[mkaufman]

Just ran across one. Anyone know anything about these guitars?

tnx,
mk

[barefootdave]

I have wanted one for a long time. Have owned several Alembics and they are top notch. Currently have a Tribute. If you can get it for a price you are comfortable with, you will not be sorry.

The electronics are cool, give a wide palette of tones, although they can be tough to dial in at first. I have considered ditching the electronics in the past and just going Jerry with it, but never done so.

Alembics have a pretty stable resale value, so if you buy right, you have a good investment.

[Mosfed]

I have had the pleasure of playing one. And I enjoyed it. The one I played had a great neck.

I have to echo the person who posted before me both on the electronics as well as the resale value. If it were me, I would probably buy the guitar without pickups and get it wired by someone else. Not a huge fan of their active pickups. I am sure this is akin to blasphemy here but I have to stick by my guns.

I think you would enjoy it. They do amazing work. The one that I played had an incredible flamed Koa top. Absolutely to die for

[guitarcats]

I have had the pleasure of playing one. And I enjoyed it. The one I played had a great neck.

I have to echo the person who posted before me both on the electronics as well as the resale value. If it were me, I would probably buy the guitar without pickups and get it wired by someone else. Not a huge fan of their active pickups. I am sure this is akin to blasphemy here but I have to stick by my guns.

I think you would enjoy it. They do amazing work. The one that I played had an incredible flamed Koa top. Absolutely to die for

I had the second Darling made back in 04 and it was a piece of art. I just couldn't get used to the pickups, sounded dull and thin to me. My only complaint with Alembic is their refusal to add things I wanted. I mean if I am going to pay that much money for a custom guitar I should be able to get what I want. I too wanted different pickups but they flat out said no because that was their sound. I also wanted a maple board and neck binding and was also told no.

Having said all that, it was truly a beautiful instrument. It looked sexy as hell and it played flawless except for those damn pickups that I could never bond with. On the plus side I sold it for more then I paid so it wasn't too bad of an adventure.

[barefootdave]

Alembics have always been a good investment for me, always made money on them when reselling.

One of their dealers told me the other day that they recently changed their policy on special requests. He says they will now do anything you ask them (for a price, of course) including "real" Jerry electronics in the Further and Tribute models. One of their big holdouts was the electronics issue, but apparently they have seen the light.

[gr8fullfred]

Apparently the problem with Alembic's were their use of their active electronics and pickups.
Jerry just did not like Alembics electronics. And Jerry was not alone, can't really think of a major player who plays an Alembic guitar. Not so for the basses, apparently Alembics pickups and electronics do work for the bass, as many players have played them.

Remember that an Irwin guitar (Wolf) is basically an Alembic with "Stratocaster pickups, I could play that shit".

Alembic's electronics work for bass, not so well for guitar. Just my observations, never owned an Alembic.

[zambiland]

Apparently the problem with Alembic's were their use of their active electronics and pickups.
Jerry just did not like Alembics electronics. And Jerry was not alone, can't really think of a major player who plays an Alembic guitar. Not so for the basses, apparently Alembics pickups and electronics do work for the bass, as many players have played them.

Carlos Alomar. He played with James Brown and David Bowie. Doesn't get more major leagues than that. However, his Alembic was up for sale a while back.

[gr8fullfred]

Carlos Alomar. He played with James Brown and David Bowie. Doesn't get more major leagues than that. However, his Alembic was up for sale a while back.

Yes that is exactly my point. No major players play them. Carlos Alomor, is basically an unknown player (I never heard of him), he is not known for his tone (he is not a tone god), and you can't even name another player who plays one. Just sayn...........

[zambiland]

Carlos Alomar. He played with James Brown and David Bowie. Doesn't get more major leagues than that. However, his Alembic was up for sale a while back.

Yes that is exactly my point. No major players play them. Carlos Alomor, is basically an unknown player (I never heard of him), he is not known for his tone (he is not a tone god), and you can't even name another player who plays one. Just sayn...........

Well, son, Carlos Alomar was considered a guitar god and David Bowie and James Brown were both bigger gigs than the Grateful Dead for a long time. He was known for his tone and I can name another. Kid Funkadelic himself, Michael Hampton. Also well known and known for his tone. He played an Alembic in front of some seriously large crowds. Maybe it's an age thing and kids these days just don't know about the blazing and funky guitarists of the 70s and 80s.

[Grant]

I've always admired alembics for their build quality and attention to detail - they really are beautiful guitars. But in my relatively limited experience with them, their pickups just don't cut it- that of course is a deal-breaker. Great news that they aren't taking the hard line with pups anymore.

[tigerstrat]

Scott Law (Piano Throwers, Honky Tonk Homeslice, Banjokillers) is considered a modern guitar god to many, and for at least the last 6-7 years has played an Alembic Further (Fyrthyr?) model with stock pickups. He can get very Jerry-like sounds. People here unfamiliar with his work may remember him as one of the winners of the "Play the Irwin Wolf" contest a few years back. But one of my favorite new groups is Law's Brokedown In Bakersfield, wherein he spanks a Tele.

[Neil Godbole]

Whooooaaaaaa Corpse Thread Revival Alert!!!

Yah.. so I was playing my Alembic Super Darling (custom Darling with all sorta mods) today after a long while. I normally play a modded PRS Special 22 Semi Hollow LTD (also modded quite a bit) and I have to say, the Alembic sounded super sweet through my rig (sarno pedal steel black box -> pedals ->Sarno SMS Classic JG -> McIntosh Mc250 -> JBL D123). You know from my rig alone what side of the tone fence I like to hang out on!

So anyway I have, albeit at somewhat lower volume levels, been able to get good distortion out of those JBL speakers by using a late stage analog Midi EQ (TC 1128) and essentially emulating something close to a celestion curve only when I engage particular dirt pedals (I use an RJM Midi/Loop Switcher). It works well and gives me the best of both worlds - Clean, Clean with hair, hair with some dirt, dirt with some more dirt, and ooey gooey liquid lead sustain but not so high gain that it's too noisy or squeals. That basically covers my needs from clean to distorted.

So the Darling with the active electronics fairs surprisingly well. I used to go for the ultra bright almost acoustic like tones that only work clean with this guitar. And for the studio, this can indeed provide a cool sound - especially for cleanly arpeggiating and and certain kinds of acoustic-like lead tones. However, if you can pass on the urge to tweak the filters that high, and instead go for a more middle of the range tone, it is still plenty bright, but works so much better both on bridge and neck for a lot more varieties of tonal manipulation. Contrary to popular belief, it can do distortion pretty well - even more extreme types, but don't expect it to sound like a typical popular guitar (tele, strat, gibson, etc... it's definitely it's own thing). The distortion can almost be made to be synth-like in the way it breaks up and saturates. Cool for layers on a recording.

The playing feel of these guitars is decidedly more stiff - like trying to do a workout in fancy clothes, but it has a certain elegance, and makes me play differently, with more attention on how I interact with the strings and neck than any of my other axes. Other than my modded PRS which has a replica of the PRS Super Eagle pre-amp on it (only available from PRS with their Super Eagle I and II Guitars), no other guitar has the kind of HIFI-like definition this guitar has. It also has crazy sustain and touch sensitivity with a very enjoyable bounce to the feel of the strings. However - I'd still call the overall feel 'stiff' due to the neck and body - which works well as an alternate guitar. I wouldn't ever want to be stuck with the Alembic as my main axe unless I was making a very particular kind of music. Switching back to my PRS after playing the Alembic for an hour or more is hilarious. It's like swinging a bat after using a donut for an hour.

I don't prefer it much for rhythm playing, and it's hard to really rock out with such a beast - its like 9-10 lbs, although its incredibly well balanced features ZERO neck dive, and fits like a glove. It's just heavy. I prefer sitting if I'm going to be using it for a while.

Lastly, the look and craftsmanship is astounding, and after all these years I've managed to keep it basically mint. It's a sight to behold, and puts it firmly in the class of 'stay at home' queens. They gave me a super high quality reunion blues soft leather case (like $1000 nice) and it protects the guitar well, and makes it super quick to put back in its case when I need to.

I do wonder what more standard pickups would sound like - but the guitar is so unique in so many ways, I have never been tempted to tweak with it at all. It also has an onboard midi pickup but I rarely to never use it - it can serve as an acoustic piezo pickup as well, but who the hell wants that horrid sound...

Peace,
Neil

[lbpesq]

While the Darling is not one of my favorite shapes, in general I love Alembic guitars (by the way, another Alembic guitarist was John “Marmaduke” Dawson of NRPS). I have a custom Further, a 1976 medium scale Series 1, and a 1977 long scale Series 1 12 string. My #1 player is a Warmoth rear-loaded Strat body, Flame Koa over Black Korina, Modulus Blackknife graphite neck, loaded with Alembic pickups and electronics. I also have a Tele fitted with Alembic guts and a highly modded Fernandes MH-110 Masterhand with Alembic guts and RMC piezo bridge. The build quality, especially the Further, is truly outstanding - pure functional art. Alembic guitars are great for clean playing. Once you get the hang of the low pass filter and Q switch, you can dial in great tones with a full almost piano-like sound. Playing Alembics forces you to improve your technique. Everything is right out there, they don’t hide any slop.

It is admittedly a little more difficult to coax a distorted tone out of an Alembic guitar. Some pedals just seem to play nicer than others. I really like how it sounds through the SMS Earth Drive. I recently picked up the SMS Solar Flare, but haven’t been able to dial it in yet. I also found that my Alembics didn’t seem to bond with my Mesa amps. I had a Mark II C+ and a Mark III that I wound up selling after I started playing Alembics. They seem to have been designed for Fender-style amps.

I would never replace the pickups and electronics on an Alembic with non-Alembic stuff. It would be akin to replacing a Ferrari’s 12 cylinder engine with a short block Chevy. Just my 2¢.

Bill, tgo

[mkaufman]

Neil - can you please detail your PRS Special 22 Semi Hollow LTD mods?

Thanks,
ace

[Neil Godbole]

I posted some info on this forum a while back: (pointed directly to the post)
https://www.rukind.com/viewtopic.php?p=171206#p171206
General thread: https://www.rukind.com/viewtopic.php?f=426&t=20947
---
For a more in-depth look at the mods and discussion:
https://forums.prsguitars.com/threads/s ... ead.47373/

Neil - can you please detail your PRS Special 22 Semi Hollow LTD mods?

Thanks,
ace