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Alembic defacement!!
- Thread starter Tumeni Notes
- Start date
Big deal. Before I got my FretFX lights for my Epic 5, I enhanced its microscopic side dots with Liquid Paper.
Meh. My first Alembic had a hole carved into the front of the body so you could pop the strings easier.
Some people... some people like cupcakes exclusively, while myself, I say there is naught nor ought there be nothing so exalted on the face of gods grey earth as that prince of foods... the muffin!
Well, given that the seller is not the one who put the marks there and they are STILL there, chances are getting rid of them ain't that easy.
But, really....so what? Doesn't make the bass less playable and may help bring the price down. I wouldn't do such a thing to any of my basses, but it doesn't ruin the bass. Just calls into question the perpetrator's judgement.
I just cleaned my Precision off from last night's gig so perhaps that will balance the world out or sumpthin'.
Why do you assume all the "people" you refer to are the same people? (LOL) I, for just one, think relicing is one of the wierdest, most foolish practices I've every encountered. But, on the other hand, I don't think this Sharpy trick on the Alembic is sacrilege, either. That said, I like your point - it is a little confusing about which basses can be abused to make them look cool, while others have to be treated like rare, exotic, fragile flowers. In that case of Alembics, that's sort of a laugh, since they are built tougher than any other bass I've owned.
Personally, in this case, I find the prospect of buying the bass at a discount then finding an effective way get the ink off a cool challenge - even if the bass wound up needing a refin at some point.
This is nothing. I once saw a used Alembic Spoiler with a P-Bass pickup cover (to give him/her a place put his/her thumb, I guess) screwed into the quilted maple top. When you removed the cover, the "footprints" under the cover was a different shade than the rest of the bass. And you had two screw holes.
I own an Alembic and I can assure you that it's still just wood, metal and a bit of plastic.
A bass is a tool and this is no different than etching your name into the head of a hammer.
That's an Epic, probably my least favorite Alembic model of all time. It's a set neck and not neck through. It's all just personal opinion but I wouldn't give you the $305 that it's currently bidding at, I've always found them clumsy and awkward looking.
It's not art. Rembrandt wasn't designing a painting then having a team of people repainting the same painting over and over. Alembics are built by a crew of bay area hippies with templates and power tools. If I called them up and ordered one I could get that exact bass, or ten just like it. That sort of Art is best left to Thomas Kinkade.
The prototype telecaster, Gilmour's #0001 strat (even though it wasn't the first), the Fool SG, one of Hendrix's burnt strats, even a guitar smashed to bits by Pete Townshend or the P-bass smashed by Paul Simonon on the cover of London calling, those are art, but not because they're p-basses and teles and strats, the art is in the story, the uniqueness of them. They're Art because of what the people put into them.
Here.
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You know why that bass costs $7600? Because people will pay it. Alembic makes a fine bit of gear, don't get me wrong, but they cost what they cost because people will pay it, plain and simple. If people would just stop romanticizing what's nothing more than pretty wood cut into interesting shapes, Alembic would go out of business.
And a bit of hairspray on a paper towel will take sharpie off just about anything.
A bass is a tool and this is no different than etching your name into the head of a hammer.
That's an Epic, probably my least favorite Alembic model of all time. It's a set neck and not neck through. It's all just personal opinion but I wouldn't give you the $305 that it's currently bidding at, I've always found them clumsy and awkward looking.
It's not art. Rembrandt wasn't designing a painting then having a team of people repainting the same painting over and over. Alembics are built by a crew of bay area hippies with templates and power tools. If I called them up and ordered one I could get that exact bass, or ten just like it. That sort of Art is best left to Thomas Kinkade.
The prototype telecaster, Gilmour's #0001 strat (even though it wasn't the first), the Fool SG, one of Hendrix's burnt strats, even a guitar smashed to bits by Pete Townshend or the P-bass smashed by Paul Simonon on the cover of London calling, those are art, but not because they're p-basses and teles and strats, the art is in the story, the uniqueness of them. They're Art because of what the people put into them.
Here.
Link Removed
You know why that bass costs $7600? Because people will pay it. Alembic makes a fine bit of gear, don't get me wrong, but they cost what they cost because people will pay it, plain and simple. If people would just stop romanticizing what's nothing more than pretty wood cut into interesting shapes, Alembic would go out of business.
And a bit of hairspray on a paper towel will take sharpie off just about anything.
I'm pretty sure that marker won't affect the playability or tone, right guys? I want people to sharpie up their basses and put them on ebay makes them cheaper for me to buy.
+1
It was his bass, to do want he wants with, enough said. I don't really think there should be any such thing as preserving your instrument for other people to oggle and such. Okay, perhaps not very good judgement ont he choice of marker pen, but regardless - it was his choice, so be it.
Alembics are an acquired taste anyway, i don't like that thing aesthetically by any stretch - marker pen or not!
+1 LOL! And also at that stage can it really be considered art? What is art... the product of an artist's expression or something that elicits a response in the viewer/listener?
Anyway... so the owner marked up his Alembic... big deal... I'm sure it still does what it was made to do.
