alembic mania

[Chris P.]

Any Entwistle-a-like Spyders here?

[kungfusheriff]

Hello, Dave!
Uwe gave me the heads-up about this forum a few days ago, and invited me to join. It's very flattering to be remembered, and more so to be part of this community. Thank you for having me.
KFS

That's an impressive gathering of Alembics.

I see kungfusheriff posted in that thread. I wondered whatever happened to him, good to see he's still posting somewhere in the bass community.

[Barklessdog]

Welcome back, so many old faces or at least old basses!

You are going to have to update us on your basses. Last I remember you were looking to get a Series I or II Alembic

[kungfusheriff]

Hello, barkless
Right now I'm privelieged enough to have two Series basses, both "Stanley Clarke"-style 1982s in flamed koa. One has a graphite neck, and they both rule the world. Is there an FAQ on posting pics here?

[chromium]

Welcome - I remember seeing your graphite @ DP.  Beautiful bass.

Is there an FAQ on posting pics here?

If it helps, I've been using Photobucket.  Sign up (free), upload images, and just drop whatever it shows under "IMG code" for each picture right into your post:

[Dave W]

Hi Shawn, glad to have you.

You can upload direct from your computer, just click on the additional options to the lower left of the text box. But it's limited in size and overall storage capacity. And for some odd reason, Uwe can't see directly uploaded pics on his office computer, so he gripes about it instead of getting somebody to look at his settings. 

If you have some good size images, I'd recommend signing up for a free (or paid premium) Photobucket account.

[Barklessdog]

Hello, barkless
Right now I'm privelieged enough to have two Series basses, both "Stanley Clarke"-style 1982s in flamed koa. One has a graphite neck, and they both rule the world. Is there an FAQ on posting pics here?

I was formally Redbird. I would love too see the flamed koa one!

[hieronymous]

Any Entwistle-a-like Spyders here?

I have a Spoiler/Exploiter:


"Spoiler" refers to the electronics as much as anything - in this case, volume, filter, and Q switch. The Q switch selects between 0 db boost and a +6 db boost where the filter is set. You can probably have any electronics package with an Exploiter body shape - Distillate, Series I or II, etc.

Besides the details like the electronics and the spider-web inlays, a big distinction between my Exploiter and a Spyder is that the Spoiler is 32" scale, and the Spyders are 34". Also, apparently the Exploiter shape has evolved over time, and they will customize it.

There's a thread here at the Alembic club that goes into more detail (plus has another view of my bass).

[Chris P.]

Thanks for explaining, the link and the pic.

I like 32" inch basses. My Burns Vista Sonic has it. It's very easy playing and it still has enough lenght for the E string.

I saw a Spyder for sale at the Alembic site. 'only' 8.500 dollars... I like yours better. Really Entwistle, but simpler, but more sophisticated. Nice bass! How would you describe the sound of it?

[hieronymous]

Thanks! You can actually get a lot of sounds out of it. With the filter all the way up, you get a really deep but bright, almost Stanley Clarke kind of sound. Like this:

But if you turn the filter down a bit to the midrange you can get a mellower, jazz guitar kind of sound for leads that I really like. The lead parts on this track (same as the one with my cat playing with the string in front of the bass) are with different settings of the filter: - the first instrument you hear and all the lead parts are the Exploiter, the "regular" bass part is 4001:


With the Q switch set to +6, you get a really snappy attack, very unique sounding.

[chromium]

There is a beautiful long-scale Exploiter w/what looks like Series-I electronics on evil bay right now:

http://cgi.ebay.com/Alembic-Exploiter-4-String-Electric-Bass-Guitar-USA_W0QQitemZ230248914400QQihZ013QQcategoryZ4713QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem



Don't see that everyday!

[hieronymous]

There is a beautiful long-scale Exploiter w/what looks like Series-I electronics on evil bay right now:
Don't see that everyday!

Yeah, I noticed that! I actually convinced myself that I wouldn't buy another Exploiter. The one I have was near mint when I bought it, but playing it in my house I would always bump the pointy part into door jambs! It's bad enough with a headstock, but the Exploiter just sticks out. Plus it doesn't really make sense as an instrument to only play at home. And I've heard that it can be uncomfortable to reach the 1st fret on the 34" scale ones.

Does all this sound like rationalization? 

I think that if I were to buy another Exploiter, it would have to be an 8-string!

[chromium]

I think that if I were to buy another Exploiter, it would have to be an 8-string!

There was a 8-string Distillate w/Exploiter body up a few months ago that went for ~$2700.  It's always hard to tell where they're gonna land pricewise, since the Exploiters don't show up too often, not to mention an eight string!

I don't think I saved pics of it, but it looked almost the same as this one:

[hieronymous]

Wow! I like the zebrawood top ones too. Right now I'm focusing on my Fender Telecaster Bass, but this thread has me tempted to pull out the ol' Exploiter again! It's been sitting in its case for a while - I've been pondering whether to string it up with cello tuning again, though this time starting on low D, or just standard tuning...

[Chris P.]

I saw the one on eBay. Very nice!!

I like the Explorerbird too, which appeared at the Gibson forum some months ago. Fiesta red Explorer boy with maple P neck. Different beast of course.