Rami's New Fretless

[kmh364]

Mica, you're such a bass tease! You show us just enough to get us all excited then.....? LOL! J/K. I'm dying to see pix of the WHOLE thing...I can just imagine Rami's anticipation.

[the_mule]

I ditto Ken's comments about wanting to see the whole bass. So far it's excellent work, every time I look at the picture of the inlayed logo it takes my breath away! Fabulous, just fabulous!
 
Wilfred

[rami]

Hi Mica.
 
Any updates?

[mica]

Bob and James are just finishing up the rails for the bridge on your bass. Should be getting preset on Monday and the hardware will probably be back in a week. Won't be long for the BB now.  
 
DP and ET should be ready to return to you on Tuesday. Mary's confirmed all the re-entry paperwork, so it should really be easy when you go to collect them.

[palembic]

Rami ...if I were you ...I would prepare a homecoming party for those two!!
Now lemmesee my diary ...on friday maybe ...uhuh???
Anyway ....you're almost there man!
Just keep repeating your mantra of eternal patience ...!!!
 
Paul the bad one

[jeff]

Rami,
 
I just re-read this entire thread and indeed, what a long, strange trip this has been!  Do you have any hair left?  Oh well, it sounds like DP and ET will be in your hands by the time you read this, and Black Byrd should be home before Christmas.  We need pictures and a full report.  
 
I also read that you said that BB may be your last custom.  Truly, that would be sad for Alembicians everywhere. Your basses have been Alembic benchmarks and very inspirational to us.  Please don't stop.
 
Jeff

[rami]

Thanks for the kind words Jeff - as of yet, I still have had no further news about either my first two customs or BB.  Nothing has arrived, and I have not been contacted with any news about any impending delivery.
 
On the one hand I'm torn between my experiences with Mica, Susan and Mary - all trully wonderful people who have been very supportive and extremely generous.  They have gone truly out of their way for me on many occasions, and for all of that, I'm eternally grateful.  I like to think that we've formed lifelong friendships.
 
On the other hand, I feel as though all the love has run out for this project and now, I just want to get it over with rather than feel happy or excited.  I don't think I can stand to go through this again.

[bkbass]

Amen!I e-mailed Mica about how anticlimatic my particular experience has been this time around also.I truly Love her but as you say this has worn me out as well.I believe she also loves each of us and because of that love she has gone into book keeping and out of sales.She does not want to hurt any body.She also needs to learn every aspect of the business end and the electronic end if we're to grow old together.Rami you certainly have much more patience than me but you also have much more Alembics to tide you over until the big day.We all are on a journey with these nice folks and each other. Perhaps these are just growing pains we're all feeling.Want to cheer yourself up?Play one of your Fenders for an hour then pick up the GENERAL and you'll remember why we chose to travel with these warm hearted incredibly talented people in the first place.

[mica]

I did catch the hardware in process:
 

 
And of course I didn't get everything together on your ET abd DP shipment. Lots of stuff going on, but most importantly we've been down a setup person for a few days longer than I anticipated.  
 
Plus this whole week was blown - in September I volunteered to work the polls for Tuesday's election and they said they didn't need anyone. But Monday night they called at 6:30 pm and needed emergency fill-ins.  
 
I must say, after that looong day at the polls, I was wiped out and didn't do much follow up yesterday. Tried to catch up today (still working on it), so I'll check the status of the return basses for you in the am. I'll call you with the news.

[mica]

While your hardware is out at the goldplater, Mike's been constructing your pickup covers. I'm afraid I only got one picture of the process:
 

 
and the pickups are now in the spray booth.  
 
James was reassembling ET today, and our UPS representative is visiting tomorrow. She's going to make sure there is no trouble with customs with the reentry of your basses. I'll call or email you tomorrow afternoon with the details of the meeting.

[pace]

Im curious about that truss rod cavity~ Did you raise the hieght for the continuous wood cover? Whats the reason to place the purpleheart & ebony on an angle?!?  
 
-Mike

[rami]

Thanks Mica.
 
That hum cancellor will also be covered, right?
 
Also, what do you think about a master volume and pan rather than individual volume controls?  The more I thought about it, it seems to make more sense.
 
 
(Message edited by rami on November 10, 2004)

[mica]

The humcanceller is covered too, but it gets done in a different way since it's not on an adjustable platform.  
 
We've made several MV/pan arrangements on custom Series I/II models, so it's not something unheard of. Since it's entirely a matter of personal preference, and it makes sense to you, then I'd say let's go for it. I'll add it to the work order.
 
Mike - that was actually supposed to be a little surprise joke for Rami which I obviously blew by posting that last picture. Joke's on us!

[rami]

I kinda thought it was an effect of the angular cut into the truss rod cavity - sort of like an optical illusion.  
 
Thanks Mica.  I like the idea of keeping it simple.  Master volume, Pan, and a Tone and CVQ per pickup.

[rami]

Hi Mica,
 
I was looking at my '63 McIntosh MA230 amp and I remembered that it has the COOLEST mode selector that I've ever seen on an amp.
As well as separate Bass/Treble per channel, it also has a 7-way mode selector that features:
 
1-Stereo
2-Stero Reverse
3-Mono
4-L+R into L
5-L+R into R
6-L to L&R
7-R to L&R
 
Do you think such a mode selector on a Bass would be possible?  I'm asking this now because since we're not installing a pickup selector, it might be fun to play with various stereo configurations.  
 
And I'm sure this has never been done before on a bass!