October 2003 Almost Twins Kevin and his family dropped in for a factory tour last November. Little did he know that by the end of the tour he'd be specifying the details for these two lovely basses. He had a chance to try out a couple of basses with Ebony neck laminates and there was no turning back - his basses had to include this feature. The increased fundamental sustain brings a powerful voice to these almost twin 4- and 5-string Series II basses.

	The moment Kevin decided to get his basses was when he found a small pile of premium Quilted Maple billets stacked outside of Susan's office. We had just sorted these woods and selected them as finest in our cache. Even in its rough state, the wood was clearly gorgeous. Most of the design of these basses centers around the concept of preserving as much of this beautiful wood as is practical. It's almost hard to believe the surface is sanded flat with the deep satin-like ripples of the figuring.

	With such an amazing top, it was important to preserve as much wood as possible, so we made a continuous wood truss rod cover. Before the top is glued to the body, we use a scroll saw to cut out the truss rod cover then make a custom plywood from Maple and Purpleheart, finished on the two faces with Quilted Maple. When Quilted Maple is bookmatched, the figure on one side points up, and on the opposite faces down, resulting in one of the mirror images taking on a darker shade.

	The backplates as well called to be continuous wood. Kris makes his special plywood, including the Quilted Maple inside surface - only nobody will ever see it because of the silver shielding. Even so, it's best to make the plate this way to keep it as stable as possible.
	Output jacks are side mounted. The housings are attached on the inside surface of the basses, so no flat mounting point is required along the edge. Since the hardware is goldplated, Mike designed the housings so the exterior of each is goldplated to match.

	The bird tailpieces, bridges, bridgblocks and adjustable nuts are all goldplated (a standard feature on Series II basses).
	Sterling silver Alembic logo with inlaid shell is standard issue for Series II basses. The cloud is filled with white mother of pearl while inside the dragon and behind the alembic is abalone. This is all inlaid below the surface of the finish and remains smooth to the touch. These are particularly fine examples as inalying in a light colored wood such as Maple is extremely difficult.

SPECIFICATIONS 4- and 5-string Series II basses Master grade Quilted Maple top bookmatched to center Master grade Quilted Maple back Continuous wood backplates and truss rod cover Ebony neck laminates Polyester finish with satin neck feel Abalone oval inlays Series II electronics with side-mounted jacks Side LEDs in amber Inlaid logo with shell Goldplated hardware

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