Alembic Guitars: A Harmony of Math and Fine Art

In their micro-documentary, "Building Custom Guitars," The Futures Channel takes students behind the scenes to see how Alembic Inc. makes their world-renowned guitars, and the math that makes it happen.

Burbank, CA (PRWeb) March 7, 2007 -- Alembic Inc. has been combining art with technology for the past 35 years. What began as a consulting firm to some of the biggest rock bands in the 1970's to improve the sound and recordings of their live concerts, transformed into one of the most influential bass and guitar makers in the business.

With The Futures Channel's latest movie, "Building Custom Guitars," teachers can take their students inside the workshop of Alembic to see how guitars are crafted and how they depend on precision numbers to get the best quality sound and customized fit exactly for the musician.

"Every single part of the instrument has to do with math," says Mica Thomas, Alembic's General Manager. She adds, "It doesn't really matter what units the customer's request is expressed in. As long as we know what the unit is we can handle it and do the conversions."

"They are the modern day Stradivarius of guitars and basses," says musician Stephen Jay, an original and continuing member of Al Yankovic's band as well as the composer for the show's score. "Even for me, having played music for years, being able to see how they craft each guitar is really special. Every variety of wood has it's own unique musical tone."

A lot of consideration is given to the type of wood used to make each guitar. At Alembic, there are more than 20 different types of wood they use regularly. Some musicians, who have done their research, choose a particular kind of wood because of the sound it creates.

"When you're buying wood you're buying a natural product. It came from a tree and that tree had a whole life to live and lots of things happened to it," says Thomas. "Sometimes you'll get a board and there might even be a trace of a bullet through it. You may see an injury that the tree suffered and healed from later, and those all can be really beautiful things."

Whether it's the type of wood, the number of strings or the length of the fingerboard, the family business has been working with musicians over the past three decades to help them create sound. "They get an idea of the sound of music that they have in their head and they haven't been able to find a guitar or a bass that will make those sounds when they're making their music," says Thomas "So we try to help them figure that out"

"Once you start hearing them make music with it, that's the really rewarding part," Thomas says about her job. "To know that you're doing something that's helping somebody in their own creativity and helping them share that creativity with other people. That's just great."

Watch the movie: http://www.thefutureschannel.com/dockets/realworld/building_guitars/

For additional information about The Futures Channel, contact:

Jenna Bowles, 818.557.3300.

www.thefutureschannel.com

###