I used to joke with Mica that I wanted to know how they were sourcing Martian wood.
I saw many in my time in the Alembic community, all of them one masterpiece after another, but THIS custom Bird of Prey lives in the back of my mind for free.
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There's a lot going on here. Center to center cocobolo top (no gap to see the neck through). Look at the reserved wood pickup covers, identically grain matched back up with the book matched top. The closeup of the bridge area, see the ebony bridge saddles? The Flying Ming tailpiece. In the Omega cutout, the neckthrough is maple, purpleheart, and ebony layers. See the pistol grip in the bass side horn?
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A different BoP example, the backside. Look at the layers of all the different woods, both in the neck and the wings, and the work it takes to make all this look right.
Of course, Alembic operates in its own end of the business, and often these are nothing like anything most of us have never seen up close or played, but it's a level of art and engineering that's simply unmatched by anything else. It's easy to say, 'well, for that kind of money . . . ', but even at that, look at the craftsmanship to make something like this 52 weeks a year for 50 years. Unbelievable.
I'll repeat what I often say: Alembics are NOT for everybody. But . . . . if you 'get it', believe me, there is nothing, and I mean NOTHING like an Alembic.
