Author Topic: Very Early Alembic Guitar, serial number not found (Read 1771 times)

smichaels · « **Reply #15 on:** July 29, 2005, 01:07:48 PM »

I remember reading somewhere that Johnny Winter had one of these peanut guitars setup for slide and gutted the electronics. Story goes he lost the guitar to a roadie during a card game...wonder what the history of this guitar is?!?

Sean

evt · « **Reply #16 on:** September 19, 2006, 01:53:01 PM »

Wow! I love it. Where did you find it? It's amazing. It would be cool to get some Alembic electronics back into it.
Very cool!!

evt

olieoliver · « **Reply #17 on:** September 19, 2006, 02:13:31 PM »

Very Very COOL indeed. I really like the inlays.

57basstra · « **Reply #18 on:** September 19, 2006, 07:38:26 PM »

Wow!....and thanks!

elwoodblue · « **Reply #19 on:** February 27, 2007, 10:32:03 PM »

my blood pressure just increased eleven-fold...
my girlfriend made that pillow while I had the guitar for a couple years...I swore I would never let it go ...(well ,it came down to family or belongings)...
if you ever need money like I did I'll buy her back from ya( now I have to go back and read the posts, calmed down a little).

peace and guitars

elwoodblue · « **Reply #20 on:** September 23, 2007, 07:48:21 AM »

Sean, I believe this is that guitar as it is the one I had a few years ago.

My lament for letting her go is fading ;as the world has filled my hands with one of jerry's old martins ...much better than a kitchen sink.

all my best,hope all is swell

llobsterbass · « **Reply #21 on:** February 04, 2008, 07:06:08 PM »

OK, I'll bite. How did you end up with Jerry's old Martin?

elwoodblue · « **Reply #22 on:** March 09, 2008, 01:16:42 AM »

no provinence ... I hope I didn't sound cocky. (maybe I'm just making my self feel better for sacrificing ownership of the above 'boat oar'/'peanut'-masterpiece.
So to be humble and without presumptions;its an old martin with many mods and unmods with some jerry-like writing and came from the san fran area.
It could just be nothing but a hippies old guitar that has some writing in,pickup put in and taken out,maybe the neck was swapped at some point...maybe not...tuners changed ...and hung on a wall with a nail thru a starburst hole in the headstock.
I feel more comfortable describing her this way.

The craquelature has craquelature so I am fairly confident that she has seen a century or more and the sound reinforces that feeling....and a date that from an owner in the late 1800's.(c.w. cross from utah)
The sound sure blooms wonderfully.

I bet that any one of Jerry's main guitars are well documented and this obviouly isn't.

I am choosing to believe this might have just been around him at some point in the 60's.
thanks for helping me keep my ego in check...

I might have made an ass out of me,myself and I.

coffeegod · « **Reply #23 on:** March 27, 2009, 11:12:32 PM »

About the Johnny Winter story. Back around 1990 I had a guy offer to sell me that very guitar..a peanut shape without the Alembic electronics. I passed as I didnt think the ripping out of the innards was all that desirable. I will have to see if I can dig up his name it's in an old address book.

elwoodblue · « **Reply #24 on:** March 28, 2009, 12:14:48 AM »

Yup,
I had it in the early 2000's for a few years...I swore I would never let it go...I sure hope it's being played once in a while.
ahh memories ...I purchased it off ebay probably from the guy you are talking about.
cheers

peoplechipper · « **Reply #25 on:** March 28, 2009, 01:11:11 AM »

I'm kinda sorry to say that the first thing that came to mind seeing this guitar was a Thalidomide baby; the proportions of the upper bouts is so small that they look stunted; of course, being electric it doesn't need bouts...amazing workmanship though and the inlays are beautiful...likely it doesn't look so stunted hanging off a person, but sitting in a case it does to me...Tony

altgrendel · « **Reply #26 on:** April 01, 2009, 04:46:42 AM »

This thing looks like a candidate for the Les Paul activator rig.

That way it would be pure Alembic again.

johnboy · « **Reply #27 on:** September 03, 2011, 04:53:54 PM »

Hi, I'm John. I have an Alembic guitar with a small peanut-shaped body and a body-thru neck. The bridge, tail piece, and nut are made of brass. The large peghead has the metal Alembic logo embedded into it. It looks like oval ivory inlays on the fretboard. With 27 frets, this guitar seems to be shrouded in mystery. I sent detailed photos to the Alembic factory several years ago with no response, so I'm sure the areas of expertise would be very limited on this type of guitar. Help!!

(Message edited by johnboy on September 03, 2011)

room037 · « **Reply #28 on:** September 03, 2011, 06:56:46 PM »

Hi John,
Welcome to the club.

It's better to start your thread with other pictures.
Please show us the rare piece !

Eiji

pace · « **Reply #29 on:** September 03, 2011, 08:07:32 PM »

Hi John, welcome to the forum!

As you could probably guess, your guitar is a very special piece. I won't dare to speculate on it's history or provenance, but I'd guess it to be in low or single digits as far as serial#s go, and at that time there were maybe one or two players looking for a small-bodied, light-weight model to get them through a long night of jamming. Your photo is worth a thousand words~ I've seen other peanut guitars before, yet the simplicity of the electronics on yours deduce the whole peanut concept to it's lowest common denominator!!!!