Alembic

[Rojack01]

Sup guys. I've recently been shopping around for a custom made guitar, 6 string electric not a bass. I have been stalking the Alembic site hardcore. Looking at the page that gives you a price on a custom build. Well for some reason i can't get any guitar prices off of it, but I saw that a series 2 bass is almost $20,000 bucks. What am I missing here? Im planning to drop almost 7 grand on a guitar with the same type of construction, but 20K what is going on? do people actually buy those?

[SpaceYrface43]

If i had 7 grand to spare i would head over the Moriarty guitars.
http://moriartyguitars.com/moriartyguit ... /Home.html

[Rojack01]

That is exactly what I am going to do. I can't find anything as close to what I want elsewhere. I guess Alembic caters to Rich dudes. Honestly I like the looks of the moriartys a whole lot more. I wish I could find more pics of his work.

[mijknahs]

If I had extra cash, I'd get the bare bones Tiger.

[seanc]

I can only relate my experiences with Alembic and these are all bass related. They are,by and large, ungodly expensive.

The quality of their work really is top notch. But, by today's standards there are quite a lot of makers out there putting out the level of quality work on par with the best of Alembic for far less.

But, The real focus of alembic has always been their electronics. The combo of pick ups and filters that get that Alembic sound. On a bass, you can get very close to that sound with a combo of good pick ups and top notch pre amps and filters.

On a guitar though.. Garcia never used alembic pick ups, he used dimarzio. And there are many preamp builders out there capable of putting out 1st class preamps.

So, IMO you could get the same quality guitar built for far less with the right pickups and a suitable preamp.

In a lot of respects you are paying for the Alembic name. But, JG never used an Alembic guitar. So, in the same line of thinking, why not commission Rick Turner, Larry Robinson or any of the other (non Doug Irwin) that era Alembic alumnae to build it?

[Rojack01]

I don't really have any desire to own an alembic, but their site is nice. I was mainly just checking out the wood. There are not a whole hell of a lot of options when it comes to this type of thing. I am going with Moriarty unless something drastic happens, like I don't get my money today.

[zambiland]

The other thing to realize is that the quote generator spews list price. If you go through a dealer, you will pay far less than the $20k you came up with through the site. Alembics are expensive, but they are comparing themselves with what classical musicians have to look at rather than run of the mill rock musicians (or wealthy weekend warriors.). A halfway decent classical violin is still way more than an Alembic. That was the original vision from Bear, to make electric instruments with the same level of care and expertise as classical instruments.

[Phil Lesh101]

Modulus

[zambiland]

Modulus

Alembic!

Hell, Guild!

I have to say that my Starfire is sounding better and better. Last night was a revelation in tone at the Boulder Theater. However, it was one of the ones that got away.

[Rusty the Scoob]

What's this guitar thread doing sneaking around in our area?

Personally I wouldn't buy an Alembic guitar. But I'd sure love an Alembic bass!

Gotta agree with Edwin about the Starfire. I kinda hate the ergonomics of mine... I'm not a tall guy and find the large, non-countoured body forces me into a slightly awkward position, and the neck doesn't really lend itself to fast playing... But the tone, wow! And I like that it's different than what everybody else is doing.... the hippie festivals are full of 34" or 35" scale, active-electronic modern basses (Modulus, Ken Smith, Carvin, Pedulla, Ibanez, Yamaha, etc etc) and they all sound pretty much the same to me.