https://youtu.be/7UBCVB3bUek
I just can't imagine how fun was in the backstage...
Watching now. Track #4 with Karen Briggs and Bela Fleck was wonderful.
Just spotted this video on Youtube of the Clarke Duke Project with his Alembic with Bigsby.
Would this be his bass with graphite neck?
I don't recognize it from anywhere else, but if I was guessing I would say that's it. I bet Mica would know and Susan would remember for sure. There was a small-body graphite neck Series with a Bigsby in the Entwistle collection too. We saw it here a couple years ago, but I don't think this could be it. (I also seem to recall that one was medium-scale) Man, he's wailin' on that thing!
Stanley Clarke and John McVie had the first two Alembics with graphite necks made in collaboration with Geoff Gould, according to the history page. I don't know which one was first, numerically, or if they are even close. Just, 1976. Lotta' notable custom stuff made in '76.
When it was for sale, I remember noting John's graphite-necked Series had what looked like walnut wings and his name in pearl inlaid in the end of the fingerboard. Also had a Master Volume. (I think he must have preferred that option; all his basses have it)
Here was John's.
I think that is the same bass as on his Stanley Clarke Band album cover.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Stanley_Clarke_Band#/media/File:The_Stanley_Clarke_Band.jpg (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Stanley_Clarke_Band#/media/File:The_Stanley_Clarke_Band.jpg)
Sure looks like the same one Keith. Well, this makes me wonder something else. Stanley's preference for small-ish necks is well-known. That bass certainly looks like it has that feature. So, what was the profile of those first Geoff Gould graphite necks? I wouldn't think they had started out small, at least not Stanley-spec.