Rock and Roll Hall of Fame

alembic76407 · September 15, 2016, 08:30:45 PM

I went to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame this week here are two basses I found

alembic76407 · September 15, 2016, 08:37:23 PM

John Paul Jones Alembic 8 string

alembic76407 · September 15, 2016, 08:40:14 PM

Jack Casady's Guild

pauldo · September 16, 2016, 06:46:09 AM

Very cool. I remember back in high school my neighbor had a Led Zepplin poster and it showed JPJ with that 8- string . . . It was lust worthy back then and still is today!

mica · September 16, 2016, 10:49:35 AM

That 8-string was actually built by Brice BecVar, a former employee of Alembic. It does have Alembic electronics and bridge. I.m sure Bruce made the tailpiece.

alembic76407 · September 17, 2016, 05:22:32 AM

Mica,how about that Guild bass? was it an early Alembic modified bass?

hieronymous · September 17, 2016, 09:55:34 AM

That one can be seen in "Gimme Shelter" - the film about Altamont!

edwin · September 18, 2016, 08:34:32 PM

Quote from: alembic76407 on September 17, 2016, 05:22:32 AM
Mica,how about that Guild bass? was it an early Alembic modified bass?

It was, although it was Jack's second bass. His first Starfire, known as Yggdrasil, didn't have active electronics and had some very cool woodwork and inlay. It can be seen in the Woodstock movie and weeks later, it was stolen in Seattle. Just earlier this year it was finally recovered. It had been refinished and was missing a wood panel, but other than that, it is complete.

Here's the story: http://club.alembicguitars.net/index.php?topic=16167.msg163028#msg163028

So, after it was stolen, Jack got two more and sent one to Ron at the Mothership and told him to get the electronics updated ASAP, never mind the aesthetics. So, Ron, just routed it out for those metal strips on which he mounted the electronics and got it back to Jack as soon as he could. I'm not sure what is in that bass, maybe someone else could fill in the details. I have the notion that it's active, but I could be wrong.