Plan to get this soon and would like to know the year of it. I getting from TB.  Excel 5  
http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j14/Zooberwerx/Alembic/AlembicFront-1.jpg

Hi Ronald,
Welcome to the forum.
Here is the breakdown on Alembic serial numbers.  The first two digits represent the year, the next character(s) designates the model and the last digits represent the number of the instrument.  Therefore this would be an Excel from 2000 and the 12,391 instrument made by Alembic.  Check out the  section where the letter designations are defined and lots of great pictures.  Mica from Alembic will do a lookup of the other specifications such as woods and electronics.  Please be patient as these are mostly stored in writing over the years. Have fun at the forum as there is a lot of great information and a wonderful online community that gathers here.
Good luck with the acquisition.
Art

Hi Ronald,
 
Here's the details from the instrument file:
 
Excel 5-string bass XLB5
 
top: Canarywood
accent: Purpleheart pinstripe
body: Ash (3-piece)
neck: 5-piece Maple with 4 Walnut pinstripes
scale: 34 long
fingerboard: Pau Ferro
pickup: Alembic FatBoy
control: volume, bass, treble, mono output
originally made for: Will Gunn Guitars (back when he was Fast Cash Guitars)
birthday: June 5, 2000
 
There are not a lot of Canarywood Alembics.