Alembic Elan 2010 Jason Newsted Metallica JPJ bass

I had this bass made to order in 2010 from Guitar Showcase in San Jose. I had always wanted the bass Jason played during the bass solo in 1989 from the Live Sh*T Binge and Purge Seattle after I first saw it as a kid. In 2010 I could afford one and had Alembic make me it, took me hours if not days researching old bootlegs and Metallica photos to get lots of the details perfect so they were like Jason's bass. I also remember Mica telling me they had to write a new CNC program to make the half moon style truss rod cover for this bass as they had not made one since 89. Also it has the correct slim taper neck not the comfort taper Alembic started using in the later 90's as the default option on basses.

This bass is in near mint condition with a small ding/clear coat chip about the size of a pinky nail on the back of the body, upper bout. Very minor ding on the lower bout edge almost impossible to see let alone photograph. Just setup with new Dean Markley strings. This has the 24k gold hardware option as well. There is also minor wear on the neck position jazz pickup Alembic logo.

SPECS:

Volume X3 for the top three knobs.
Filter bottom knob and Q switch. (One thing I noticed is when the Q switch was in the first position it was like a master tone control for all three pickups and when it was in the second position it acted as a filter control.)
Long Scale, EBony board, Maple body and purple heart laminates.
"Classic taper" neck profile 2.00" at the nut and 2.5" at the 24th fret (if you ever played an 89-90 era Elan its the exact same neck shape)
Flamed maple veneers on headstock back and was told it was under the black finish but can't confirm this on both of the front of the body and front of the headstock.
Weight is around 10.5lbs my scale is not the most accurate but it is below 11 pounds and slightly above 10 lbs.

This bass comes with the original G&G case I got from Alembic. Along with unfilled out warranty paperwork and copy of the sales receipt. I blacked out my personal info on copy of the receipt with a sharpie but you will see I paid close to the asking price of this bass back in 2010.

The pics of the red background are the pics Alembic sent me when they completed my bass right before shipping.

Some more info on this bass:

Part of the reason it was hard to get specs on it was because it had been so long since Alembic had made the bass then upgraded it to series II electronics for Jason Newsted it was left up to me to ultimately decide what era/specs of Newsted's Elan I would go with. I went with “Justice era” specs from 89. It was during the Black album Newsted would upgrade all his Basses to series electronics and black hardware. IMO I think the “Justice” era Alembic’s sounded better.

In 2010, Alembic had informed me that my bass is done. They sent me these pics of it(red background),
I had them use a old style plastic control cavity cover which they had not done in years as well just like the truss rod cover My goal was a 100% accurate replica, even the knobs are the correct style.

Jason's 89 Justice era Elan was solid black his Europas were "Almost black" meaning from ten feet away they look solid but up close you can see the flamed maple. This one is solid black just like the Justice era bass