The Last Bass Outpost

So I picked this bass up about a year ago, figured I'd post about it since I have the first recording back that actually features it.

Some may have seen it pop up on Reverb previously, and I can trace it's ownership back to the original buyer. It was built in 1978 by Bruce Becvar of Alembic for the man whose name is engraved on the truss rod cover (the name escapes me at the moment and I don't have the bass on hand). It sat in its case with very light use until 2019, when its original owner passed away. His widow entrusted a friend of his to handle it, and it was soon sold to Trevor Lindsey. And that's where it came into my possession. After only a few months, Trevor put it up for sale in order to finance a few other custom basses he had incoming, and I was able to pick it up for a very good price for such a high quality instrument. So I am owner #4 of this bass, though 2 owners only had it for a few months each.

Now, to the bass. A close relative of the widely renowned Alembic, Becvars were built by Bruce Becvar, an Alembic (ex)-employee. You may be familiar with his most famous build, John Paul Jones' Triple Omega 8, the California Gothic. It seems the Becvar/Alembic timeline is a little hazy, and reading on some Alembic forums, his builds in the Alembic style may be a bit frowned upon. From what I can gather, he was hired by Alembic around '72 and worked for them for around 5 years. In ~'77, he built the Triple Omega 8 that JPJ purchased after seeing it for sale in San Francisco. Around that time he started building instruments under his own name, possibly while still at Alembic and while using their facilities to build his own. That's the hazy part.
In everything but name, this Triple Omega is an Alembic instrument. It features the multi-laminate neck construction, here out of maple, along with a mahogany core and walnut top and back in a chambered design. Obviously, unlike most Alembics, this one is painted in a solid colour. The fretboard is ebony with mother of pearl oval inlays and underneath is the Alembic two truss rod system. Where it deviates more from the Alembic pattern is the pickups and circuit. While laid out similar to an Alembic Series I circuit, featuring 2 volume, 2 tones, and a master volume, it includes a unique active pre-amp, powered by 9v battery and avoiding the external power supply typical of Alembics. It also doesn't feature the Q-switches in the Alembic circuit. The pickup selector selects for neck, neck and bridge, bridge, and off. It is wired in stereo by default, so with a normal instrument cable on the neck pickup is heard, and you need a stereo to mono or stereo cable to take full advantage of the bass. It also would seem the pickups are a slightly different design from the Alembics per Mr. Lindsey, though they are still quite similar. Despite the 8 strings, it is a very managable bass to play, weighing in just over 10 lbs (which, coming from Thunderbirds, isn't too heavy), and featuring a 32" scale, and wide but shallow neck profile. It's honestly one of the easiest playing instruments I own!

Due to the price of actual Alembics, I never thought I'd be able to own an instrument like this, and count myself very lucky to have come across this particular one. A joy to play, a real attention grabber, and the sound? Massive. Authoritative. Clear and crisp and full, akin to a Grand Piano when running it through my Sunns and JBLs, and then like freight train when running through my Hiwatt. Anyways, I'll stop rambling, here's the first song it's featured on, and a number of pictures (some from the original seller's listing)!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JkJ8_5QRZ5M&ab_channel=OliviaHarrison-Topic

So I've read this forum for a long time now, figure I should actually post, seeing as I actually have something to post about.

I've been a massive Jack Bruce fan since I first heard Cream, and he's always been a huge influence on my playing. I've looked for an EB-3 for years, but without much luck. I knew it probably wasn't going to be a primary player over my precision, but I wanted it for the few tricks it does do and because they always looked so cool with Bruce and Fraser and Cornick. Part of the limiting factor of tracking one down was that I knew I wanted an early period one, wide spaced knobs, original style neck joint, etc. Minor things, but I knew I probably wasn't going to be as content with a later style version. As such, looking for a '61-'64, the prices can be a little on the high side for my wallet, and I'd occasionally browse various sites seeing if there was ever one in okay condition for an okay price. In fact, not quite mint was really a better option, since I figured I'd eventually rewire the circuit to a 3-point selector switch and remove the choke. Back in...October I think it was I saw one on the GC used site that was a '62, with the original bakelite cover, and in fact the rather rare addition of a stinger (with the original serial and no break, indicating a factory stinger). It was a bit much without the need to sell things, but it was the best deal I'd seen on one (upper $2000s). It eventually sold and I instead got a Ric 4001v63 (that's another story). Fast forward to January, browsing Reverb, and I see another 1962 EB-3. This one is in the low $1000s, way more in my price range, so I look it over. Good news: original finish, original frets in good condition, mostly original hardware and electronics. Bad news: some weird attempt at what I think was a belt-attachment, a small repair on the edge of the control cavity, some replaced screws, and one ugly headstock repair. So I contacted the seller, and they didn't seem to know too much about it, but described it as best they could, said the headstock repair while not pretty, was structurally sound, the serial was still visible (sent a photo), the back of the headstock had not be refinished (more on that in a minute), and that it was in overall decent condition. I negotiated with the price, waited a bit, since they had to to ask the owner if she was willing to accept my offer, and counter offered. After a bit more negotiation I got it for about $1000. Others may think it's a bit much, but overall I'm very satisfied with it, even more so when it showed up and was actually in better condition than the seller's photos indicated. So, without further rambling, here are some photos of it:






As you can see on the back of the headstock, it too features what I am fairly certain is a factory stinger. These were a feature of the 40s and 50s archtops, and show up on occasion on the solid body guitars of the late 50s/early 60s, and evidently the best explanation is that is a way to hide what the company considered cosmetic flaws in the wood. What leads me to believe that it is factory original is that the serial is still clearly visible, the glue for the repair is on top of the black, and I can't tell any transition between a resprayed clear coat and the original neck finish.

Anyways, absolutely love this thing. It's the first vintage bass I've ever owned, and I'm very impressed. Sure, it not exactly versatile, but run through my Sunns it does exactly what I want it to do. Felix Pappalardi? Yeah. Buzzy driven Jack Bruce? Nailed it. I switched the flats that were on it to D'addario Nickel rounds, which I know some people might object to putting rounds on it, but I just haven't yet been able to bring myself to get along with flats. Love the neck. I'm used to the Fender '62 AVRI neck on my precision, which is wide but fairly thin depth wise, where as the EB-3 is a much meatier neck. Fits my hand very well. Also my first short scale bass (outside the Bass VI), and I really love how quickly I can move around and the lower string tension. I do a lot of string bends, and can easily bends these strings (coming from a Precision with Swing 66s) up to 2 steps in many positions. Mostly I've been using a combination of the Bridge and Neck, with the Bridge volume rolled off to 8.5 and the tones wide open. Good balance of honky bridge clarity and low end rumble from the neck. i do need to work on the electronics a bit, it seems that the rotary crackles and occasionally position 3 will pop and sound like position 1. Not yet decided if I will drop in a whole new harness to eliminate the choke yet, we'll see. What am surprised about are two things: 1) it seems that the neck by itself (position 4) is far quieter that the bridge pickup. If I remember correctly these pickups were somewhere in the range of 30k ohms? I know it still has the effects of the choke working on it in position 4, so might that be all there is to it, because position 1 certainly has some high output. And 2) I get feedback on the bridge pickup. I know these are humbuckers, but with the amp volume turned well up, does anyone else with one of these experience any feedback? Is it possible just going microphonic?

Anyways, long post, TL;DR: finally attained a Grail bass, love it, comments, suggestions, questions welcomed.