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NDB: Alembic Stanley Clark
- Thread starter moon-bass
- Start date
I found mine surprisingly well-balanced on the strap, with no neck dive. That being said (and I knew it going in) — I don’t like strap pins behind the body as it allows the bass to tilt away from your belly — so I had to adjust my playing style (even wrote a post on this) to counteract it.
It’s pretty comfortable playing seated (which is all I do with it now). Maybe have to support the neck a little more than say my Fender when seated, due to the small SC body and how it sits on your lap. I’d be lying if I didn’t feel my Fenders (even my P5) weren’t more ergonomically comfortable to play all around. It’s like a fire hydrant — not too much heavier than my others (maybe by a pound — call it somewhere 9.5-10 lbs) — but its weight is concentrated all in the body and just feels dense when you pick it up. The SC neck is really nice, comfortable, and goes on for miles with a three-octave capability.
It’s become my trophy-on-the-wall collector’s bass, that I use for practice at home. Had to have it, and kind of got that lust out of my system.
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When seeing NBD - Squier Precision! or NBD - MIM Jazz with tort! for the umpteenth time it’s kinda hard to share the new owner’s excitement.
It is neck heavy, but not terribly so. It's very cofmfortable to play either seated or standing.
I understand what you mean. For the right 32" or long scale series 2 Alembic I might even trade my Wal mk4. They are in the same price range nowadays. Maybe a used Wal is even more expensive. But I would want to try the Alembic first if the chance came along, because I never played one.
Seriously, what did you have to trade to get that beauty? First-born child? Kidney? A mint Mercedes-Benz 450SL?
I mean, I have two kidneys. I mean, had.
(In all actuality, I traded traded this for cash, I mixed my bass deals up and forgot to close the joke. I sold a some basses, got cash, then used that cash for the bass, so ...three way trade?). I've been thinning the herd as of late, but the main bass that I sold to get this one was a 68 P bass that I owned for like a minute.
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Congratulations! My .02 is it's maybe the most comfortable bass I've ever played. Thin, fast, amazing neck. Short scale is sooo great for old hands. Will tune down 3 half steps just fine, so there goes that misconception. I struggle with the Q filters, but I'm slowly figuring that out, and I will. Congrats again, that's awesome!
Yes!!! I was very wary of short scale basses - they have always had low tension and floppy strings, but I don't know how Alembic does it, the strings on the SC are TIGHT! I love it! Great neck as well.
My wife took a few minutes of video of me noodling around. Excuse the missed notes
These are the flats that the bass came with. I got a set of the Alembic strings I'm gonna try those as well, but the flats sounds pretty good.
https://photos.app.goo.gl/LxrEqHwFkwBBwDy78
Can you point me to this post please? I'm actually not having any issue at all with tilt, but I need to put straplocks on it and looking to see if, in the event there is more tilt, what to expect. TIA!
I wouldn’t think you’ll develop tilt if you don’t have it now — but the admittedly nerdy post by me was (having trouble attaching a link; here’s the thread to search):
“Life Hack: Ergonomically Fixing Forward Bass Lean Caused by Strap Pin Location”
