Alembic Prices

[marnold]

I saw something on the TalkBass forums where someone talked about designing a bass on Carvin's site that started out around $900 and ended up around $1,800 when all the options were added in. Someone else chimed in that a bass he designed on Alembic's site started at $17,700 and ended up over $30,000. I thought he must be exaggerating so I went to the site. Nope, custom basses start at $17,700. The cheapest bass they make is $4,300.

My question is this: how can you justify spending more than $17K on a bass? Better yet, what about Alembics is so awesome that they are worth that much? Even if every bass was hand-carved from a tree that they chewed down with their own teeth, that would be ridiculous. Unless you were a major recording artist, where would you even play it and risk getting it damaged or stolen? I don't get it. Someone please enlighten me.

I'm not here to say that a $250 Squier would be every bit as good but when you're talking that kind of cash, something must be up. Are the basses made out of compressed heroin or something?

 

[hubberjub]

I don't know if I can justify the price of an Alembic but I think they are an absolute work of art. They feel so organic.

 

[tot_Ou_tard]

The prices are indeed insane.

On the other hand, custom means custom. For example check out the inlay on this chesire cat alembic.

http://www.alembic.com/info/fc_cheshire.html

Here is the list of featured Alembic customs:

http://www.alembic.com/info/fcvault.html

Cool to look at.


On a side note, I wish handmade arts and crafts were more prevalent in our culture. I can't afford any of it, but I've seen custom stained-glass windows that would ring every bell in your head when you saw light streaming through them. The point about custom here is that the image could be something meaningful to you.


Hey rich people get some damned taste & originality! Enough with the boring Sopranos look. Support the artists, artisans, & musicians.

& hey non-rich people, stop it with the boring clothes already !


Ya see, I'm a middle-aged hippie at heart .

 

[pie_man_25]

I think that the main thing behind alemgics is the woods they use, I've never heard of half of them, they are REALLY nice to play, I've seen a used one at a local shop, and it can take tons of abuse, they are really expensive, but part of that is the high quality, don't ask me about the rest of the price.