Fender Alembic; Fenbic; Alemder

[liptones]

I have this Vintage P-Bass, not sure of the year...... But it was definitely modified by the Alembic crew. I don't know much about it, but I was hoping to find out more. I attached a photo or so.
 
Thanks,
Chris, NY

[liptones]

[liptones]

[elwoodblue]

Wow ...even has the gain adjustment access holes.
 
...and fyi, you can respond to your own thread to add pictures  (instead of starting a new thread).
 
Welcome, that is quite a beast of a FenBic, I don't think I've seen a Fender modded to a series before.
 What do you know about it's history?
 
[moderator's note: as alluded to by Elwood, the first three posts in this thread were originally posted as three separate threads; moderator has combined into one thread]
 
(Message edited by davehouck on January 09, 2012)

[liptones]

I know nothing of its history. I bought it when I first started playing...... maybe 1997 or so...... I bought it from a small music store in Baldwin Long Island(NY) the owner knew nothing of it either.. other then someone traded it to him for another bass. I saw it and thought....... (what the hell is that...) I had to have it. Not sure if it is wired properly, but it sounds.....
 
Under the pick guard there is another type of pickup,  maybe an envelope filter?.............  
 
I was hoping to get some history here........
 
Will take note of thread usage, thanks.
 
Chris

[dfung60]

That other pickup is the hum canceller - the main pickups are single coils and would buzz on their own, but there's a carefully matched coil with no magnets that cancels the noise.  It doesn't need to see the strings to remove the noise.  It's the best (and most expensive) way to make for beautiful, clear high end response with no hum!
 
David Fung

[jbybj]

That third device is the hum canceling pup, a dummy just for out of phase hum cancelation. The four pots on the back of the bass are for adjusting each string for optimal hum cancelation. That is a cool hybrid. Do you have the power supply/DI that plugs into the 5 pin connector?
 
 
I type too slow, what he ^ said..............
 
(Message edited by jbybj on January 09, 2012)

[dela217]

Those pickups date from 1974 or 75 I would guess. The 5-Pin connector is an ITT/Cannon and not Switchcraft.  That would also indicate to me that is around 1974 or 75.
 
I see that there is a locking mono/stereo switch.  To activate it, you actually have to lift it while toggling it. That is a nice feature when using batteries instead of the power supply.  I've seen very few Alembics with that.  My 1972 has that switch.
 
Very cool indeed!
 
If you get tired of it, I could give it a good home.
 
Michael

[liptones]

interesting. I don't have the power supply. This also splits the signal to stereo? A little more research suggests this is a series 1 set up (PF-6)?  How far back does this date? I wonder who the tech was that modified this bass.......

[David Houck]

I don't think the work was done at Alembic.  Someone probably took the electronics out of an Alembic bass and put them in the Fender.  I don't know why someone would do such a thing, but we've seen it a few times before.  I even picked up such a bass on Ebay once.  As Michael said, this is a fairly early set of electronics, so it's a nice find!  And it's good to hear that the hum canceler is in there too.  Looks like the neck was fretted at one point and then converted to fretless.

[David Houck]

Oh; and welcome to the club Chris!

[liptones]

hey thanks great to be here!!  
 
I actually took the frets out when I first got it to add to this collaboration.  I think someone attempted to wire this bass, but not sure if they were 100% successful....... all switches seem to work, but i'm not so sure that I know what I am listening for..........

[David Houck]

There's a good explanation of Series I controls here.

[liptones]

 

  (Message edited by mica on January 10, 2012)

[liptones]

 

  (Message edited by mica on January 10, 2012)