Just wanted to come here to give a review of Paul's (Thumpin_P) work on the Clement. When the bass arrived to me, it had a bent shaft on the stacked Bass/Treble pot and the preamp was a bit noisy. I opened the cavity to find that it looked like a rat's nest. The Nordstrand 3b5b has TONS of wiring folks! Not for the faint of heart! I arranged to take it to Paul and did so two weeks ago today. Paul asked if I wanted a full setup as well and I said I did. He called me after the pot shaft was repaired and the wiring mess was cleaned up to let me know he was having some trouble with the intonation. At this point, I remembered that in the thread where the bass had sold to the guy I bought it from, the previous owner had attempted an amateur restoration because the bridge had been replaced with a gold Babicz bridge. Not that there is anything wrong with Babicz, but he wanted to put the same style and color bridge on the bass that it was born with, which was a black Hipshot. When he replaced the bridge, he did not use the original Hipshot mounting holes, instead moving the bridge back to try to cover the holes left by the Babicz. I realized that by doing so, he had in effect changed the scale of the bass making it impossible to intonate. Paul and I decided that he would dowel the holes and put the bridge in it's rightful place. He also stained the dowels to match the myrtle top on the Clement and did a very nice job matching the color. If I had not posted it here, I'm pretty sure Paul and I are the only ones that would know, but I believe in full disclosure, especially when someone does nice work for me.
I went to pick the bass up this morning at 11 am. I would have written this review earlier except I just now put the bass down! I am elated with the quality of Paul's work and I highly recommend him to all ETTBr's. Paul is a genuinely nice guy and will not settle for less than completely happy customers. In fact, he has my Wishbass now to possibly replace the pots and/or capacitors on it as it is suffering from volume issues (low output, non-linear response[almost no volume until you reach 80%]) and a non/semi-functioning tone pot. If you know me, you know that I love that Wishbass and would not leave it in the hands of someone I did not trust completely.
I'll attach some additional pics of the Clement and Paul's work. I challenge you to find evidence of the repairs.
*Edit - Almost forgot -
@tjclem - Tom, thank you for building such beautiful basses! I am very fortunate to have found this bass at the price I did and I'm pretty sure the bass is lucky I found it. I think it has now been properly restored to the status it deserves. My hat is off to you sir and please continue the great work and know that your owners, first or subsequent are enjoying your product.
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Hey Richard!! That Clement is beautiful!!! I saw it in person, and I could not tell where Paul had put the dowels. I thought he did an outstanding job on it, along with all the other work he did. He had that bass back to the quality I am 100% sure it began with. Congrats on the bass Richard!! It is a beauty for sure. I am sure you will have many years of enjoyment from it too!!
Can't say enough about Paul's work too. I keep saying it and hopefully people are listening. He is the man to deal with around here. Great guy, super dependable, he will do you right, AND, the man knows his stuff. There is nothing of mine he wont be working on when I need it. I have also commissioned a build from him. I believe in him that much.
