Author Topic: Tom's Lefty Signature (Read 764 times)

flaxattack · « **Reply #15 on:** December 24, 2005, 07:54:57 AM »

as val has told me
on a neck through... the majority (80-90%) of the sound is generated by the neck woods- and adding the ebony lam made a huge difference on direwolf...
so that being said,,,
the core wood does have importance too...mahog is neutral- ash is a more mid sounding..
coco bolo has a richness and clarity that is hard to match with other woods... its dense-but not too dense, certainly not as heavy as a purple, maple or ebony,and its oily which results in a warm tone across the sound range but it still has the qualities to not muffle the highs...
now that being said...
my tribute neck combo- maple-verm-ebony- should theoretically give me a nice balance-crisp top- warm middle and the sustain of the ebony. since thats there the majority of tone will come from.
a neutral mahoghany core and burl maple should make it very interesting...
coco has such great variations in color from a dark chocolate to a bright orange,depth,excpetional grain etc.. it is a beautiful wood
i can tell you that while i was at alembic visiting, i had the opportunity to try some custom basses with much denser woods that in my opinion did not come remotely close to the sound mine has.of course this is my opinion.

(Message edited by flaxattack on December 24, 2005)

flaxattack · « **Reply #16 on:** December 24, 2005, 07:56:57 AM »

let me add- if the tribute was going to be a set neck as originally planned
it would have definitely been coco top and back...

David Houck · « **Reply #17 on:** December 24, 2005, 08:23:56 AM »

Thanks Jeff!

flaxattack · « **Reply #18 on:** December 24, 2005, 08:39:38 AM »

anytime dave
i dont know nothin bout wood
but i did sleep at a holiday inn last night...
hahha

David Houck · « **Reply #19 on:** December 25, 2005, 07:25:10 AM »

LOL!!

southpaw · « **Reply #20 on:** December 26, 2005, 08:25:36 AM »

Hey Tom, As a fellow lefty I am always happy to see another lefty Alembic come to life, congrats on a beautiful bass. I am curious about the pros & cons of a short scale vs. long scale. After a few hours of playing if you (or anyone please) could post your opinions on short vs. long scale, I would appreciate it. Do string gauges make a difference?

tomlerner · « **Reply #21 on:** December 27, 2005, 10:16:58 AM »

Jeff- Thanks for the helpful info about coco bolo. Um, was your Holiday Inn line an in-joke between you and Dave, or am I just a bit slow today?

Southpaw- Thanks for your kind words. This Alembic is only the second short-scale bass that I've ever played. The other one reminded me of a Yamaha DX7 synthesizer (dating myself here)- detailed, but lacking OOMPH! I think this is generally the down-side of short scale basses- they tend to need a bit more help in the low end. The strings on a short-scale also (I believe) tend to be under less tension when tuned to standard tuning, which can be either a good or a bad thing depending on your playing style. I haven't tried a variety of string gauges yet, but I'm guessing that higher-gauge strings would increase string tension. Does anybody else know whether this is correct or not?

The good thing about a short-scale, of course, is that you can reach further and play with less stretching than with a longer scale; this is particularly important to me as a guy with short fingers who has been having tendonitis issues during the past year.

tomlerner · « **Reply #22 on:** December 27, 2005, 10:31:53 AM »

Hey Jeff- I just went back and looked at Dire Wolf again in the archives, and I see that it's a 32-scale 5-string. Are you loving the B-string at that scale length? What features in addition to the ebony lam, if any, did you incorporate into the bass specifically to help the B string? Thanks. Tom
(Dire Wolf is gorgeous, btw- congratulations!)

David Houck · « **Reply #23 on:** December 27, 2005, 10:01:17 PM »

Tom; the line is from a series of TV commercials for Holiday Inn. In each episode of the series there is an emergency situation where someone comes in and gives expert advice. For instance, panic ensues in the control room of a nuclear power plant when something has badly gone wrong. A stranger walks up and gives some orders regarding the closing and opening of valves. The operators follow the instructions and tragedy is averted. Everyone is exceedingly joyful. Not having seen this expert before, they ask him if he's from the home office. Pointing to a group of tourists looking on behind the observation window he replies no, I'm with the tour, but I did sleep at a Holiday Inn last night. The inference here is that if you had a wonderfully restful stay at a Holiday Inn then you will be able to sound like an expert and speak authoritatively on subjects you may actually know nothing about. Whereas if you stayed anywhere else you'll feel lucky just to stay awake during the business meeting you're attending that day.

tomlerner · « **Reply #24 on:** December 28, 2005, 11:33:05 AM »

Thanks Dave. Great description- I feel like I've seen the commercial now.