http://ctbasses.com
Les Claypool currently owns six Carl Thompson basses. The first is a 4 string fretted 32" scale piccolo bass made of walnut and mahogany, and fitted with a single EMG-35DC pickup. It has a Kahler tremelo that was later added by Claypool. When Les was a teenager, he saw the bass in a music shop in his home town. His first thought was that it was the ugliest bass he had ever seen! He tested it out with his bass testing song, "Roundabout", and as it turns out, it was the most comfortable bass he had ever played. He begged his mom for some money and they bought it the next day. New to this bass is a small piece of flamed maple on the headstock that is signed by Geddy Lee, pictured here. You can also see it in the new Primus Home Video, "Videoplasty". The second bass is a 4 string fretted Maple body bass used as a backup for the first. It has two EMG's rather than one, and lacks the tremelo of the main bass. The third Carl Thompson bass is a 6 string fretted, birds eye maple bass with a cherry neck and ebony fingerboard, seen here. It was the first 6 string fretless bass ever created, completed in 1978. Carl later put frets on it and sold it to Les just before Pork Soda was recorded. Carl never really liked it because of it's thin neck, but Les loved it, especially with lighter gauge strings. It had been sitting in Carl's closet for years. The fourth, and most infamous Carl Thompson bass Les owns, is a 6 string fretless, multi wood bass. It is nicknamed the "Rainbow Bass" because it has strips of walnut, curly maple, padauk, purple heart, ebony and cocobolo. The strings are threaded through the back of the rear extension - near where the strap pin is. They're stretched over a one-piece, hand-made wooden bridge and anchored by Schaller tuning machines. The basic part of the neck is made of quartersawn hardrock maple. The center of the fingerboard is Indian ebony, with 1/8-inch-wide strips of padauk, cocobolo and ebony on either side. Les got this just in time to record "Sailing the Seas Of Cheese". All of Les' CT's use EMG-DC pickups with an EMG-BTC preamp. To learn more about Les and Primus visit Primus Sucks.
Les' new bass is a 4 String fretted bolt on with a 1/8 layer of Macassar Ebony covering the whole bass. It has 24 frets, 2 pickups, 36" scale, and a black Kahler tremelo bar.
Les sent the Rainbow Bass back to Carl's shop and asked that a couple of modifications be made. Specifically he was looking to get the neck thinned down a bit. Although the neck width is the standard for Carl's 6-strings, Les uses a tighter string spacing and therefore has a little room on either side of the neck to play with. While the bass was there, Carl and Mike Browne decided to do a couple of other small upgrades as well. This is from Mike Browne: "We just finished working on the rainbow bass, here's what we did. We shaved an 1/8" off of each side of the neck, reshaped the neck, refit the headstock to accept Sperzel tuning machines to lighten it up, framed in the pickup pocket so the pickup would fit better (the original pickup had a wooden cover on it so the uncovered pickup fit loosely), made and cut a new nut so the string spacing would be correct for the new neck width." The delicate surgery is complete and the bass is ready for Les to play again!
Les also received a poplar piccolo fretless in 2001.
~~~
Les just finished up touring with the Fancy Band after the new year. They also played at Jamcruise. They debuted two new songs in december of '05, One Betta and Phantom Patriot. Les has been quoted as saying that these are both indeed Fancy Band songs. With this new development, rumors have spread that a Les Claypool solo (that is, a Fancy Band) album is in the works before Primus releases new material. Some have lost faith that Primus will ever reunite again because of Les' preoccupation with side projects. Les' book, South of the Pumphouse, can be found for preorder on Amazon.com.
My personal belief is that we'll see another solo/sideproject from Les, maybe a Fancy Band studio album, then Primus will be back.
