It's back. Rick Turner is starting the process of rebuilding it. He's none too happy with Turbo Tom's experiments.
 
http://www.rukind.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=421&t=15947

YES!!!!!!!!
 
I've been bugging the powers to be from Rick Turner to Phil about this for 4 years! fantastic news!
 
can't wait to see the photos!!

That's great news! Can't wait to follow the progress of this restoration.

Is the listed serial number, 74-0008 correct?  I have #10, and it's a '72.  Just askin'.
 
Bill, tgo

I can't wait to see this bass restored!

That's an exciting news!

Who is Turbo Tom?
 
Tom Lieber?

Apparently some guy named Tom Smith who got his hands on the bass.

Hi Edwin, just got my June Bassplayer mag. in the mail. Saw your spot in the Dig My Rig section. I knew that was your setup before even reading the caption. Loookin' goood!!!!! (sorry for the hijack).
 
Rob

A detailed history of Phil Lesh's Alembic basses with some great stories
http://www.ricksuchow.com/press-group-167.html

Jazzyvee: Thanks for sharing this. It filled in a lot of gaps in my knowledge of Phil's gear.

That 'fretless' Guild pictured is either fretted or has some pretty hefty fret inlays!  Still an interesting article though.
 
Graeme

Update from Rick Turner:
 
I've started in on replacing missing wood. I got some Osage orange and duplicated the neck laminate layup...Osage, walnut, and maple...and inlaid it between the neck and past where the original tailpiece was mounted. Next I'll inlay two pieces of koa to fill in the top on either side of the central neck beam. I decided not to completely replace the top, even though some of the repair seams will inevitably show, but better that than doing more horrendous damage to what is left of the original top. I think I can match the color and grain reasonably with some koa I got from my pal John Reuter ( Roberto Venn School of Lutherie...major Deadhead ).  
 
Still mulling over pickups and electronics. My thought is to bring this bass forward about 40 years and honor much of the original intent while allowing what I've learned in that time to come forth. Yes, it will get a quad pickup, but this time it will be one of my piezos, and the full quad output may wind up as an option. The neck and bridge pickups will be self-hum canceling, and they will be mono/stereo pickups, that is, in mono mode, each will be a hum canceller with coils that sort of overlap for the A and D strings. The effect in stereo mode is a true stereo pan, and in this mode, the pickups buck hum from neck to bridge, neck to bridge. The magnetic arrangement is:  
N S
S N
 
I'll use some filter electronics from John East, and the two channels will stay separate at the normal output.  
 
I'm not even going to try to duplicate all of the micro-processor pickup assignment switching that was touch switch operated on the original setup. That was all the white circles on the bass side of the face. I'll just do inlays there and maybe pop LED's in next to them for kicks.  
 
I am documenting the hell out of this process, and I'm writing this all up for an article for Vintage Guitar Magazine.  
 
Much thanks to George Gruhn for finding Mission Control and sending it to me for the restoration.  
 
OH, it's in the original case as well.

Thats great news! Thanks Edwin for the update

Cool... thanx Edwin!