Alembic is an American manufacturer of high-end electric basses, guitars and preamps. Founded in 1969, the company began manufacturing pre-amps before building complete instruments.
History
The company was founded by
Owsley Stanley as a workshop in
Grateful Dead's rehearsal room in
Novato, California, near
San Francisco, to help improve the band's entire sound chain, from its instruments to its
sound reinforcement system. Eventually Alembic was actively modifying and repairing guitars and basses, recording sound, and designing and building PA systems. Artist Robert Thomas designed and painted the logo of the company in 1969, which included multiple elements that represented mankind and energy as values that Alembic aimed to show to public.
By 1970, Alembic was incorporated with three equal shareholders: Ron Wickersham, an electronics expert who came in from
Ampex
Ampex is an American electronics company founded in 1944 by Alexander M. Poniatoff as a spin-off of Dalmo-Victor. The name AMPEX is a portmanteau, created by its founder, which stands for Alexander M. Poniatoff Excellence.AbramsoThe History ...
;
Rick Turner, a guitarist turned
luthier; and Bob Matthews, a
recording engineer.
The company took over
Pacific High Recording Studios in 1971, and the studio was renamed Alembic Studios.
Inspired by the wide frequency response of the
Hagstrom Bi-sonic pickups installed in
Phil Lesh and
Jack Casady's
Guild Starfire basses, Ron Wickersham and Rick Turner designed low-impedance pickups and electronics with greater bandwidth than the high-impedance pickups typical in electric guitars and basses of the time. To boost the low output of these pickups, Wickersham designed an active onboard preamp. Turner referred to this process as "Alembicizing".
The company's first instrument was a bass guitar, made in 1972 for
Jack Casady.
This bass incorporated a massive electronics suite, with
state variable filter
A state variable filter is a type of active filter in electronic circuits. It consists of one or more integrators, connected in some feedback configuration. It is essentially used when precise Q factor is required, as other multi-order filters are ...
ing capability, and had pickups mounted on brass tubing so that their position could be adjusted. The company sold the recording studio in 1973, the same year a story in ''
Rolling Stone'' helped generate enough cashflow for a standardized bass guitar line based on the Guild Starfire. At that time, the company had two locations—guitars and electronics were built in
Cotati, and the main office was in
Sebastopol
Sevastopol (; uk, Севасто́поль, Sevastópolʹ, ; gkm, Σεβαστούπολις, Sevastoúpolis, ; crh, Акъя́р, Aqyár, ), sometimes written Sebastopol, is the largest city in Crimea, and a major port on the Black Sea ...
.
1973 was also the year that
Stanley Clarke
Stanley Clarke (born June 30, 1951) is an American bassist, film composer and founding member of Return to Forever, one of the first jazz fusion bands. Clarke gave the bass guitar a prominence it lacked in jazz-related music. He is the first jaz ...
, then with
Return to Forever
Return to Forever was an American jazz fusion band that was founded by pianist Chick Corea in 1972. The band has had many members, with the only consistent bandmate of Corea's being bassist Stanley Clarke. Along with Weather Report, The Headhu ...
, replaced his
Gibson EB-2
The Gibson EB-2 is an electric bass guitar model produced by the Gibson Guitar Corporation from 1958 to 1972, with a hiatus from 1962 to 1963. When production ceased in 1972, a total of 8017 instruments had been built, with 2102 of them being EB-2 ...
with an Alembic, increasing Alembic's profile. Their bass guitars were expensive, costing up to three times as much as a new Fender bass. According to Tony Bacon and Barry Moorhouse, it was Alembic that started the trend of high-quality, high-price bass guitars.
In 1974, Matthews left the company. The recording studio had been sold, as was a retail store in San Francisco where they had sold high-end audio equipment besides their own electronics and instruments.
The first production Alembic instruments were less ornate, and incorporated the PF-5 electronics circuit, later replaced by the PF-6. The pickups were single-coil, with an active hum-cancelling coil mounted between the pickups. This configuration gave the player the fidelity of single-coil pickups without their inherent noise, and is used to this day. The basses and guitars built using this configuration would later become known as the Series I and II, and were available in a variety of scale lengths and body shapes.
In 1976, Alembic built what is believed to be the first modern five string bass (tuned BEADG) for bassist
Jimmy Johnson.
Alembic's January 21, 1977 price list described the five string bass as a "standard" model, available for $50 more than its four string bass.
In 1977, Alembic presented the world's first "
graphite" neck basses with necks supplied by Geoff Gould (later founder of
Modulus Guitars
Modulus Graphite (formerly, ''Modulus Guitars'') is an American manufacturer of musical instruments best known for building bass guitars with carbon fiber necks. The company, originally called Modulus Graphite, was founded in part by Geoff Gould, ...
) at a trade show; it was bought by
John McVie of
Fleetwood Mac
Fleetwood Mac are a British-American rock band, formed in London in 1967. Fleetwood Mac were founded by guitarist Peter Green, drummer Mick Fleetwood and guitarist Jeremy Spencer, before bassist John McVie joined the line-up for their eponym ...
.
Production of graphite-necked instruments ceased in 1985.
In 1978, Rick Turner left the company to found Turner Guitars.
In 1979, the Distillate, a more affordable model, was introduced in bass and guitar versions.
Products
Through the 1980s, Alembic introduced several new models. These included the Spoiler, Elan, and Europa basses, and the Electrum and California Special guitars. Alembic's model line has continued to expand to the present day, with models such as the Epic, Orion, Excel, and Darling being introduced.
Key design elements from the earliest instruments are still present in Alembic's instruments today. Most Alembic basses and guitars are constructed around a laminated neck that runs through the body of the instrument, using various combinations of often exotic woods such as
Zebrawood
300px, Zebrawood
The name zebrawood is used to describe several tree species and the wood derived from them. Zebrawood is characterized by a striped figure that is reminiscent of a zebra. The name originally applied to the wood of ''Astronium gr ...
or
Cocobolo
Cocobolo is a tropical hardwood of Central American trees belonging to the genus ''Dalbergia''. Only the heartwood of cocobolo is used; it is usually orange or reddish-brown, often with darker irregular traces weaving through the wood. The heartw ...
. They feature active electronics and brass hardware.
A variety of body shapes have been introduced. The Standard Point, the iconic Alembic body shape, was conceived to force players to put the instrument in a stand, as headstock repairs resulting from falls were the most common repair performed by the company in its early days. Newer body shapes have been introduced to improve ergonomics and to designate new models.
Alembic instruments can be ordered with a wide variety of custom features, including complex inlays and
LED position markers in the neck.
All Alembic instruments incorporate the proprietary Alembic active electronics, with various options for tone controls and pickup configurations available and are made in Alembic's factory in
Santa Rosa, California
Santa Rosa ( Spanish for " Saint Rose") is a city and the county seat of Sonoma County, in the North Bay region of the Bay Area in California. Its estimated 2019 population was 178,127. It is the largest city in California's Wine Country and ...
.
Endorsements
While Alembic has largely eschewed celebrity endorsements, the company has made two exceptions to this rule.
Stanley Clarke
Stanley Clarke (born June 30, 1951) is an American bassist, film composer and founding member of Return to Forever, one of the first jazz fusion bands. Clarke gave the bass guitar a prominence it lacked in jazz-related music. He is the first jaz ...
was given a specially inlaid instrument to celebrate 30 years of working together.
Mark King, in 1986, received two 34"-
scale Series 2 basses and then ordered two more in identical woods with 32" scale.
Further reading
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References
External links
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{{Authority control
Guitar manufacturing companies of the United States
Bass guitar manufacturing companies
Electric bass guitars by manufacturer
Audio amplifier manufacturers
Manufacturing companies based in California
Companies based in Santa Rosa, California
American companies established in 1969
Manufacturing companies established in 1969
1969 establishments in California
Audio equipment manufacturers of the United States