John McVie's 1976 Alembic Custom Bass
Musician
John McVie
(English, born 1945)
Maker
Alembic
(American, founded 1969)
Date1976
ClassificationsMusic
DescriptionJohn McVie's 1976 Alembic Series 1 custom fretless electric bass guitar, no serial number, with distinctive stainless steel fretboard, made specially for John McVie and used extensively by him both in studio and on stage, c. 1976-1980. The bass features a birds eye maple top and ash bottom, neck through maple walnut center with mahogany wings. Three Alembic pickups, 4-way rotary selector and active electronics with five knobs and two mini toggles, bronze tailpiece and fixed single-saddle bridge, quarter-inch and 5-pin XLR outputs. Together with an Alembic power supply and cable. In a red "Fleetwood Mac" flight case with white stencils and numerous stickers. McVie most famously played this bass on "The Chain" from Fleetwood Mac's album Rumours (1977) and during the subsequent tour.
Alembic co-founder Susan Wickersham explains that the instrument was crafted for McVie in 1976, and that due to its stainless steel fretboard: "Rather than call it a fretless bass, I preferred the term 'continuously fretted' bass."
3D Model
