The Fretless Club (Part IV)

[fabinosto]

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[guyzo]

Back in1982 my uncle offered to have a bass made for me for my birthday, by the company of my choice. So, i got in touch with alembic and put together what i figured would be an ultimate bass guitar. It was a series I medium scale four string with coco bolo face and back wood, fretless ebony fingerboard with rosewood fret inlays( it was first fretless.)as well as a mother of pearl hummingbird at the octave position, with the typical series I huge body but with the omega cut ati the bridge end of the body rather than the standard"point" configuration. It took about 5-6 months to get built but when it finally arrived it was simply breathtaking! I played that bass for ten years before hard times befell me and i made the worst gear related move of my life..I pawned it for $300...then lost it. Needless to say i was dispondent. I knew in my heart i would never see that wonderius bass again in this lifetime. That was back in 1992. Then, last summer while checking out alembics on e-bay i see the header "1982 custom series I fretless bass omega cut" NO #*@ ING WAY!! I open the listing and there it was staring out from tbe screen, my old custom fretless alembic! I couldnt afford the asking price so i asked the guy if he'd take payments,only to find he wouldnt. Arrrrrgghhh! Over the course of the summer i watched as he gradually dropped the price every coupleof weeks then one time i went to stare at it and it listed as sold! My hopes for redemption crashed into the cliff..then, a week later, it reappeared! A month later, my resolve fixed, i called and asked he he could hold it for me for six more weeks a d i would pay him in full. This time he said yes! On december 20th, 2012, i drove to san diego and bought my bass for a second time! Oddest of all was that over the time he was holding it for me, the bass would show up in my dreams every now and then! Never as the main focus of the dream but instead, in a corner on a stand or hanging within a row of basses at some dream music store. In a way, i still cant believe i got it back after 20 years, but i did and its cooler than i knew back then, plays like a dream and sounds like only an alembic can!

[pauliebass]

Nice story! Glad you got your bass back.

[Engine207]

Originally Posted by guyzo

Back in1982 my uncle offered to have a bass made for me for my birthday, by the company of my choice. So, i got in touch with alembic and put together what i figured would be an ultimate bass guitar. It was a series I medium scale four string with coco bolo face and back wood, fretless ebony fingerboard with rosewood fret inlays( it was first fretless.)as well as a mother of pearl hummingbird at the octave position, with the typical series I huge body but with the omega cut ati the bridge end of the body rather than the standard"point" configuration. It took about 5-6 months to get built but when it finally arrived it was simply breathtaking! I played that bass for ten years before hard times befell me and i made the worst gear related move of my life..I pawned it for $300...then lost it. Needless to say i was dispondent. I knew in my heart i would never see that wonderius bass again in this lifetime. That was back in 1992. Then, last summer while checking out alembics on e-bay i see the header "1982 custom series I fretless bass omega cut" NO #*@ ING WAY!! I open the listing and there it was staring out from tbe screen, my old custom fretless alembic! I couldnt afford the asking price so i asked the guy if he'd take payments,only to find he wouldnt. Arrrrrgghhh! Over the course of the summer i watched as he gradually dropped the price every coupleof weeks then one time i went to stare at it and it listed as sold! My hopes for redemption crashed into the cliff..then, a week later, it reappeared! A month later, my resolve fixed, i called and asked he he could hold it for me for six more weeks a d i would pay him in full. This time he said yes! On december 20th, 2012, i drove to san diego and bought my bass for a second time! Oddest of all was that over the time he was holding it for me, the bass would show up in my dreams every now and then! Never as the main focus of the dream but instead, in a corner on a stand or hanging within a row of basses at some dream music store. In a way, i still cant believe i got it back after 20 years, but i did and its cooler than i knew back then, plays like a dream and sounds like only an alembic can!

Sorry, dude TB rules clearly state...no photos, no '82 Alembic back home with his happy, rightful owner.

[RandyMolson]

Yeah, guyzo, post pics!!!

[FretlessMainly]

And the occasional return key wouldn't hurt.

[J. Crawford]

Old pictures, but I havent posted on TB in a while and love this thread. Looks a bit different today, added all matching knobs and took off the cover. But this is pretty close.

[jbrooks]

I'm collecting numbers today. Here's one of my fretless on the left.

I also have an acoustic fretless bass as well.

[RandyMolson]

849 jbrooks

[shakman]

Hey, sign me up- I just DIY converted my Ibanez BTB 400QM to fretless. And it plays like a dream. Great action, and as close to perfect intonation and tuning as I can ask. Mmwwaaahhh!

[RandyMolson]

850 shakman

[kirkdickinson]

I requested a fretless bass club number a while back. Did I get a number and miss it?

[kirkdickinson]

Oops!
Sorry, I found my number.

Thanks

Kirk

[BassAgent]

Got a pretty cool shot of my fretless baby:

[Engine207]

Originally Posted by BassAgent

Got a pretty cool shot of my fretless baby:

Your MidnightWine/Black always kills me. That bass, with a fat, unlined neck would be all I need.

[Shardik]

Originally Posted by BassAgent

Got a pretty cool shot of my fretless baby:

Gotta love that bass and that picture.

Personally I like fret lines. Makes it easy to correct yourself if the monitoring is a bit low and the hands are drifting a bit.

For looks, an unlined fretless is to die for, though.

[Finneus]

Someday I will get my fretless chops up to snuff... Just using it to add a little bit of spice here & there.

[SteveC]

Loving mine...

[BassAgent]

Originally Posted by Shardik

Gotta love that bass and that picture.

Personally I like fret lines. Makes it easy to correct yourself if the monitoring is a bit low and the hands are drifting a bit.

For looks, an unlined fretless is to die for, though.

I must say I can do without fretlines, but only if I'd have side dots or something I'd love to replace this fingerboard with an unlined ebony board someday

[BaSs2180]

Originally Posted by SteveC

Loving mine...

Hermoso bajo :P