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Favorite "boutique" bass

#121
Alembic Epic-1.JPG To be honest? I don't have a favorite 'boutique' anything. As far as basses go; frankly, nobody makes anything I'm even vaguely interested in. Busy looking wood; strange shapes; 5,6, or more strings; and active electronics, just leave me cold. This basic model, bottom-of-the-line '96 Alembic Epic is as close to 'boutique' as I care to get. I only have it because, when I went looking for a bass to fill the ONE 'active bass' spot in my herd, it was simply the first lefty that popped up on eBay. It could just as easily have been any other active lefty 4 string bass... But, it is very nice, and even though it's active, I do like it quite a bit...:whistle:
 
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#122
Alembic
M Basses. Jon Maghini has been building basses in Connecticut for 17 years. I acquired one in a trade a couple of years ago. It was easily the best sounding P Bass I had ever played. The quality, craftsmanship and finish were excellent. I didn't like the neck so I sold it. I spoke with Jon last year and told him that I sold and the reason why. He said that the neck on that bass was a custom request by the original owner and not what he normally uses. He invited to visit his shop so I could try different models and offered to build one to my specs. I haven't had the time but plan on getting there sometime this year.
 
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#138
mikewalker said:
I'm not fond of any of the above-mentioned. Well, I do like the look of the single-cut Sadowsky, but Roger flat-out declined to make me a 32 inch scale version.

If I'm going to spend upwards of $2,000 on a bass, I will go to a true custom shop (who will build EXACTLY what I want according to my blueprints and material specs) rather than one of the boutique builders who just spin me out a slight variant of one of their designs...
Click to expand...
Shawn May is an amazing custom builder and will do just about any weird option you can think of.
 
#139
I missed the bus on the one who seemed to have stolen my heart. Mr BUD LeCompte made some very amazing creations, that sounded equal. Here were my two favorite. The first one is a one off, non fanned fret TRX which I believe it was given the RT label. The second is a TRX. At one point I had been speaking with Bud about a RT very much the same as pictured with a Wenge neck. I was in college and I believe I bought some Bose speakers and other things... I kick myself a few times a year for the last decade...

Here are the pics.

041-lec-rt5-07.jpg
035-lec-trx5-35-04.jpg


Miss you, Bud. Hope all is well.
 
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