Alembic exploiter explorer bass

They're pretty hard to get a hold of I think.

 

My dream bass. The nearest I've ever been is sight of John Entwistle's onstage,
before he went over to Buzzards. They're quite rare, but I'd sell anyone on here's mother
for one!!!

 

should be very similar to any other alembics, only the shape changes

 

bought one from a crackhead for dirt, very very cool bass quilted maple top great bass!!! should have never sold it (how many times have we all said that)

 

For the detail-obsessed: Entwistle's Alembics weren't Exploiters, but rather Explorer-shaped Series basses. The Exploiter was an actual model, with different electronics & wood laminate schedule than the Series bass.

I worked at a music store in the 1980s that had an Exploiter on the rack, and while it was a very nice looking bass I remember being a little underwhelmed at the sound. Plus our in-house guitar tech was horrified at the condition of the neck; he used to say "for that kind of money I'd expect a reasonably straight neck out of the box, not a bow&arrow!"

 

Not really, pony up the money and they'll build you what ever you want. Getting a couple of grand to pay for it is the hard part.

 

More like 8 grand!

 

I thought there were like only 200 made?

 

I had an '84 Exploiter through most of the '90s, a flame koa top version. I replaced the preamp with a VPF/Q switch preamp and added a second jack (TRS) to allow for the ring to carry 12vdc to eliminate the need for a battery. I also had it converted to a fretless and put Sperzel tuning keys on it. Anyone have it, now?

It was a very comfortable bass to play but would never really stay in tune (no fretless jokes, I play just fine, thank you ). I also had a '87 Persuader during the same time period and it, too, had the same kind of tuning stability issues. I traded them both to get my first ZON (fretless); no more tuning issues.

 

I believe you are thinking about Alembic's Entwistle inspired Spyder basses. They have the same basic shape as an Exploiter. There was a limited run of those and they were all numbered. I'm sure there's quite a few more Exploiters out there.

Alembic model designations can be confusing. The Exploiter model was basically a shape change to the Spoiler or Persuader model of bass. But with Alembic, most any model can get an electronics upgrade and then, technically, be a different model. One of my Alembics is basically a Mark King Signature with electronics upgraded to Series II electronics and a few more options added. Most people would simply call it a Series II. There are examples of Exploiters with just about every electronics package.

Exploiter


Spyder