played one at a NYC GTG years back. Effortless. Then the owner said it was 36 inch scale. Didnt feel imposing whatsoever
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Carl Thompson
- Thread starter Dr. Cheese
- Start date
Here is Carl Thompson applying glue to body sections in his shop.
This is an interesting Carl Thompson bass. It looks like his take on a Stingray.
Carl Thompson made AJ’s first six, but I do not know how much he ever used it.
If I had a ‘Mandela effect’ moment specifically related to Anthony Jackson, I need to get that looked at by a professional.
Aside from the yoytube videos, did you played/heared a CT basss live in person? Doc?
No, I may have seen one, but I have never played one.
AJ said the first bass had string spacing that was too tight for him. You see the difference.
I do. Need to get back to the Bassplayer article. I could've sworn the Thompson made it onto at least one Al DiMeola album/track, but I might be thinking of one of his Smith basses.
Carl Thompson definitely has his place in that Mt. Rushmore of bass innovators. Alembic/Smith/Fodera/etc who pushed the envelope and paved the way for this bass-build renaissance that IMO we're all benefitting from.
This is all making my 6-string-bass GAS come back. Every few years and then I land on '5 strings are enough for me'.
The Bass Book | Carl Thompson | Fine Handmade Instruments
From the article:
It was difficult to find a maker willing to transform the idea into a guitar. Jackson had not yet climbed the heights of the session world that he would later reach and could not afford to experiment wildly with many expensive custom-made instruments. But Thompson agreed to go ahead and make a stab at the extended six-string bass – even though Jackson states that Thompson’s initial reaction was that it was “a dumb idea”.
Jackson says he left the details largely to Thompson, who recalls suggesting an extra-long scale-length but that Jackson opted for the 34in length he was used to from his Fender. Finding pickups wide enough to extend under all six strings proved almost impossible, but Atilla Zoller, a jazz guitarist with a flair for pickup building, was hired by Thompson to wind some custom units especially for the six-string. Thompson also had trouble finding a suitable bass string that would facilitate the low-B tuning, but the Addario string company eventually came up with a specially wound suitably fat string.
The first extended-range six-string bass guitar finally appeared from Thompson’s workshop early in 1975. Jackson was immediately disappointed by the string-spacing, which he had assumed was going to be wider. Later, into the 1980’s, five and six-string basses would become more popular and their string-spacing would become wider to suit the finger-style technique of bassists rather than the plectrum-based styles of guitar players. However, in 1975 this was a new field, and no one was sure what to do. Jackson knew, however, that this first attempt at the contrabass guiatar wasn’t quite right.
On a tour with Roberta Flack, laying down his Fender to play the new six on a couple of songs, “But I didn’t have a chance to put it through it’s paces until I did the first session with it,” he says, “which was for the Panamanian saxophone player Carlos Garnett. We did an album called Let this Melody Ring On in June 1975, and on one particular tune I used the contrabass. I was absolutely adamant that Carlos should put in the credits ‘Anthony Jackson bass guitar and contrabass guitar’, which he did. I was very proud of that.”
But Jackson abandonded the bass after that one tour and one recording session – primarily, he recalls, because he found the string-spacing restricting, and he returned to his Fender. Jackson and Thompson made some more experiments around 1976 including a fantastic 44in-scale trial bass guitar and a 36in-scale four-string that Jackson did not keep for long. The musician and maker drifted apart, but Jackson continued to dream about the musical usefulness of an extended-range instrument.
Kind of want to hunt down that album. Being an AJ completist.
From the article:
It was difficult to find a maker willing to transform the idea into a guitar. Jackson had not yet climbed the heights of the session world that he would later reach and could not afford to experiment wildly with many expensive custom-made instruments. But Thompson agreed to go ahead and make a stab at the extended six-string bass – even though Jackson states that Thompson’s initial reaction was that it was “a dumb idea”.
Jackson says he left the details largely to Thompson, who recalls suggesting an extra-long scale-length but that Jackson opted for the 34in length he was used to from his Fender. Finding pickups wide enough to extend under all six strings proved almost impossible, but Atilla Zoller, a jazz guitarist with a flair for pickup building, was hired by Thompson to wind some custom units especially for the six-string. Thompson also had trouble finding a suitable bass string that would facilitate the low-B tuning, but the Addario string company eventually came up with a specially wound suitably fat string.
The first extended-range six-string bass guitar finally appeared from Thompson’s workshop early in 1975. Jackson was immediately disappointed by the string-spacing, which he had assumed was going to be wider. Later, into the 1980’s, five and six-string basses would become more popular and their string-spacing would become wider to suit the finger-style technique of bassists rather than the plectrum-based styles of guitar players. However, in 1975 this was a new field, and no one was sure what to do. Jackson knew, however, that this first attempt at the contrabass guiatar wasn’t quite right.
On a tour with Roberta Flack, laying down his Fender to play the new six on a couple of songs, “But I didn’t have a chance to put it through it’s paces until I did the first session with it,” he says, “which was for the Panamanian saxophone player Carlos Garnett. We did an album called Let this Melody Ring On in June 1975, and on one particular tune I used the contrabass. I was absolutely adamant that Carlos should put in the credits ‘Anthony Jackson bass guitar and contrabass guitar’, which he did. I was very proud of that.”
But Jackson abandonded the bass after that one tour and one recording session – primarily, he recalls, because he found the string-spacing restricting, and he returned to his Fender. Jackson and Thompson made some more experiments around 1976 including a fantastic 44in-scale trial bass guitar and a 36in-scale four-string that Jackson did not keep for long. The musician and maker drifted apart, but Jackson continued to dream about the musical usefulness of an extended-range instrument.
Kind of want to hunt down that album. Being an AJ completist.
songwriter21
I have an obsession for wood. The musical kind.
I also am one that doesn't care for his basses' looks, even though I've never played one. The instrument has to look good before I'll even consider trying it out, BUT, I get it with Carl's prices and wait times. This is like your grandfather and maybe one other person using a self-built shop, to utilize exotic woods by making them into hamdmade basses, one at a time, of which some of the best players out there seem to covet.
Pricey materials + extremely small staff + loooong man-hours from crazy/innovative designs = EXPENSIVE pricetag (like a handbuilt car, rifle, dresser, etc).
He indeed seems like a cool cat to hang with, too.
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I believe you can get what you want.. Just ask.. But usually its just like "36", 4 strings.. Preferably fretted.. Thank you.."
I am totally with you! I have 32", 36" and 38" but the one I play the most is a 36" semi frill bolt on.. Its absolutely amazing..
its a Hilton.. Pete Hilton is a former Carl Thompson apprentice.. In my book Pete's basses are on pair with Carl's.. Absolutely amazing quality..
A big fan of CT here. I was in his shop once ~25 years ago and was clinically insane for three weeks after that. Amazing stuff.
Presuming that "what you see is what you hear" I always enjoyed Rick Laird's CT sound...
Presuming that "what you see is what you hear" I always enjoyed Rick Laird's CT sound...
