The Tiger Emerald, P/J Elan Five

[bigredbass]

So I decided the BigRedBass was lonesome.
 
I'd always loved the P/J fives after my BB5000's, WAY better for me than a double J five-string.  So with my good friend Will Gunn and Susan's invaluable advice, I decided I'd have a five-string Elan with P/J Activators, as a counterpoint to the mighty BigRedBass and it's potent FatBoys.
 
I wanted a Fender-ish wood signature with old-school Alembic features.  So I decided I wanted Swamp Ash wings with Tiger Maple tops and the traditional Elan neck with all maple/cherry veneer separators.  I wanted the tummy cut and the rounded-over top, with a circular fallaway to complement the curve of the Elan body, not the 'straight-edge' fold-over on the upper body.  Susan laid in the cherry separators between the Tiger and Swamp Ash, and it came out with the most gorgeous pinstripe and 'revealed edge' I've ever seen.  I spec'd the ebony/MOP oval fingerboard and the standard bridge and bird tailpiece to keep the Alembic vibe, and went with the 'poor man's gold' package:  Gold keys and brass parts.  Susan suggested the Signature electronics with the PJ's, and it was a great choice.  I appropriated the old Yamaha trick and reversed the P pickup, ironically making it a bit easier for thumb work, and it just sounds better to me reversed:  The high strings are a bit warmer, the low strings a bit sharper.  And the old-school five look, a 4+1 Elan headstock.
 
Mica mentioned once she'd like to do an Emerald colored axe, and it stuck with me, as I love color-tinted axes.  So that was it.  Bob shot me a gorgeous color, EXACTLY what I had in mind.  He got it with NO color smaples changing hands, only what Mica had in mind and my suggestion that it should be about halfway between Hunter Green and a BP sign!
 
Susan did the numbers, I settled up with Will ( I was his last delivery before he moved to Iowa! Thanks Will! )and they began working on it after New Year's in 2006.
 
I purposely wanted NO updates, NO f-t-c thread, and I never asked any questions.  I thought it would serve no purpose to bug them, and trusted them to get it right. I got it just after Thanksgiving a year ago, about a 10-month wait.  
 
It's everything I imagined and way more.  The low C's and D's will almost move solid objects, the color is stunning, and it's the perfect changeup after the BigRedBass.  Maybe I could call it the 'Slightly Smaller Green Bass' ?!?  And I gotta admit it's way more comforatble after the long-scale Series shape of the BigRedBass.  I requested the same 'classic' taper neck, so it's truly amazing to have the IDENTICAL neck on two utterly different(otherwise) basses.
 
 
 
My deepest THANK YOU to Susan, Mica, Bob + Mary, James, Val, and certainly my friend, Will Gunn.
 
Thanks again Mica for adding your UPS pictures as I'm just hopeless with a digicam!
 
J o e y

[tbrannon]

Joey,
 
You are one sneaky dude!!  I don't know how you could custom order an Elan (my favorite), receive it and then wait a whole year to post anything!  
 
Sounds absolutely sweet.  I'm looking forward to seeing Mica's pictures.  We're all still waiting to see the BigRedBass too....

[bigredbass]

Well, tb, I've just been having too much fun lining up
 
Fenders
MusicMans
Sadowskys
Lulls
and the rest of the usual clone suspects, and picking them off like a sniper from AJDover's day job !
 
Nashville is especially over-run in all these Fender/clone basses, so I decided I'd get me one . . . from Santa Rosa.  It's like showing up at a Miata rally with a Ferrari Enzo.
 
Believe me, as much as I like the FatBoys, the P/J Activators are serious hardware, all the more enjoyable as they LOOK like most everybody's P/J's, except for that little ornate gold script on the covers . . .
 
Amazingly, it's the rest of the rig I always dreamed of.  I take the Elan and the Eden Metro and the Aphex tube compressor, and it's just like a guitar player:  The bass, a combo amp, and the gig bag.  No more refrigerator size rigs, channel switching, tube tone, I'm gone in five minutes.  Like shooting fish in a barrel.
 
I didn't want something quite as traditional as an 'East Meets West' axe, it was very important for me to honor the tradition and for this to be as Alembic as possible.  The Elan (Susan's take on a Jazz) was perfect.  Amazingly, I'd never seen or held one, so it was just meant to be.
 
For anybody thinking of getting a more sophisticated Fender-ish bass, I could not recommend this axe more highly.  And in a world of Fender Custom Shop or Sadowsky prices, it's certainly competitively priced, especially when WE have the luxury of having it built just like you want by the best in the business.
 
And, oh yeah, it IS absolutely sweet.
 
J o e y

[bigredbass]

PS:
 
The BigRedBass:  See the 'Goldilocks' custom.  Imagine solid mahogany wings without the matching quilt back, Quilt top with the deluxe laminates showing (no c-t-c top), Spoiler electronics with FatBoys, long scale, and a clear, fire-engine red tint, and you've got the general idea.
 
J o e y

[tbrannon]

Joey-
 
Thanks for taking the time to explain it all. I've been dreaming up my own custom Elan for a few years now (similar to yours in many ways).  Really looking forward to seeing the pictures.
 
PSS:  you're PS is somewhat lacking.  Can you hear the bottles banging? Pics pics pics!!!

[rraymond]

Hear, hear! As an owner/admirer of both tinted Alembics and Elans, I second the motion for PICS!
 
When you get the time, of course...
 
It sounds really cool, and as TB said, sneaky.
 
Enjoy!

[jazzyvee]

I was not a fan of tinted alembics and it has taken me a long time to get used to the colour of my purple Elan 4 but now I love it. I doubt if I'd order a tinted one brand new but I love this one.  
I've  yet to gig it though.
 
http://club.alembic.com/Images/411/35750.html?1186587627
All the best with your new babe.
Jazzyvee

[mica]

Found 'em!

 

 

 

  Joey's request was for a cross between emerald green and British racing green. I know I always say this, but it looks better in person!

[tbrannon]

Beautiful- straight up beautiful.
 
Thanks for not sharing before now Joey- now I want one.

[rraymond]

Oh man, I like that!
 
Congrats, Joey.

[FC Bass]

+1

[bigredbass]

THANKS, Mica.  It's WAY prettier in person.  After shooting that green bass on that maroon carpet, your camera's ccd must have had a headache for days !
 
J o e y

[David Houck]

Congrats Joey!!!

[2400wattman]

Well it looks like these saved me a 3 hour trip to come see it! Absolutely beautiful and a unique color to boot. Dig in Joey!

[bigredbass]

The idea was the ultimate Fender-ish P/J Five as completing the range of tones where the BRB/Fatboys left off. And it had to say 'Alembic' when you looked at it.  So the particulars became:  
 
-4+1 Elan headstock
-Brass parts, back door, gold keys
-Classic taper five neck (2 nut x 2.5 24th fret)
-ebony fingerboard w/MOP ovals
-standard ELAN neck, all maple, cherry separators
-bronze side dots
-Swamp Ash wings (I told Val as swirly and assymetric as possible)
-standard Tiger maple top with (matching headstock veneers)
-cherry separator between top and back (which became the most beautiful bent top/pinstripe effect, Thanks Susan!), and I requested the curving top foldover and the tummy cutaway
-Reversed P and J Activators with Anniversary electronics (vol-blend-filter-filter with 1-way QSwitch for each filter).  I thought about bass/treble boost/cut for about five seconds, wasn't 'Alembic', and am NOT sorry I passed on them.
-standard brass bridge, bird tailpiece and brass back door
-Emerald tint
 
WOULD I change anything?  Occasionally I think maybe a 3+2 Elan head, but not for long. That's it.
 
J o e y