Alembic price list: HOLY $#%*!!!!!

[LiquidMidnight]

Also, while we're on the topic, does anyone remember that Alembic that was on BassNW's used page about a year and a half ago? The thing had like literally 24 knobs, switches, and other doo-dads. It had more knobs on it than the bass channel would have on the sound board for FOH!

 

[IronLung1986]

I remember Jeff Berlin posting that paying more than $500 on a bass guitar is wasting your money. Which I suppose is true from the perspective that a bass guitar a tool and not artwork. But the high end stuff is still pretty.

funny since his Dean USA sig bass goes for $1700 - $2800 depending on the options....

 

[alembicbones]

As with Alan and James, I had an Alembic journey before I settled on my current Alembic.

I started with a used Essence 5 string. It was a fine bas and got me through many a gig and recording session. Next came a used stock Europa 5 string which was partially funded by the Essence. Again, another very fine bass. Then, a used Series II 5 string came up on GGuitars website. It was at a good price point and I made the plunge. It was a nice looking and sounding bass but in the end, I never totally bonded with it. Finally, Alembic had a killer deal going on 1/2 price custom options and it was the right time to order my custom. I took the features from my prior three used Alembics that I liked the best and created a one of a kind bass. My Europa 5 string with Series I electronics is a phenomenal bass and I will likely pass it to an heir when I meet my demise.

Bones

 

[eban3]

overweight pieces of furniture .............

 

[tsar nicholas]

As usual, Alan you are right on point. Especially the red part. Here's my Alembic "journey"

1. Somewhere in the late '90s I bought a 1983 Spoiler for $1,300
2. Traded the Spoiler and $500 for a 1987 Stanley Clarke Deluxe.
3. Looking for short scale strings for the Stanley Clarke, found a small body Series I in pitiful shape. Store wanted $950. I gave them $475 cash and took a 1974 Series I, serial number 84 home.
4. Found a 1979 medium scale small body Series II on the Internet for $1,700. Decided that Series II electronics were the shiznet, and started plotting on how to get a 5-string Series II
5. Late in 1999 I ordered a 5-string Mark King Deluxe with Series II electronics and a bunch of other custom options. Quote Generator pegged out at around $11,300. Today the QG would price it well over $20k. I paid about $6,500. Sold the 4-string Series II and the Stanley Clarke. That covered more than half the price. It was also a very good bonus year, so I had no trouble making the difference. I've turned down offers of about $7,000 in value (gear + cash)
6. While waiting for my custom to be completed I found out Stanley Clarke was auctioning off a lot of his gear. Made him an offer for his 1987 Omega bodied Series I. That bass and my custom 5-string were delivered the same week in June 2000.

Notice that my custom purchase was funded largely by buying used Alembics, playing them, then selling them for as much as I paid for them( sometimes more). I also sold a Ken Smith Burner a Fender or three, and even a Music Man Sabre I'd owned for 20 years to support Alembic purchases.

After playing the first 3 or 4 Alembics, I knew pretty much what I wanted when I ordered my 5-string. Here's a picture taken right after I got both of the Alembics I still have (June 2000). Somewhere along the line I sold the 1974 (idiot) but I intend to pass the other two Alembics down to my kids.

^ Great photo and killer axes!

 

[Davo-London]

Couldn't they afford a web site update, after all!

1000% agree. It is awful for a high end product. Truly awful.

I'm not knocking luxury goods or Alembics. Folk like having the choice. I know I do.

Davo

 

[TRichardsbass]

Same thread as "is a Brubaker/Bolin/Fodera/Turner/any boutique worth it?"

The answer is YES! These are custom and semi-custom builds to order. Built for you! Worth as much or more then you pay.

Judging high end, boutiques by resale is misleading at best or criminal at worst.

First they were made to someones personal taste so they will have less overall appeal and a smaller market. Second most guys selling them have lost the emotional attachment so will offer them much lower then you would think. Lastly, very few people have ever played them and get scared to plink down huge coin on them.

I love my Alembic Excel that I got from a TBer. Plays like a dream and is exactly Alembic. However it is not my "style" so I dont play it much. Nor would I take it to Hanks Saloon in Brooklyn NYC.

If anyone here woyld be interested in her I am ready to send her to a new home.

 

[Margus Alviste]

Same thread as "is a Brubaker/Bolin/Fodera/Turner/any boutique worth it?"

The answer is YES! These are custom and semi-custom builds to order. Built for you! Worth as much or more then you pay.

Judging high end, boutiques by resale is misleading at best or criminal at worst.

First they were made to someones personal taste so they will have less overall appeal and a smaller market. Second most guys selling them have lost the emotional attachment so will offer them much lower then you would think. Lastly, very few people have ever played them and get scared to plink down huge coin on them.

I love my Alembic Excel that I got from a TBer. Plays like a dream and is exactly Alembic. However it is not my "style" so I dont play it much. Nor would I take it to Hanks Saloon in Brooklyn NYC.

If anyone here woyld be interested in her I am ready to send her to a new home.

What's the string spacing at the bridge? Weight? Does it have only one pickup?

 

[Baird6869]

funny since his Dean USA sig bass goes for $1700 - $2800 depending on the options....

True.

He is a great player but I really can't stomach listening to anything he says. When he basically said everyone that posts on TB are losers that are not real bass players, he lost me. Also, I don't trust a guy that permanently wears a leather tummy pouch/man purse.

 

[Roscoe East]

Also, I don't trust a guy that permanently wears a leather tummy pouch/man purse.

So long as we're totally derailling this thread:

I too thought those tummy pouches were the ultimate dork accessory...until I started touring outside the United States, and noticed that all the other professional musicians on tour were wearing them also. There's a reason: Secure yet easy access to your passport.

 

[bound'n'blocked]

I always thought that spending the money an Alembic costs was crazy. Until Friday night when the guy after my set at a show played one. I now understand where that money went. It sounded fabulous!

I still wouldn't buy one, but dang it sounded good.

BnB

 

[IGotGas]

A bit tired of the analogies of the fact that it is expensive.

Look you can drive a Rolls Royce to the corner shop to get some milk, or you can drive a beat up banger to do the same. Ultimately, it's your choice what you want to do, if you have the means to support it. Whether either is a good idea, morally good, technologically better, looks good, is a pointless question - it depends on what you want it for and everyone's motivation is different.

I love my Alembics and my Alembic gutted basses, and as former session player, I have one of each type of bass (mostly, still) for various kinds of sounds, looks, etc. There are times when a Stingray works better, my Rick works better, my Ibanez with EMGs work better, my Fender Js work better....most of the time my Alembics or basses with Alembic pickups will smack any other basses in a pure sonic performance contest, but in a recording situation it depends on the production, and in a gigging situation, it depends on the music, stagecraft and look, compatibility with the situation. I played in a Motown 'show band and revue' and the first few shows I took out lots of basses, and decided I was going to do the show finally with a Fender type bass - did the Alembic sound better to me? Yes, and the neck LEDS were great too... but....

Playability? Nothing on this planet beats an Ibanez SR neck for playability and I have played and still own a wide range of basses. Do I wish to play the Ibanez all the time? No.

Pricing is always what the market will bear. If it is expensive, and people are willing to pay for it, the business carries on and Alembic has been in business since the late 60s/early 70s. If you sell snake oil, at some stage the detractors will pull out and the knives will be out, and eventually, the business is not sustainable and will close, cf. "Accugroove". Alembic is still thriving.

+++1

Exactly correct!!!

 

[lalo_garcia-maynez]

10 years later
But here you can decide if the sound is worth $30000 dollars or not
I recommend using headphones to listen to the tone of these 2 series two alembic basses .

 

[Chad Michael]

Just listened on good headphones... **

In the hands of Mark, I like the sound. For me to spend $3k on a bass, it would have to feel and sound amazing in my hands. $30k? I guess some people have that kind of money, and I will never know what that's like.

** for gear geeks like myself: JDS Atom headphone amp, HiFiMan Sundara planar magnetic phones

 

[FC Bass]

New (Aug 2023) Series II in heavy rock setting:

 

[Rdore2000]

New (Aug 2023) Series II in heavy rock setting:

So thick and full

 

[lalo_garcia-maynez]

This is one of my 6 alembic series 2. Just a killer bass and work of art !

 

[Nolan Tremblay]

Beautiful bass!

On the topic of price, realizing it's 11 years after this thread starting, they're charging what the market bears. Nothing unique and handmade requiring that amount of labour is inexpensive and they're able to capitalize on a reputation they've built over decades of delivering very desireable instruments.

 

[jimmydean]

Money is funny .

 

[Bob_Ross]

The irony of a 10-year-old zombie thread complaining about Alembic prices in 2013 is that now in 2024 we wish Alembic prices were only what they were in 2013!