Reid's Fanhead Balance K

[kmh364]

Reid: Congrats on your baby Pinot's promotion to Custom of the Month for Nov. '04. That thing is gorgeous and the accolades are absolutely deserved.
 
Cheers,
 
Kevin

[lbpesq]

Reid:
 
 Custom of the month! Now comes Miller Time (or maybe Sierra Navada Pale Ale time).  A beautiful instrument appropriately recognized for it's uniqueness!  Play it in good health.
 
Bill, tgo

[flaxattack]

congrats on the bass of the month...
its a beauty....

[rraymond]

Thanks guys, I was appropriately stunned when I got an email from Mica stating that Pinot was up next for COTM, and asking for comments. Man, I am really enjoying this instrument.
 
Bill, your beer time comment amuses me, being that Pinot is all about the wine, and Wineburst influences. But, in true Southern fashion, it reminds me of a story. My ex and I took a beginners wine appreciation class a decade or so ago. The instructor always started the class with a few sips of beer - well Busch, a near beer, to be exact. Anyway, he would watch us with amusement when he did this, and finally someone posed the question, Why do you always start the class with a beer? This is a wine class. His answer was that beer is an excellent palate cleanser, and he could better gauge a wine after a sip of beer.  
 
Uh, OK...  
 
All I know is that the last time I tried mixing beer and wine, I was about 22, and I woke up in the front yard of my best friend's girl friend's house! I'll never forget the pleasing sensation of cool, dewey, morning grass in my face! At the same time, I hope I never experience it again!  
 
Alrighty then, I've totally derailed this thread!
 
Thanks again everybody, and have fun,
 
Reid

[bigbadbill]

Reid, I'm always the last to every thread it appears, but that bass is absolutely stunning. Love the shape, and the peghead was always a personal fave. If I could afford another Alembic I think I'd go for one very similar to yours; beautiful! I propose a toast to Pinot and raise a glass of Baron St Jean (which is all of ?2.20-odd here in the UK - anybody familiar with Aldi? - but strangely is my favourite wine. Lucky as I can't afford much else!)

[rraymond]

Hi Mica, I can't believe you're about to ship! Cool! Time flies! Say, anybody know what a time fly looks like?
 
Reid

[rraymond]

Mica, you guys got me again...I'm speechless! OK, maybe I'm not. I can't believe how gorgeous that logo is, and I can't believe I'm going to be thumping on that bass within days!
 
Thanks more than you guys can imagine! :-)
 
Reid

[rraymond]

OK, get out the champagne, I'm about to Christen this here bass guitar. In honor of my favorite sunburst of all time, the WineBurst, and of the most favored grape status of the pinot noir varietal here in the Willamette Valley, Ladies and gentlemen, I give you 'Pinot.'  
 
Next, I'm going to order one in a tobacco sunburst and call it Stout. Only kidding...
Oh, and actually I'm not giving Pinot to anyone!
 
My thanks to everyone that's worked on the bass, I know it's going to sound every bit as gorgeous as it looks!
 
Reid

[the_mule]

Reid, I'm also a wine lover, and both the Pinot Noir and Pinot Gris are favorite wines of mine. Your beautiful Pinot is certainly amongst my favorite basses, cheers!
 
Wilfred

[adriaan]

Great name - and Alembic is situated in wine territory too, right?
 
I can see the tint of the pinot noir. But the picture has a purple haze all over, could be due to the carpet. If it is more like purple in real life, perhaps you'd have to re-baptize her Merlot.

[bsee]

Yep, there are some great wineries within a few minutes of the Alembic shop.  Santa Rosa is in the middle of the Sonoma wine region.  Among other wines, it's the heart of Zinfandel country with lots of grape trees.  They are really vines, but if you've ever seen a 100+ year old zinfandel vine, you know why I call them trees.  I think they might be big enough to get a headstock laminate out of them.
 
If you go for a factory tour and have an interest in wine, you will be torn between hanging out in the showroom and playing great instruments and racing off to the wineries before they close.  The only solution is to plan to be there for multiple days.
 
For an Alembic-area Pinot, Mayo family winery has their last vintage of a pinot made from grapes grown up the road at Kunde.  Kunde ripped out the vines last year to plant something else, so this is Mayo's last year releasing this wine.  We bought half a case of that, among other things, when we were there last month.

[adriaan]

Unfortunately I don't have a wine budget to match my taste buds. But sometimes there's an opportunity where you get a taste of the real stuff.
 
One comforting thought is that if you never get to drink top wines, you won't know what you're missing (sounds like sour grapes anyway []).
 
As far as California wines go, i once tasted a very velvety red Fetzer that I can sort of remember having in my mouth. And once a very, very nice white Benziger (not entirely sure about the spelling) probably a chardonnay.

[bsee]

I'll make a shocking recommendation then.  Try Black Box wines.  They're quality California wines sold in a box.  The price is excellent at about $20 for a 3 liter box, equivalent to about $5 per bottle, and the box can live a month or more in the fridge.  You don't have to worry about what to do with the other half of the bottle if you only drink two glasses, because the bag keeps it fresh.  
 
I'm not affiliated with them, but was pleased with their quality when we did a tasting back in May.
 
-Bob

[rraymond]

Wilfred, I forgot about pinot gris, that is a fantastic white! I discovered it just a couple of years ago and it restored my interest in white wines. Well that and Evolution, a special blend done by Sokol Blosser here in Oregon. It's purpose is to accompany hot food dishes, and it works really well!

[rraymond]

Adriaan and Bob, I also like California merlots, cabernets and zinfandels. Rodney Strong makes some great merlots and cabernets, and I liked Bonny Doon zinfandel so much, I have a framed poster based on their label in my dining room! The artwork was done by Ralph Steadman for their Cardinal Zin zinfandel, and was so controversial that it was actually banned in some places! I first came across Ralph's work in Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, the book by Hunter S. Thompson. What a wild story!
 
Reid