This poor thing has seen a rough life- body looks to be in decent shape and the seller says all the guts are intact.  Somebody went Franken-idiot on this.  
Ouch

Not as rough as my ex-'84 Spoiler but close. Who buys an Alembic and bypasses the electronics, let alone puts clown-nose knobs on the poor bass?

I would imagine that the low impedance pickups, without a preamp, would put out a rather weak signal.
 
Bill, tgo

It's a sin!!!! I'd buy it if it were a 5 string and send it back to Alembic for a re-build.

The knobs are no big deal. That's an easy change. But why would anyone want to bypass the alembic pre? Especially when all you have to do is leave the filter wide open if you don't want the sound changed at all...

I thought the same thing David. Unless he was having problems with the pre-amp or something.
 
The only other thing I could think of is what a PUTZ.

I emailed the seller to find out more info.
We'll see what happens.
NLP

I emailed asking for pictures of the control cavity.  
 
If they get emailed to me and not posted to the auction, I'll add them here.
 
BTW: If anybody else is thinking of bidding, I'm not interested in the bass- just curious.

Here's what I got..
electronics are intact but have been disconnected.controls are orig.vol a little low because it is wired to output jack.
That was the email answer I received. No other pictures yet.
NLP

We call that spin in my line of work.

SPIN.. is that like willie go round in circles?
NLP

I have to say that I love Alembic electronics, but the real magic is in the wood. Electronics are fixable and if the wood is good, the bass is good. I am tempted here.....
 
 
Edwin

I have to say that I love Alembic electronics, but the real magic is in the wood. Electronics are fixable and if the wood is good, the bass is good. I am tempted here.....
 
Don't like the negative feedbacks, though.
 
Edwin

A lot of the neg's are for defective equipment not described as such in the eyes of the buyer.
I agree, if the wood is ok the electronics can be repaired/ replaced. At this time the price isn't too bad @ $700.  
I would still love to know why anyone would gut the electronics.
NLP

Probably because the person in question is about as smart as a sack of hammers and has no taste.  You can't improve on an Alembic unless you send it back to the Mothership for an upgrade.
 
In the words of the great philosopher B. Bunny, What a maroon, what an im-bess-ile!