Hey Jazzyvee,
You are right, the cocobolo looks different in different lighting. It is beautiful in any light though! I have a gig tonight playing Mardi Gras in Galveston, so that will be my 1st test switching between basses & the different scales. I am still getting used to the short scale on the Alembic, but I love it! It's so much easier to play! It's not really an issue down low, but when I get above the 12th fret I find myself hitting a fret too high on some notes. The LED markers really help with that though! Sounds like you need to come visit Texas for the winter, as you can see by my pictures, it was sunny & 75 today!