Hi Jimmy J,
I saw you at the North Sea Jazz Festival with James Taylor last week and it was great! I was standing right in front of the stage and shot some great pictures. Man, I can imagine how amazing it would be to play with James and the other band members. You guys are so fortunate to be able to work together and end up with such an incredible final product. Too bad you guys were on such a tight time schedule last week...
We briefly met right after the Allan Holdsworth gig at the Boerderij in The Netherlands back in March. You were so kind to sign the Alembic brochure I brought along. You know, every time I go to one of your performances I love to watch your focus, concentration and immaculate technique and of course, I always hope I get to feel that Alembic bass sound again. It never fails :-)
I was wondering, have you ever owned basses other than Alembics?
I was introduced to Alembic basses back around 1985 when I saw a Series 1 being played by Edwin van Huik during a music fair in The Netherlands. I stil have a picture of me as a kid, holding Edwin's huge Alembic. Anyway, I was amazed how that bass sounded different from what I was used to hearing (and feeling!). The sound was larger than life. I was blown away and it always stayed with me. From that moment on I decided I would someday own a Series bass myself. Although my taste of music developed over the years, my longing for that particular bass sound remained.
I bought my first Alembic after six years of saving. It was a Signature Deluxe and it was the best bass I've ever owned. Played it for 15 years, until two years ago I stumbled across my current customized '78 Series 1. I've never looked back ever since. The S1 is not my only bass. I also have a Ken Smith BSR5 (fantastic bass!) and a Peavey B-Quad 4 (Brian Bromberg's 90s bass). But my S1 will always remain my premier bass. It was in pretty bad shape when I bought it, but I gave it lots of TLC and it brightened up considerably. It's not perfect (yet), as it needs an electronics upgrade and a refinish but I'll have that taken care of by the Alembic family in the near future. I had a master volume pot put in, which is a great addition and it has the Series 2 led side position markers. Man, I love my Bic! It's on my profile picture.
As you mentioned before, it takes the bass player to make any bass sound good and give it your fingerprint sound. I think the Series 1 bass made me find exactly the sound and feel I've been looking for for over twenty years.
How did you get infected by the Alembic virus?
Duncan
Ps
Sorry for the long post....
