Alembic Inc
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Alembic was founded in 1969 and is a manufacturer of high-end electric basses, guitars and preamps.
Fender's success set the scene for Music Man, G&L (both with input from Leo, himself) Lakland, Sadowsky and numerous less innovative copies. The rise of Alembic in the 70s, opened the door for high-end bass manufacturers such as Warwick, Spector, Wal, Ken Smith and Fodera – and raised expectations for top-of-the-line instruments from large manufacturers such as Yamaha and Ibanez.[citation needed]
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[edit] History
Ron and Susan Wickersham started Alembic in 1969. Originally it was a consulting firm that worked closely with the Grateful Dead, Jefferson Airplane, Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young and the like to help improve the quality of live sound and recordings of live concerts. Rick Turner also joined the company in that first year, becoming a shareholder in 1970. Rick and Alembic parted company in 1978, and Rick founded Renaissance Guitars.
High impedance pickups have limited bandwidth.[citation needed] Ron Wickersham and Rick Turner designed low-impedance pickups with greater bandwidth. To boost their low output, Ron designed an active onboard preamp. In 1969 Ron installed the first active electronics in instruments owned by Phil Lesh, Jack Casady, Bob Weir and Jerry Garcia. These were the first low impedance pickups with preamps to be installed on a musical instrument. (UK manufacturer Burns introduced active tone controls on its TR2 bass in the 60's, although without the low impedance pickups essential to modern active electronics.)
Alembic became quite busy installing these new active electronics in players' guitars and basses. It also performed many modifications on instruments, such as remanufacturing the headstocks with a 14° angle, machining solid brass parts for the bridge, tailpiece and nut, carving necks and the like. This work led eventually to manufacturing its own line of guitars and basses from start to finish.
[edit] The instruments
In 1971 the very first Alembic bass, number 001, was made for Jack Casady, then a member of Jefferson Airplane. It was dubbed "Mission Control". This bass cost more than four thousand dollars – an unheard-of amount at the time. Key design elements from #001 are still present in Alembic’s instruments today - as well as those built by many high end bass makers that have since sprung up.
Alembic's 4 string basses were usually based on a five piece multi-laminate through neck using various combinations of maple, purpleheart, walnut, cherry and ebony. This construction technique inspired the nickname "hippie sandwich" basses. By 1979 maple and purpleheart was the standard.
In 1976 Alembic made the world's first graphite neck basses with necks supplied by Geoff Gould, who subsequently founded Modulus Guitars. The first two were sold to John McVie (Fleetwood Mac) and Stanley Clarke. Alembic continued to build graphite neck instruments until 1985. Alembic also delivered one of the first ever 5-string basses to have a low B string that same year to Jimmy Johnson.
[edit] The players
By 1973 Alembic was established as the instrument-maker of choice amongst many US west coast bands, including the Grateful Dead, Jefferson Airplane, New Riders of the Purple Sage and others.[citation needed]
In 1973 Rolling Stone ran an extensive profile on Alembic and Stanley Clarke acquired his first Alembic. Alembic's fame soon spread beyond its West Coast roots. Some other early Alembic players included Lamar Williams of The Allman Brothers Band and Tom Fowler of Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention.
Greg Lake (Emerson, Lake and Palmer) played a number of Alembics, including an eight string bass (four pairs of strings, each comprising a regular bass string and another lighter string tuned an octave higher) ordered in 1976. This instrument was subsequently sold to John Entwistle (The Who), who worked with Alembic to develop the Exploiter body shape – a cheekily named derivative of Gibson's Explorer. Entwistle ordered 15 Series II Exploiter body basses over the years in a variety of woods. Most had note names inlaid as position markers on the fingerboards and sterling silver spider web inlays on the body.
By the late 70s John Paul Jones had also converted to Alembic (from Fender) and drove the development of the Triple Omega body shape. JPJ can be seen using both 4 and 8 string Alembics in the Knebworth concert on the Led Zep DVD. JPJ also uses his 8 string Alembic bass for recording the song Achilles Last Stand, from the 1976 Led Zeppelin album, Presence. Chuck Panozzo of Styx used Alembic bass guitars during Styx's 1979 to 1984 heyday.
Funk players were quick to pick up on Stanley’s percussive playing style, to which the clear, extended high end response was well suited. Legendary funk bassist Louis Johnson can be heard playing an Alembic Series 1 on classic tracks by the Brothers Johnson. Lequient Jobe (Rose Royce), Jermaine Jackson (The Jacksons), "Skeet" Curtis (Parliament / Funkadelic) and Wyzard (Mother’s Finest) also played Series 1s. Brown Mark played an Alembic Spoiler on several hits recorded by Prince.
Into the 80s Mark King continued the Alembic slap fusion tradition, while the heavy rock connection was continued into the 1990s by Metallica – with both Cliff Burton and Jason Newsted playing Alembics at various times. Alembic made a dozen instruments for Jason – typically stained darkly so that from a distance they look black while up close the wood grain can still be seen.
[edit] No endorsements
Alembic have always followed a strict no endorsement policy. Everyone, including Stanley Clarke, has paid for their instruments. In Alembic’s view this is the best endorsement of all. In Susan Wickersham’s (co-founder and CEO) words, "the most successful artists can afford to pay for their instruments – but if we gave them endorsement deals the cost of those instruments would have to be recovered from customers who are far less able to afford it".[citation needed]
Alembic did make two exceptions to this rule when they presented Stanley Clarke with a specially inlaid instrument to celebrate 30 years of working together. Alembic also approached Mark King at a gig on the Stevie Winwood tour in 1986 with an offer to build him a bass. Mark received two 34" scale Series 2 basses initially and then ordered two more in identical woods with 32" scale.[citation needed]
[edit] Alembic Guitars
From the beginning Alembic had always been involved in repairing and modifying guitars and they began making guitars shortly after their first bass. These days Alembic sells nearly as many guitars as basses – with both being made by the same craftspeople in the same factory.
Many famous guitarists have bought Alembics, including Jerry Garcia, Carlos Alomar, Adrian Belew, David Gilmour, Jimmy Page, Johnny Winter, Steve Miller, Neil Young, Chet Atkins and Stanley Jordan.
All Alembic instruments are made in Alembic's factory in Santa Rosa, California. The Wickershams have no intention of manufacturing from any other location to create budget models.
