This popped up on Reverb. So the neck was replaced....and they respected the copywrite by not using an Alembic logo. But the price is up in the Brown Bass territory. Like so many other examples we share on here, WE can tell the difference....but what about the Noob who may not know the difference?
https://reverb.com/item/100191895-alembic-ellio-martina-brown-bass-1981-w-ellio-martina-neck-kahler-bridge-hard-case?bk=eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9.eyJqdGkiOiI2MDY5ZDkxMS0yZjM0LTQwYjUtODMxMi1kMzE5NzhmNTY4NTEiLCJpYXQiOjE3ODYxMTUyNjEsInVzZXJfaWQiOiIyMjM5OTQ4Iiwic2Vzc2lvbl9pZCI6IjA0MGZjZTIyLWViY2MtNGVjYy1iYmIxLTU1MDUzNWY4ODY0NCIsImNvb2tpZV9pZCI6ImQ0ZGRkOTllLWMxMzAtNDA0ZS1hZGQxLTEzNDk0OWYxYmNiMiIsInByb2R1Y3RfaWQiOiIxMDAxOTE4OTUiLCJzb3VyY2UiOiJOT05FIn0.NZyYJHRwUzdt0BB9Ct0ExsopPVkMexlwJ-SRhVC44-s
I saw that — I'm sure it's a great bass, but I'd want any Alembic I owned to have its neck made at the mothership.
I'm weird that way.
I saw that this morning... the note with it is kinda' funny. I was wondering if one of the Dutch fellas could opine about the purported maker.
Sort of an Alembic-like partscaster!
Bill, tgo
Yes I saw that one too. I was expecting it to show up here. I 'know' the Dutch builder and have played on one his own instruments once. He was a well respected builder. He recently died.
I am sure this is a great players bass and well build. Really like the whammy and the scalloped frets. But to me it screams neck dive because of how the neck joins the body. It's more to the left from players perspective than a normal small body. Which probably is great for better reach of the higher frets but not for the balance I guess. Normally the last three frets run over the body with this model. It also looks a bit off because the extra inner block wood you have on both sides of the upper frets. I am worried about the strap button on the neck. I think it will clash with your thumb when you play the highest frets.
I think the price is a little optimistic for a non original Alembic. I doubt many people will be interested for that amount for what is basically half an Alembic. But it still is an intriguing instrument.
On a side-note, Ellio Martina also gave the world the BassMute. I would expect it to be a solid instrument.
So maybe something is not translating quite right. Or maybe it is literally just what it says, though I never heard of this happening;
It seems like the note suggests the solid wenge body wings were on a grapite-necked Alembic, which I'd have to assume was a late 70's/early 80's Series bass, and these wings apparently delaminated from it. The author of this note somehow acquired the wings from Alembic and had them fitted to this neck by the luthier, then loaded the completed instrument with a set of EVH Sig. electronics.
Are y'all gettin' that too? I'm looking at it on mobile so just a tiny screen, but the scaling does look funny. Like the neck is too wide for the wings, or rather, the wings are too narrow for the neck. That would maybe explain part of it.
It's a strange one. Bet it sounds great. And as heavy as that wenge can be, it may not be as unbalanced as you'd think. I would hafta' move that strap button and plug the hole though.
To me, the claim appears to be that Alembic attempted to "marry" a carbon neck with the hollowed out wenge halves, but it didn't work out ("divorced"). The body halves (possibly along with the EvH electronics) were allegedly sent to the anonymous original buyer, who had Elio Martina build this bass. The logo is that of Ellio, so the last part would appear credible.