1974 Serial Number 49

[Michael Delacerda (dela217)]

[Tracey Gholson (fretted4)]

Cool bass,  is that birds eye maple with the small body?

[Michael Delacerda (dela217)]

Tracey,  Yes that is a bird's eye maple top on that bass.  It also has a good bit of figuring in it too that the pictures don't really show.  It has a mahogany core with a walnut back.  It's neck is made up of maple and walnut, and the maple has gotten quite dark over the years.  The peghead has the inlaid sterling logo with a cocobolo front and walnut back.  It is a really cool bass. It originally had the tan pickups in it, but I changed them because they were getting noisy.  I hope one day the proper color pickups can be had for this bass. It just looked great against that yellowed maple.  Check out the tailpiece on this bass, I have never seen another quite like it.  It is just about flush with the body and the string ends sit inside the body of the bass.--Michael

[Tracey Gholson (fretted4)]

Ive always loved birds eye maple,  and i must say, that is a very beautiful bass, and powerful i imagine!  Do you still have the tan colored pickups for this bass??? trac

[Michael Delacerda (dela217)]

Tracey,
Powerful!  That would be a great word to describe it.  I have got to say that this bass is quite powerful indeed.  For some strange reason, I guess it is the wood combination, but this bass seems to have a lot of bottom end.  There seems to be a natural low end boost on this one.  Quite unusual for a short scale.  There seems to be a built in 60 hz hump.  Maybe because of all the walnut in it.  There is walnut in the neck and in the back of the bass too.  Maybe becuase the tailpiece is recessed into the body? Which I like  a LOT by the way.  Who knows!  This bass is getting kinda tired and I am thinking of sending this one back to Alembic.  It needs some new frets, these are quite flat.  While it's there I would have to get the side LED's fitted to it, etc...
 
No, I do not have the old diaper tan pickups that came with it.  They were really not in good shape at all.  They had become microphonic and noisy over the years.  I guess the pickups didn't get noisy, but there is just more RFI and noise all around us than when these basses were new.  Putting in a set of new pickups and humcanceller helped out a lot, but it could benefit from the electronics upgrade one day. Michael

[Tracey Gholson (fretted4)]

I wish I could own a bass like that, oh, dreaming......Ive always loved alembic's early basses.  As for the pickups, hopefully somebody has a set to get rid of, Im tryin to find electronics and modify my alembic copy,  though someday, the real thing will be reality.  Thanks for the info!

[Donald Pasewark (pasewark)]

I bought that bass at 48th street Music in 1980. I owned it for about 15 or so years when I sold it to a Music Store in Danbury CT. Michael bought it from that guy. I may have some pics of me playing it somewhere. That is a nice bass, but I sold it because I wanted to go to a longer scale.

[Michael Delacerda (dela217)]

Donald,
I would love to see those pictures.  I hope you find them some day.
Michael

[Donald Pasewark (pasewark)]

I did find this picture - June 1980. 23 years ago. YIKES!
 

[Donald Pasewark (pasewark)]

Things I remember about the bass (besides the great sound). Nice abalone inlays, cream colored pickups, nice birds eye maple and the nut was kind of sculpted. Really nice details.
 
Also the battery compartment was on the front and the hum canceller was built into the body. You could access it from the back.

[Michael Delacerda (dela217)]

Donald, Thanks a lot!  When I got the bass it did not have the original control knobs on it.  Someone replaced them with some gold fenderesque knobs.  I didn't like it, so I switched them back to the original type.  I see in the picture that at that point they still had the original knobs.  Also, by the time I got the bass the tuning keys had been switched.  I remember you telling me a story of how you were in a bind and had to have them replaced because one of them failed.  I certainly can understand that!  I have since acquired the correct replacement tuning keys and hopefully will have the headstock restored back to it's former glory.  The bass is still in excellent shape, but is showing that it is getting tired.  The frets are getting kind of flat and would benefit from a replacement.  The front q switch has developed some sort of popping sound when you activate it.  I am hoping that this is just a faulty resistor and not the switch. I am thinking of sending it back to Alembic to have it gone through.  Ultimately I would love to have the electronics upgraded to the newer, quieter electronics, refret, LED's etc, etc.  Such a great bass.

[Donald Pasewark (pasewark)]

Sure! Yes it is a great bass. Definitely send it to Alembic and have it overhauled. It seems like the original knobs are in short supply. I would love to get a set of them for my current bass. I like the old style knobs better . . .