Kiwi

"You'll get together for a practice anyway, won't you? Do one of them, then. We don't mind."

You really need to shave your legs.

[quote name='waynepunkdude' timestamp='1334576576' post='1617801'] I have a friend who is a copyright solicitor looking into this ATM. [/quote] Thanks Wayne, I gather a long standing basschat member is a copyright lawyer as well although haven't heard from him yet. I'd be interested to see how much consistency there is between legal opinions. Our initial advice was that this is a grey area and the forum has an obligation to work in good faith with John Hall, [i]especially[/i] in the presence of grey areas. I would prefer the forum avoids attracting legal costs, but it goes without saying that the membership is free to make up their own minds up about John Hall's claim.

Jon Kelsey who runs the NS custom shop has made the following announcement, picked up from [url="http://www.headless-europe.eu/Steinieland/News_120417.html"]http://www.headless-...ews_120417.html[/url] [i]“I am building the custom models of the new NS Design bass guitar, the NS US 5. For now we are building a 5 string model either fretted or fretless. The new design is amazing, it combines a somewhat traditional body shape with the most advanced and lightweight headless tuning system yet. This clamping system allows the player to use regular single ball strings and change them with ease and speed. Ned and I have been prototyping this instrument for over a year making sure that it balances perfectly so that the player does not need to hold up the neck, fighting gravity. The body is chambered so that we can control the weight. Another important part of the instrument is the neck design. We have hollowed out the neck and filled it with carbon fiber to eliminate "dead frets" and give it amazing stability. There will be a 6 string model and a 4 string model following the release of the 5's. The six string is especially exciting because of the lightweight tuner system, it should be one of the lightest six string basses available because Ned has eliminated the tuning machines and the headstock that make traditional 6 strings neck heavy. The electronics have been developed by Ned and EMG, and consist of two magnetic pickups and a newly designed piezo bridge. The mags are arched with the same radius as the strings so that the relation between the magnets and the strings stays the same all the way across the pickup.”[/i] I love the radiussed pickup tops, and overall arch topness of the instruments plus all the usual Steinberger attention to detail. I'm not sure about that body shape or the lack of convenient intonation at the bridge though and I don't understand why they've dropped the graphite composite necks...they are the best sounding composite necks on the market.

We've sought legal advice which suggests the matter is less clear cut than has been suggested in this thread.

He's got a load of bass bodies put aside, I've seen them. But he's also had a number of personal issues to deal with which have been like quicksand to escape. He doesn't have regular access to the internet and had the Celinder.com domain name poached and squatted by a US lawyer last year after he didn't renew it in time. To be honest, there are plenty of second hand basses popping up, and any under 1800 quid represent great value so if it was me, I'd be going for one of those.

Nice - did you bag this on Ebay? If you ever get tired of it, I'd appreciate first refusal.

Hi Mike, what part of Peterborough? I was in Eye for a very short period of time a few years back.

[quote name='pantherairsoft' timestamp='1332774797' post='1592915'] Click on your name at the top of screen and then settings - There are some options for time settings. Possible that you don't have it set to change when the clocks changed at the weekend? Mines fine like Charic... [/quote] The help comment for the clock settings in the admins control panel behind the scenes says: "[color=#FF0000]If you have chosen the correct timezone and the [/color][color=#FF0000]clock[/color][color=#FF0000] is an hour out, this is because of daylight savings time and your members can correct this by editing their 'Board settings' via their User Control Panel."[/color]

Wonder what his neighbours think of him...?

The guys seems preciously talented...plays everything!

The bridge is definitely early 80s...probably home made?

BTW, if you are serious about an Alembic, get an early 80's Spoiler. It'll be heavy, and a little dark sounding but it will give you a toe in the water and you could probably sell it for what you paid for it, so long as you don't pay more than 1300 quid. Alternatively there are Persuaders (PJ pickups) and Elans but they're all pretty similar in terms of sound. Series basses seem to be a little more versatile and brighter.

...and know what you are looking for is what you expect.

Alembics aren't all that different to preCBS Fenders in being considered The Ultimate Bass of their time and something for bass players who grew up in that time to aspire to. I'd count myself in with that group. I remember first reading about Stanley Clarke and seeing his Alembic, then there was John Entwhistle, JPJ, John McVie, even Dexy's Midnight Runners bass player had an Alembic Series bass on one tv show appearance...they looked sexy with lots of controls as if they were made for demanding players.

Thanks, forgot to mention that. Serials got shifted to the bridge after the EB buy out.

The bridges are the bass as far as any credibility with the distributor goes because that's where the serial number is. So you could buy extra parts eg. tuners, scratch plates, neck and control plate etc. The bodies very seldom come up for sale, I bought the last one I saw and that was about 7 years ago. Still...he's taking a real risk.

Found a place locally that sells Tru-oil so will be bagging some of that over the weekend. Hopefully the Tru-oil will produce a good result.