Yes, the stainless steel is bent in a modified U-shape, that is the perfect size to slip over the fingerboard and that is glued in place.
That must have been quite a trick! Thanks for confirming a long-standing curiosity. 😊
I can't recall reading anywhere, what reasoning was behind making the bass with a metal fingerboard , and who made the suggestion to do it. Also can i have a pointer to some tracks John has recorded with a fretless wooden and with this stainless steel fingerboard so I can hear the difference.
I have never heard whose idea it was either, or whether it was collaborative. I am
purely guessing based on shop experience, the purpose was simply durability. John played a fretless Precision bass often, with a maple board. (it was also sold in that Julien's auction) It had to be worn. For his fretless Alembic custom, (imagining how this went 50 years ago is the subject for a whole book...) but the choice of a stainless steel fingerboard 'protector' was just one notch *more*. And it hadn't been done before. He went to the people who did stuff that just weren't usually done.
No idea... but I'd like to have heard
that conversation.
*As to what he sounded like on that Fender, it's just so hard to know what he recorded with because they didn't make any note of it, and there is precious little video. Basically this though, anything that sounds fretless prior to Rumours is not likely an Alembic. If it is, it was borrowed. More likely the Fender.
