Yessuh, and I tried to put up some (other) new pictures of the back, but for some reason I don't get, the system would't accept the pictures... a message popped up saying it was over the limit of 150 somethingunits...? Even though the pictures were all taken with the same digital camera. Probably some technical issue that's over my head.
Anyway, I recently figured out how to do a link, so here's a link to the COTM thread... and you can see the back side is every bit as awesome as the front!!! Flame Maple body, Quilted Maple Headstock, and one of the coolest necks of all time!!! Be sure to notice the ultra-slick, unique and exceedingly cool feature of integrated body/outer neck laminates... the Flame Maple body flows continueously all the way up the neck into the headstock... it's all the same two pieces of wood on either side!
Here's the link:
http://www.alembic.com/info/8string.html Barry as far as your questions go:
My neck is about 2&15/16th inchs at the nut, and about 3&33/64ths at the 24th fret... relatively narrow... but perfect for me. (My new 6-String Custom-In-Progress will actually have slightly tighter spacing.)
My fingerboard has 26 full frets, and then partials on the 2 high (F & Bb) strings that go up to 31 frets -giving it the same range as a 7-string with a 3 octave/36 fret fingerboard... an incredible range of 5&1/2 octaves, with my 31st fret high F actually being a half step HIGHER than an Alembic guitars 24th fret high E!!! I specified no extra cutaway, so the notes above the 26th fret are a little harder to play, and not well suited for anything fast/complicated/repetitious. But the entire fingerboard IS playable.
As far as the control layout... there are a total of 16 controls -8 knobs and 8 toggles. In the center, there's a master volume and a pan/blend/balance. To either side, each pickup has the standard Alembic low-pass filter, and also Bass & Treble knobs -which were spec'd to +/- 12 dbs -instead of their standard +6/-15 setup. (I can't imagine why they do it that way.) Then, each pickup has 2 Q switches; one that varies the Q (4/8/12 dbs) and another that turns the Q off & on. (So I have a variable Q for each pickup that can go from 0/4/8/12 dbs). Each pickup also has a 3-position mid-range boost/flat/cut toggle control. As far as I know, my Europa is the ONLY Alembic with any mid-range controls on it.
All of these controls are set up in a completely symmetrical configuration. The exceptions are the last 2 switches. These are laid out symmetrically -but they have different functions. One of them is a power switch. In the middle, the power is off -even when the jack is plugged in. If I lift this toggle up, it turns on the instrument/draws power from the main battery. If I flick it down, it draws power from an alternate battery and ALSO turns on the LEDs. I chose to have separate power batteries so I never have to worry about running out. The final switch is a unique stereo switch, made custom for my bass. In the middle position, each pickup has it's own set of 6 tone controls (bass, mid, treble, filter, and 2 Q switches); by flicking this switch to one side or the other, I can assign either set of tone controls to become master tone controls for each pickup. The primary application of this is that I can choose to have the ultimate, more-detailed control of individualized tone control for each pickup -like the Series, Signature, and Anniversary models, OR I can choose the simplicity of having just one set of tone controls for BOTH pickups... if I prefer. But an ancillary benefit is that I can use this system to switch back and forth between two completely different tone control setups... for example, I can, say, use the bridge pickups' controls to set up a particular tone curve; then, I can flick the stereo switch over to the neck pickup, and use the neck pickups' controls to create a completely different tone/sound. Then, at any point, I can flick the stereo switch back to the bridge pickup controls... to use it as a built-in preset option. This is an extremely cool & unique option.
That's it! Hope this answers your questions!
