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Club Clement (Part 7: Post your basses here)

#744
Hello, am here. Had to send back #327 to Tom in Florida. Doctor Tom said the neck was a goner. Perhaps Orford was not strong enough, or I played it to death. Any way we decided to rebuild with maple 3 piece neck and a diamond finger board. White lines.
#327 diamondwood.jpg
327-full-front.jpg
 
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#748
So... continue to admire Clement basses from afar. Have ordered several. Enjoyed them all and sold them foolishly. But still stay in touch with Tom and enjoy following his Facebook pictures. Just have to say... Of all of the many custom ordered or built items, basses, pickups, cabinets and other non bass items, I've never had follow up that came close to Tom's. Not. Even. Close. Just sitting here reflecting after a few recent custom orders and there have been a lot. Tom's just all over it. You never have to wonder whats going on with your bass. He meets deadlines and keeps you informed. I have no skin in the game. Was frustrated recently and often reflect on my 4 or so purchases from TOm.

So kudos to Tom on the great basses, but above all, the truly outstanding customer service. Makes me want to figure out something to order next. Which I do tend to think about a lot. :)
 
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#749
Anybody know the size of the allen key for the truss rod on his basses? I've adjusted it before but right now can't for the life of me get one in there.

There is some relief in th E-A side, but almost a bow in the D-G side, so I'm getting some buzzing there. very strange, but I'm hoping with a slight tweak it will come right. Also, anyone know if he uses support rods in the necks??

Also also, swapped from flatwounds to pressurewounds and this thing has come alive...most likely pulling it from the classifieds again ha. Damn GAS.
 
#751
Been gigging my beloved Clement weekly. I found the sweet spot of tone, through a combination of my hands, flats, and the passive tone knob. It took time, as I was bound and determined to get what I wanted with rounds, but it just wasn't going to happen. But with flats, my ears have what they want. What a delicious tone from this thing. :)
 
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#755
Hey fellow Clement guys!
What's cooking in Clement land?
Personally, I am excited about my latest bass that Tom and I are working on. It's a completely new shape, the Marilyn I think it will be called, isn't that so, Tom? It is based on the Pamela guitar shape that Tom did a few years ago, but is adapted to bass by widening the cutaways to facilitate the wider neck. It's quite a departure from Tom's earlier designs, as I think the common denominator for Tom's work is a long upper bout ensuring that the bass can be worn in any angle towards the body without even a hint of neck dive. This new design definitely challenges that by moving the top strap button way up the neck. It's probably not suited for a long-scale headed neck, but we opted for a headless design, and thereby moving the center of gravity back towards the body again. I'm expecting a bit of a stretch towards the first fret positions, and also a slightly more horizontal natural balance compared to the other Clements, but that's fine with me. We decided on narrow string spacing.
Currently, we're using EMG pickups, but these will be replaced by pickups made by the Norwegian pickup maker Edmire Pickups. His designs are innovative and state-of-the-art, but will provide updates on that in due time. For now, enjoy yet another masterpiece by Tom! :-)

42694327_1818114058243610_4881414525871456256_n.jpg?_nc_cat=100&_nc_ht=scontent-lht6-1.jpg

42628544_1818113888243627_388369587357351936_n.jpg?_nc_cat=105&_nc_ht=scontent-lht6-1.jpg

42258268_1811337972254552_2726304016681140224_o.jpg?_nc_cat=111&_nc_ht=scontent-lht6-1.jpg

Notice how we fixed the base of the bass to secure the headless bridge! I like that a lot! No more worrying about bending those tuners!

It's a mahogany body with flamed redwood top, goncalo Alves neck, with stringers made from maple and wenge (right, Tom?), and then a beautiful birdseye maple fingerboard. The frets are mandolin wire... so extremely tiny! It's the fretwire dreams are made of.... a nightmare for Tom, a dream come through for me. :D

Can't wait to finally play this beauty!
 
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#756
MrWalker said:
Hey fellow Clement guys!
What's cooking in Clement land?
Personally, I am excited about my latest bass that Tom and I are working on. It's a completely new shape, the Marilyn I think it will be called, isn't that so, Tom? It is based on the Pamela guitar shape that Tom did a few years ago, but is adapted to bass by widening the cutaways to facilitate the wider neck. It's quite a departure from Tom's earlier designs, as I think the common denominator for Tom's work is a long upper bout ensuring that the bass can be worn in any angle towards the body without even a hint of neck dive. This new design definitely challenges that by moving the top strap button way up the neck. It's probably not suited for a long-scale headed neck, but we opted for a headless design, and thereby moving the center of gravity back towards the body again. I'm expecting a bit of a stretch towards the first fret positions, and also a slightly more horizontal natural balance compared to the other Clements, but that's fine with me. We decided on narrow string spacing.
Currently, we're using EMG pickups, but these will be replaced by pickups made by the Norwegian pickup maker Edmire Pickups. His designs are innovative and state-of-the-art, but will provide updates on that in due time. For now, enjoy yet another masterpiece by Tom! :)

View attachment 3188237
View attachment 3188238
View attachment 3188239
Notice how we fixed the base of the bass to secure the headless bridge! I like that a lot! No more worrying about bending those tuners!

It's a mahogany body with flamed redwood top, goncalo Alves neck, with stringers made from maple and wenge (right, Tom?), and then a beautiful birdseye maple fingerboard. The frets are mandolin wire... so extremely tiny! It's the fretwire dreams are made of.... a nightmare for Tom, a dream come through for me. :D

Can't wait to finally play this beauty!
Click to expand...

Cool! That cutout for the tuners really makes sense. The back of that neck is sweet!
 
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#757
aproud1 said:
Cool! That cutout for the tuners really makes sense. The back of that neck is sweet!
Click to expand...

Thanks! :-)
Yes, that neck is insane.... 9 layers of Goncalo Alves, maple and wenge.... I bet it won't move much. :D And the birdseye maple is beautiful, too. Can't wait to see it finished!

Yes, the cutout makes a lot of sense. I've had a couple of headless basses before, with tuners from Hipshot. It's a good design, but it's a little fragile to bending and in my experience, the finish gets worn off quite easily, too. So with this cutout, the bridge and tuner arrangement is protected when being put in the gig bag or case, and also in live situations. It allows the instrument to be leaned up against the wall without risking coming in contact with the tuners. Sometimes, even using a guitar stand is troublesome with headless basses, since the tuners can brush onto the legs of the stand. So I'm really happy that the body design allowed Tom to implement this feature!

Similar solutions have already been implemented by Kiesel and Rondo Music in their Brice basses. So we're not the first to realize the benefit! :-)
 
#759
Jimmy Haslip is also playing the 7-string "upside down" after learning to play bass by picking up a right-handed bass and playing without switching the strings around. He is one of the most interesting bass players I know, and I wonder how much of that is due to him approaching the instrument in a completely different manner than us righties. I guess there are some damping techniques that can be developed that way that can have a significant impact on the tone and vibe of the bass lines. In addition to a great musical mind, of course.... It's just fascinating!! :-)
 
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#760
clement.jpg


Been playing this beauty exclusively (3 services a week plus a practice) for a month or two lately. I'm posting not for that reason, but this: I'm using a set of flats, and a fret wrap just behind the nut. The wonderful old-school tone of that combo on a fretless with a split PU is delightful to my ears. And in case anyone on this thread needed to be told, this bass 1) gets tons of comments from people who don't even care about gear and 2) Tom did me right with this super-sick and wonderful build that plays like a dream. :)

Carry on.
 
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