Marc's "Simple" Bass

[marcm]

Thank you all for your kind words.  I have admired your beautiful Alembics on the Club for four years now, as my own took shape.  Many many times I have thought, ?Damn, that is such a cool instrument!  I wish I had thought of that first!?  When I have learned the ins and outs of my new bass reasonably well, maybe I will be able to justify thinking about another.  That seems to happen a lot.
 
Graeme, thanks for suggesting DR Black Beauties.  I?ve always thought they were very cool, though I?ve played Thomastik Jazz Flats for so long that I automatically asked to have the bass strung with them.  I just called DR to ask about BBs for 32-inch scale.  Unfortunately, the guy told me that they don?t make them for ?short scale? (32-inch is ?short scale? for DR, not surprisingly), so my only choice in DR would be stainless steels.  So unless he and I misunderstood each other, I am SOL on BBs.
 
David, you?re right about the reason for the three-piece top.  My first-choice top wood (a birdseye maple) turned out to be funky inside, and after looking at about thirty different Wood Bank candidates I came around to the idea of Gabon ebony.  At that time there was none to be had wide enough for a bookmatch-to-center, so Mica proposed a three-piece top made from a six-string fingerboard blank and two five-string blanks.  The joints were a potential shrinkage problem, so I proposed the mahogany pinstripes.  Mike proposed the contoured top, which he called the ?suspension bridge?.
 
Oliver, I think a ?Simple Spyder? or a ?Simple DW? would be awesome.  I hope you decide to do one.  Isn?t Dueren near Aachen?  For many years I used to stay in Aachen for a few days or a week at least once a year.  I love that area.  The background in your photo has always reminded me of the view out the window of my favorite room in my favorite hotel in K?ln, though I realize that most likely it is not that view.
 
Bill TGO, thanks!  I would be honored for my bass to be a Featured Custom.  It is not impossible that it could happen . . .
 
 
Marc

[dnburgess]

I want one.

[senmen]

Marc,
YES, you are right. Dueren is approx. 20min away from Aachen.
So when you are here for the next time we must meet..
Well the idea of a Simple Spyder or Simple DW is great.  
Do you own the copyrights on the term Simple ? :-)
I relly love the knob layout on your bass.....
 
Oliver (Spyderman)

[basstard]

This is just ubercool.
 
Love it.
 
COTM all the way!
 
And now for something completely different:
 
The larch.

[marcm]

The bass arrived yesterday!
 
I know that it has been said many times before by others, but it's true:  the photos, as good as they are, can't do justice to the incredible workmanship of an Alembic instrument.  When I held the bass in my hands for the first time, I realized that it exceeds any expectations I ever had.
 
I haven't had a chance to do any real playing yet, but I hope to later this afternoon.  Thank you all in the Club for your support and your kind comments over the past four years.  I will post some photos as soon as I can, probably when I'm back home after Thanksgiving.
 
Lexi, Steve, Greg, Derek, James, Jason (thanks for coining the official nickname!), Cody, Charles, Mary, Robert, Tony, Bill, Ron, Susan, and Mica,  who took my first call back in April 2003, and called yesterday just as I put the bass on my knee for the first time:  thank all of you so much!  There is nothing like an Alembic instrument, and in my experience there is no organization like Alembic.  I hope to meet all of you when Amanda and I visit on November 20th.

[senmen]

Marc,
more pics plse......
 
Oliver (Spyderman)

[tommy]

Holy fling vampires! Looks like something batman would play!

[white_cloud]

If im not mistaken I spy OM between the second and third frets - very symbolic!
 
Om Mani padme hum!

[David Houck]

John, there's a closeup of the inlay here.

[marcm]

I'm putting Monty up for sale in the For Sale section.  Sad but necessary.

[bassman10096]

Marc:  I am really looking forward to seeing this bass take shape.  The figuring and color of the burl top are sure to be very pretty once finished.  I had looked at 1322 more than once myself when deciding on wood for my bass.  I'm really interested to see what your variation on the EVH shape looks like once work proceeds.  Good luck and happy waiting!
 
Bill

[marcm]

hi bill
 
thanks!  as you may have read above, 1322 wasn't my first choice for a top, nor even my second, but months had gone by, there was no gabon ebony to be had, and nothing seemed to quite hit the spot.  i needed to make a choice, and it is a pretty piece of wood
 
similarly with the shape:  i was captivated by the shape of the evh piccolo bass that edwin ordered for his daughter tania, but it wasn't possible to scale that design to small-standard size.  so, once again, a compromise of sorts was necessary
 
mica has worked very hard to help me to realize my vision for my first alembic, and has given me no end of support and great advice.  it's not turning out to be the bass i had envisioned, but i'm sure i'll love it just the same
 
?'est la vie
 
 
marc

[marcm]

p.s. to bill (i hit 'post' when i meant to hit 'preview')
 
that wasn't all i wanted it to say, and it gives the way-wrong impression
 
the fact is that my vision for the instrument, and hence inevitably my expectations for it, evolved as the design process unfolded.  i started out with a piece of maple for the top.  when it turned out to be unusable i got my heart set on gabon ebony, which apparently has been used for only three or so basses in alembic history; there are supply-and-demand reasons why that is so.  when mica's exotic-wood dealers couldn't come up with any, we had to go back to the wood bank or find a piece of wood from a wood dealer online
 
as to the shape, mica warned me from the get-go that scaling a design was an iffy proposition
 
the 'simple' bass, though aesthetically understated and  not a series instrument, will have some nice features and a distinctive look.  i look forward to reading what you and others may say about it
 
but no matter what, it will be by far the coolest bass i have ever held in my life, much less played, much less owned
 
and i will love it!
 
 
marc

[bassman10096]

Marc:  I think its already on the way to being an over-and-above cool bass.  I, too, started out with some ideas for my bass that didn't work out due to various practicalities.  I think for me what has been the most engaging part of the selection and design process is that, even where the original concept for something may not work, Alembic is so good (and patient) about equiping me with information.  Good information makes the choices all mine - not defaults!  Add to that, a sampling of good artistic and technical suggestions from staff, I feel like the bass I'm building is very uniquely mine and will do things for me that I didn't even know to look for when I first started talking to Mica months ago.  
 
Anyway, enjoy your bass as it comes together.  I like the choices you are making and can't wait to see the product!  Good luck.  
 
Bill
 
(Message edited by bassman10096 on February 22, 2004)

[marcm]

hi all
 
i'm so happy about this recent development that i can't resist posting it
 
as discussed at some length in earlier posts, mica tried very hard to find a piece of gabon ebony for the bookmatch-to-center top of my bass.  when she couldn't find any at all, i 'settled' on a piece of maple burl, but i wasn't very excited about it
 
it is often said in club postings that alembic always finds a way to make your dreams into reality, and they have done it once again
 
mica suggested that the top of my bass could be made from three pieces of the gabon ebony that is used for fingerboards, spliced together:  a six-string board for the middle, flanked by a five-stringer on either side
 
then she suggested that they could add an accent laminate between boards, which evolved into three 1/16-inch pinstripes -- mahogany, ebony, and mahogany
 
then mica had the idea to cut the middle board to the same taper as my fingerboard; since it will be about an inch wider than my four-string fingerboard, the pickups and all the hardware will fit neatly in it
 
i had given up hope for an ebony top.  not only did mica find a way to make it happen, she solved the problem in a way that will make my bass far cooler than anything i ever would have thought of by myself
 
and that, as most of you know already and i am learning, is what alembic is all about
 
there should be a sketch on the thread soon
 
 
thank you mica!  i can't stop smiling!
 
 
marc