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Club Clement (Part 6: Post your basses here)

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#421
It went suddenly very fast so now I've got to make a big update:

32", 18 mm spacing, 24 frets, 5 string, headless Joan
SD bassline SJB-5 passive jazz pups
bubinga knobs: volume, volume, tone control,

start of pup covers in bubinga
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claro walnut, body blank
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body + pup covers
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bubinga fretboard trimmed
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ready for routing
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Will be continued soon. The man is going fast as always. :D
Never had a short scale before. So I'm really very curious how that will be.
 
#425
Would one or some of you care to comment on how you've set up the action on your fretless? I only recently took delivery of Clement Jon #141 (I'm now, happily, the third and last owner) and, not having played for some years, would be happy for some input.

Right now, the G string sits almost square on 3 mm at the body end of the fretboard.

Thanks in advance for any input.
 
#426
Monday, Feb. 13th, was a lucky day. I had driven to the border to pick up my Markbass Little Mark Tube head, Ashdown cab and Gator case. Tracking showed that my eBay find, Clement #141, should arrive in the mail on the 16th. Happy, happy, joyjoy, when I stopped in for my mail, the postmistress ran up from the back exclaiming, "Your guitar iss hier." (She's very Munich-German.)

Here's a pic of the bubble-wrapped Jon emerging from the styro peanuts, and of the spalted maple guitar on the maple floor I laid a couple of years ago.
_MG_1249.jpg

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And thanks to Tom for all the reassurance that the post-build mods were done by him, along with an explanation of the pre-amp. I'm lovin' this club.
 
#427
So, judging by what a few of you have said in this thread. Once I get my first Clement, I will be buying another shortly after? I'm ok with that I think. As I said in my other post, I just sent Tom my Downpayment, and I couldn't be more thrilled.
 
#428
plumcouleeman said:
Monday, Feb. 13th, was a lucky day. I had driven to the border to pick up my Markbass Little Mark Tube head, Ashdown cab and Gator case. Tracking showed that my eBay find, Clement #141, should arrive in the mail on the 16th. Happy, happy, joyjoy, when I stopped in for my mail, the postmistress ran up from the back exclaiming, "Your guitar iss hier." (She's very Munich-German.)

Here's a pic of the bubble-wrapped Jon emerging from the styro peanuts, and of the spalted maple guitar on the maple floor I laid a couple of years ago.
View attachment 252432

View attachment 252433

And thanks to Tom for all the reassurance that the post-build mods were done by him, along with an explanation of the pre-amp. I'm lovin' this club.
Click to expand...

I absolutely cannot get enough of that top! One of the nicest I've seen on ANY bass.
 
#431
Kwesi said:
I absolutely cannot get enough of that top! One of the nicest I've seen on ANY bass.
Click to expand...

I agree about that top, Kwesi. After I found it on eBay, I checked Tom's gallery, and I couldn't find anything I liked better. I am absolutely convinced that the ornate spalting is going to effect a dramatic improvement in my playing. That is, if I can keep my wife from thinking of it as wall art to go with her one-of-a-kind handcrafted maple chair.
 
#432
plumcouleeman said:
Thanks, Ben. My floors do look nice with that guitar, but not as nice as PassivAggressiv looks with hers. :D
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LOL, Thanks. That Jon is lovely, btw. Great find.

Re: set-up, I can't offer much because 1) I don't have a fretless, and 2) I don't do it myself. I just bring it to a guy and ask him to put the action as low as possible without any buzzing. (I like the action really low.)

Mine does need it, but I haven't gotten it done yet. It takes the guy a few days to get to it, and I can't bear to be without my Clement for that long yet, LOL.
 
#434
PassivAggressiv said:
My new Clement arrived, and I couldn't be happier. Here I am with it. The tone is far more versatile than I expected, it can be soft and warm, dark and gritty, or clean and bright. It feels great, balances beautifully. I'm ecstatic. :bassist::D

attachment.jpg
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Wow, that bass is stunning. I can only imagine how nice it sounds.

Just swap the pickups for single-coils, and that would be my next dream bass to compliment my fretless P/J.
 
#435
plumcouleeman said:
Would one or some of you care to comment on how you've set up the action on your fretless? I only recently took delivery of Clement Jon #141 (I'm now, happily, the third and last owner) and, not having played for some years, would be happy for some input.

Right now, the G string sits almost square on 3 mm at the body end of the fretboard.

Thanks in advance for any input.
Click to expand...

I put a tad of relief in - can just pass a 0.13mm feeler through at the 6th fret position (under a straight edge running from the nut to the 12th fret position). On my F basses I run that down to 0.10mm, and could probably do that on my Clem too, just haven't tried it yet. I adjust the string heights so I get ~ 3mm under the B and ~ 2mm under the G at the 24th fret position. I'll fiddle with PUP heights depending on how I feel that day and the playing context.

This set-up works well for me. Fast, eminently playable, and plenty of muah. Other birds - other feathers.

Enjoy the instrument. Tom makes 'em good.
 
#436
About setup... I like to go close to flat. I like to be able to slide a credit card in between the strings and the fingerboard when I have pressed the 1st and 24th fret down. That gives me a slightly bit of relief. Then I lower the strings as much as I can until it starts buzzing evenly all over the place, and then raise them just a tad. I play with a gentle attack, and I love my mwah.

Go to Gary Willis' page, he has a setup manual which is pretty good. So does Jerzy Drozd, I believe.

Tom's basses are amazing when it comes to action, though. On my all time favourite bass, the first one Tom built me, the strings feels like they are painted on the fingerboard. It has incredibly low action and it mwahs for weeks. :-)
 
#437
MrWalker said:
About setup... I like to go close to flat. I like to be able to slide a credit card in between the strings and the fingerboard when I have pressed the 1st and 24th fret down. That gives me a slightly bit of relief. Then I lower the strings as much as I can until it starts buzzing evenly all over the place, and then raise them just a tad. I play with a gentle attack, and I love my mwah.
Click to expand...

Just so we're using equivalent units of measurement, the thickness of a standard credit card is 0.76mm. Measuring relief between the 1st and 24th fret will give a higher value than from the nut to the 12th fret. It usually works out that relief of 0.13mm - 0.20mm measured between the nut and 12th fret will give relief of approximately 0.60mm - 0.76mm when measured mid point between the 1st and 24th frets. In other words, unless you are stupidly fussy, the credit card thing works pretty well.
 
#438
kbuschmann said:
Just so we're using equivalent units of measurement, the thickness of a standard credit card is 0.76mm. Measuring relief between the 1st and 24th fret will give a higher value than from the nut to the 12th fret. It usually works out that relief of 0.13mm - 0.20mm measured between the nut and 12th fret will give relief of approximately 0.60mm - 0.76mm when measured mid point between the 1st and 24th frets. In other words, unless you are stupidly fussy, the credit card thing works pretty well.
Click to expand...

Thanks much for this gentleman (and you, too, PassivAggressiv). I just finished building my own home so I should be able to tackle saddle adjustment now that I have your advice.
 
#439
MrWalker said:
About setup... I like to go close to flat. I like to be able to slide a credit card in between the strings and the fingerboard when I have pressed the 1st and 24th fret down. That gives me a slightly bit of relief. Then I lower the strings as much as I can until it starts buzzing evenly all over the place, and then raise them just a tad. I play with a gentle attack, and I love my mwah.
Click to expand...

What type/brand/gauge strings are you using on the new headless 6-string?

Speaking of such matters...when are you going to post some more demos with that headless bass? :hiding:
 
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