Alembic Omega (Ex Mo Foster)

From Mo Foster collection

1979: I had been recording at Caribou Ranch Studios in Colorado and decided that rather than go straight home afterwards I would visit friends on the East Coast. Naturally I gravitated to 48th Street in NYC where I spotted a beautiful Alembic Series 1 in Sam Ash Music. The bass was a monster — with its twinkling red LEDs — and I used it often until 1985 when it was stolen from my house. To my great surprise it came back to me in 2015.

Meeting an old friend after a long gap can sometimes be a little difficult: there is lots of catching up to do. I experienced similar emotions when I was reunited with this unique musical instrument after a gap of 30 years – we sat and stared at each other for quite a while! It saddens me that its sound was absent from all of my solo albums,

Despite some severe weathering and heavy damage to the finish, the neck and electronics were still in surprisingly good health. The job of restoration was given to luthier Martin Petersen at the Bass Gallery in London. The instrument now looks like a work of art .

My thanks to Neil MacMullen who discovered and returned it, and to Martin and John at the Gallery.

Alembic Inc informed me that the bass — which is made mostly of walnut — had its 36th birthday in July 2015. To celebrate its return Kay made a birthday cake — walnut of course.