Newb with a pic!

Just found this site and thought I'd post a pic of my baby. The bass used to belong to Kevin Thompson of the Sweet Comfort Band. From what I've been able to dig up, the trem was installed by Valley Arts Guitar. They did an exceptional job! I need to get off my duff and get a new arm for the trem so I can start using it.

Ahoy! Another Washingtonian?

That's a really cool guitar! Thanks for sharing that photo. I've never seen a Kahler on an Alembic before, but it looks right at home. You'll want to tighten the springs a bit to level out the cam so you can get full diving range out of the trem.

You can get a brand new Kahler arm from Kahler or wammiworld, but the new ones are about an inch shorter than they were in the 80s. If you want a longer one (which is a little more practical for some people), Dave from fretsonthenet.com can make you a longer one. I just ordered a custom pickup ring from him and he's super helpful and open to your ideas for parts.

Welcome to BTF, ShakeySlim!

That is one sweet bass, and like Martin said, I also haven't seen too many Alembics with Kahlers. He's also correct in setting the angle of the cam. My guess is that the bridge probably wants to float a lot with the springs so loose.

welcome!

that bass is sweet!

mmmmmmmm, alembic.

What do all the knobs do? Do you know?

kerpow!

http://www.alembic.com/prod/seriesii.html

Pshew...makes NASA look bad.

Thanks for the welcome! I haven't messed with the trem yet, the action is set right where I like it. I'll have to take a look and see what I can do with it. Right now the bridge is quite stable and doesn't want to move around. It also adds a ton of sustain to the Alembic. That extra mass makes this bass sing!

As for the controls, I have a basic idea of what they do. It's pretty easy to dial up some really bad sounds out of it!

that thing is beautiful

and knobs and switches galor for the "I'll never be bored playing with them" moments...lol

reminds me of this Kramer Ripley:

"Houston, we are a go for launch!"

shakey_slim wrote:

Thanks for the welcome! I haven't messed with the trem yet, the action is set right where I like it. I'll have to take a look and see what I can do with it. Right now the bridge is quite stable and doesn't want to move around. It also adds a ton of sustain to the Alembic. That extra mass makes this bass sing!

As for the controls, I have a basic idea of what they do. It's pretty easy to dial up some really bad sounds out of it!

Do you have other Alembics to compare the tone to? Kahlers are known for their adding sustain as you've noted.

I have a '90 Distillate and a '97 Orion 5 string. Granted, the electronics aren't the same as the Series II, neither of them will ring as long as this one.

So is it a series I?

What scale is it.

really cool bass by the way. I always wanted one (A Wal as well)

Series II, 32" scale.

Wow....just wow.

Totally wow.

i'm like barkless dog ........

"series II or a wal? series II or a wal? series II or a wal?"

seriously, its gonna be the series II if i can find a triple omega. i'll sell all my basses, all my extra gear, my car, my tv ... even my blood to get it. no ... i'm not gonna spend $8000 to get it ... its gotta be a deal or a rehab project ... i'de spend $3000.

but for $3000 ... those wal's shure are nice!