time you walk into the Alembic lobby you have to stop and look ( or more accurately, gawk). You see about 10 or so different Alembic instruments hanging on the wall waiting to be shipped...needless to say, they are all gorgeous and you do kinda want to take them all home...Then Mica will go even further and bring out special Alembics to show you and for you to try...you may begin to understand why my visits tend to be so long.
That last day I went, I found a large family that was visiting Alembic; Susan was beginning to give them a tour. A bass playing young man from the East Coast ( who I believe frequents the club as well) was visiting family in California with his mom, dad etc. So they all made an appointment to visit, and Susan cheerfully led them on a tour that lasted several hours, on December 31st ( a day when Alembic , like many other businesses closes early). I thought that was impressive, & I could tell that they were also impressed & greatful.
Also, it's great to be able to go up and personally select the woods and to take a peek at your new bass in the works, ...something I'm dying to do now ..
hopefully I'll go up again sometime this week if Mica tells me she has time to see me.
Hope your dream comes though and that we'll see you on this side of the pond, Paul.
Valentino
