I'm new to alembic basses, but i heard the beautiful sound of a good freind's older alembic and i'm definitely looking into starting to save up for a custom. I currently play an Epiphone Thunderbird, and love it to bits, but some times you just need that extra bit of low end to play with. The Gibson 5 string thunderbird i played just didn't cut it, so i'm considering a custom alembic with either an exploiter body or a body similar to the Alembird featured a few months ago.
 
I'm coming over to the US later on this year on an exchange, and as such i'm certainly considering going to a dealership and playing around on the basses in the shop to see what sort of electronics i'm looking for, but i wanted to bounce a few ideas around about the woods.
 
I love the growl my bass has naturally, and the immense sustain that the bass gives me (in comparison with my previous fender Pbass), so i was thinking about a neck made from ebony and mahogany(for a bit more sustain), and the body from mahogany. I also love the look of Buckeyed Burl so i was thinking about that as the laminate.  
 
I also came across the kit guitar made a few months ago and sold in the store - i thought the pickguard made from wood was rather awesome. would it be possible to pick a contrasting wood and make a thunderbird-esque pickguard for the bass?
 
So, What do you think?

Sounds like a cool project!

Peter:
Great minds think alike!  Take a look at my Alembird, and feel free to improve upon what you see!
 
http://www.alembicguitars.net/info/fc_alembird.html