Here it is, the one and only Alembic Double Neck John Judge "Goliath Bass" - The Legend lives on! Alembic has made around a half dozen double neck basses in their remarkable history and this one is arguably the most storied of them all. In fact it is likely one of the top 3 or 4 most famous Alembics out there. It was seen in countless magazines with John Judge endorsing Superwound strings, a bass book, Vintage Guitar Magazine’s "25 Most Valuable Basses.”, and many posters.
Goliath features a Mahogany core, Zebrawood top, Zebrawood “knobby" pegheads, Zebrawood back, and continuous wood backplates with inlaid border. Both necks, 4-string fretless and 8-string, are 5 piece Maple/Purpleheart laminates with Ebony fingerboards and LED position markers. Ordered as a single neck bass on June 8th, 1978 and changed to a double neck bass during the lengthy build process. The official birthday of Goliath was 2/15/79, just in time for his first gig with John! The 8-string neck has a stunning inlay by Larry Robinson that runs the length of the neck depicting a tied up maiden (naked of course) held hostage by a dragon and 4 skeleton warriors coming to her rescue. The inlay is of Brass, Silver, Copper, Ivory, and many exotic woods. John Judge was a big fan of mythology with Jason and the Argronauts and the 7th voyage of Sinbad being his inspiration for the design. Goliath is a Series 2 “Custom”. The electronics feature internal hum canceling pickups in place of the usual Series 2 configuration and a unique setup with a selector to split the high and low strings of both pickups out the separate channels in addition to the normal stereo output. There is also a selector to switch back and forth between the 8-string and 4-string fretless on the fly. The majority of the build was completed by Alembic’s master inlay craftsman, Larry Robinson. Ron Turner completing a few small areas and Ron Wickersham was of course responsible for all of the custom electronics. The electronics cavity has the wood engraved by Larry to John Judge in the silver shielding paint. While Goliath saw important live gigs and studio work with the acclaimed John Judge in his early life, he has been collector owned since the mid 1980’s with very little play or handling.The current condition is fully functional and just short of remarkable. The only known operational flaw being that the dragon’s eyes no longer light up. There are no scratches or dings to speak of and any finish flaws are insignificant. The hardware and bridges have very light patina as you would expect and fret wear is almost non existent. The only place this 39 year old monster shows it’s age is finish checking and some veneer delimitation on the electronics cavity cover only. This could be made as new again by sending the cover to Alembic but this would be a mistake. The bass was at Alembic in 1996 for a refinish and I believe the cavity cover to have been left original and now shows nearly 40 years of aging. The instrument looks lightly aged but very fresh, a true museum piece in true museum preserved condition. The bass includes the external power supply, cable, and massive custom fit Anvil flight case. Goliath will also come with a full history, list of past owners, many photos, and original magazine ads. This monster has even had the honer of being handled by The Ox himself. John Entwistle was introduced to Goliath backstage at Madison Square Gardens. There is no question that Goliath is a very significant part of Alembic and Rock history. International sales will be entertained. Feel free to ask any questions but serious buyers only please. Offers will be considered!
