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Thursday, May 29, 2008

The Alembic at 6 Months

So, I picked up my Alembic roughly 6 months ago. I can't thank Mica, Susan, Valentino, Ron and the craftsmen at Alembic enough.

Pictures after the jump.












Aesthetics:

Simply put, this is the most beautiful bass I've ever seen. All of the elements work together, the Coco Bolo, Vermilion and Purpleheart, the Maple and Ebony. Amazing.

Playing:

The neck is just right. Thin, sleek, effortless. String spacing is really nice at 18mm; enough room for slap, while still room for speedy fingerstyle.

Electronics:

The Emacs of bass electronics. Yes, it does that, for every value of that. But mind-altering; it takes a serious effort to grok them. Mica's hint of concentrating on one pickup at a time helps (like viper-mode in emacs :)).

2 comments:

Unknown said...

I'm not sure you should even play it. That's just way too nice of a guitar. I'm thinking an alcove for it, with soft lighting and cigarettes/lighter close by for the afterglow.

Bradley said...

Ha.

I understand the sentiment, because it really is a work of art. But they need to be played.

When I picked it up (at the Alembic factory), Mica had wiped it down, but it quickly started picking up fingerprints. She asked if we should wipe it down before putting it back in the case-- I said don't bother, since it's going to look like that for the rest of its life. She was glad to hear that it was going to be a player.