MIJ Alembic who knew?

[Max Normal]

Weird looking thing with headless tuners.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/ALEMBIC-AJ-II-HB-Fretless-ELECTRIC-BASS-GUITAR-Made-in-JAPAN-soft-case-used-F-S/263842014535?hash=item3d6e35a547:g:8WsAAOSw441bW8pu:rk:15:pf:0

Apparently legit too, 50 of them were made under licence by Rokkomann with Alembic electrics.

http://alembic.com/club/messages/393/58239.html?1226277523

 

 

 

[BreadBin]

That's a strange looking beast alright. 

[Jus Lukin]

-

Edited March 1, 2022 by Jus Lukin

[Hellzero]

Like it a lot, but not the crazy price tag. 😝

[lemmywinks]

You would expect any bass in that price range (or even a tenth of it) to at least have a realistic setup, you could drive a bus under those strings:

The listing says "the play condition has maintained a good condition, and it has been set up by a repairman and it is in a condition that you can use with confidence" but that doesn't exactly ring true when you look at the pics, not something I'd be keen to splash £2.5k on.

[Hellzero]

This is an optical effect due to the strange fretboard end shape. If you look at the shadow of the strings, then you'll see that the action is set very low.

[Bridgehouse]

Just now, Hellzero said:

This is an optical effect due to the strange fretboard end shape. If you look at the shadow of the strings, then you'll see that the action is set very low.

Yeah - I looked twice and came to the same conclusion - very low action but optical illusion makes it look huge!

[BreadBin]

If Stradivari made bass guitars... 

[fleabag]

I love that bass.

[lemmywinks]

2 hours ago, Hellzero said:

This is an optical effect due to the strange fretboard end shape. If you look at the shadow of the strings, then you'll see that the action is set very low.

I don't think so, in the first pic I posted the strings are obviously high - there is daylight between the E string and the edge of the fretboard. The shadow of the strings is in fact the optical illusion due to the light source being behind the camera. The worst possible way to measure things is by shadows - they change with the light! The only way to tell is by looking at the distance of the E and G strings from the edge of the fretboard and comparing them with the angle of the bass in the picture, this one has a high action.

Edited October 16, 2018 by lemmywinks

[Bassassin]

Now that's cool in a slightly wrong sort of way! Never heard of this before & curious to know what the background is & who actually made it.

If it was mid-80s, chances are it's a Chushin Gakki build. Rokkomann is a trading company not a manufacturer, and at that time had their own Maya & El Maya brands, as well as selling Rokkomann-branded instruments. El Maya was the high-end brand and these came from Chushin, so it's not unlikely that this did too.

I want it, but not enough to actually buy it! Pretty sure it's a defret, too. Shame.

 

Edit: Available for less money & with more frets! That's better...

https://reverb.com/item/10545034-alembic-1986-aj-ii-hb

Still ain't buying it though.

Edited October 16, 2018 by Bassassin