NGD ..Flamin Skylark

Greywolf

Retired Luthier
Joined
Sep 30, 2022
Messages
8,964
Location
Duluth,Ga
While I adore my 7 PRS 's I've always dreamed of an Alembic guitar to match my bass. Jerry Garcia will always be my guitar hero, his Skylark was his first Alembic known as "Wolf" well you know when I saw this beauty and couldn't resist . They have only made 18 of them , this one has it's own web page .

base price is for this model is $13,900 as this one sits about 15K I thought about it for a day ... no bids yet ... .I can wait .... OH No a bid .... SNAG IT NOW BOY! It even has the LED side markers ! picked it up for <5K ... Cha Ching ... my CFO is really pissed ... I just plead INVESTMENT !!!

from their site: Ruby
Cherry sweet Skylark covered in red with flamed top peeking through the color. Usually we make the front peghead veneer Ebony, but with all this lovely red, we just had to make it coordinate in Flame Maple with the red finish.

More on the red theme with red side LEDs. Operated by an on/off switch, fire these on when the stage lights go dim and play on with confidence. Each one is inlaid in a tiny sterling silver circle so even if they are turned off, you can still clearly see the side position marker. Battery power is from a separate circuit from the active electronics, so even if you allow the LED batteries to go dead, you won't lose precious power for your signal.

Great bright tone, almost like an amplified acoustic. Each pickup has its own volume control and low pass filter tone control.

  • Flame Maple top, Mahogany Hollow body
  • Clear Red Gloss polyester finish
  • 24.75" scale 3-piece Maple, set neck with 2 Walnut pinstripes
  • Ebony fingerboard with Mother of Pearl inlays
  • Red side LEDs
  • Bronze logo
  • Pickups: Alembic HGR
  • Controls: 2 volumes, 2 filters, off/on/bright for each pickup, on/off for LEDs
  • Price includes case
  • weight is about 8.5 pounds

Remember the Super Eagle John Mayer played with Dead & Co is based on these , The Further and Tribute are the 3 pickup versions.
Carlos played an Alembic for a while and I'm sure he influenced the Skylark .

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While I adore my 7 PRS 's I've always dreamed of an Alembic guitar to match my bass. Jerry Garcia is my main hero, his Skylark was his first Alembic and he baught it at first sight , then has another made, known as "Wolf" well you know when I saw this beauty and couldn't resist .

base price is $13,900 as it sits about 15K I thought about it for a day ... no bids yet ... .I can wait .... OH No a bid .... SNAG IT NOW BOY! It even has the LED side markers ! picked it up for <5K ... Cha Ching ... my CFO is really pissed ... I just plead INVESTMENT !!!

same 24.5" 24 fret as the Santana 9 lbs



khtumblzkupo6pnt46vx.jpg

i7eoukuzdwihgstgkgy0.jpg

Screen-Shot-2018-09-05-at-1.57.51-PM-e1536170351421.png
Congrats, very cool!

And if your investment plea falls through, you can always plea insanity?
 
Oh guilty on that charge ! since every one is a custom .. this one is on thier site https://alembic.stores.turbify.net/redskylark.html

Something about red maple top guitars .. My IRW McSoapy, Gibby CS356 , Gretsch Country Gentleman , Westie , ES 339 .....and now Skylark

6, 6, 6 of them oh no .. and they are red with horns ... Shine the light and save this poor sinner ! ):)
 
As one hopelessly addicted to GAS I always hope that the new one is going to be "the Holy Grail" :p as I've collected the aviary of PRS birds I've found that that is not a singular instrument . o_O One thing I can tell you , their active EQ will give you about any tone you can think of. ....this takes 5 count em 5 9volts :eek:!!!!! Ah the price for a great onboard pre amp and filter.
 
Alembic is a very cool company and I have history with them and The Dead .
That being said , I would NEVER recommend one to anybody over a PRS . Why ? They have a very specific vue of sound , some love it , many don't think it sounds "natural" or ' To Hi FI" ...read not traditional.

While Ruby , like all they make is a complete custom ... For the price, an equivalent PRS PS would be far more jaw dropping .

so why even bother old Wolf ?

well Jerry's instruments have had me hypmotized for 40 years, when I started out in Lutherie . His 1st instrument ..."Wolf" my Choctaw name

Mica Wickersham ~ head of Artist Relations and daughter of founder Ron is married to the brother of a friend of mine from work. She gave me one of their adjustable brass nuts for a bass project I was working on , and lent me a Persuader bass to demo . 38 years later I finally got a version of that bass . The Maid of Honor at my wedding worked for the Dead 's sound crew ... I've been back stage and in a video ....

Growing up in Palo Alto I first encountered Jerry and Bobby at the local music store where they worked ( Brown's Music) the only one in town. Phil and I went to the same college. Jerry and Phil played Alembics. Owsley Stanley was the other founder , electronics genius behing the WALL of SOUND and legendary Acid King . .. he made the best of both My Alembic bass is named after him.

Since 1969 they have been a Custom Only company . they will literally make anything you can imagine ....54 years of amazing Lutherie.

in 1985 when PRS became available on the West Coast my other dream guitar and Lutherie Mentor came into the picture.

Interstingly Eagles on the headstock and dragons on the fretboard were on Alembics long before PRS started ...

In the last year I've been lucky to invest in such delightful examples of Doug Irwin , Ron Wickersham, Owsely , and Paul .. each a masterpiece
All my Heroes , to be able to study their instruments first hand is every luthiers dream. ( See Paul talk about getting a crack at Duane's and Jimi's amps ...)

For those that think PS prices are high ... check out their price list !.. http://www.alembic.com/prod/prices.html

just the pickups/ control set in Ruby is $1800, Owsley's magic doesn't come cheap !

I refer clients there all the time when the ask How Much for my Custom? ....of course I'm much more reasonable .. but it gets them thinking in the right direction
 
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