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Les claypool bass
- Thread starter boofis
- Start date
He plays a couple different basses depending on mood and song. I'm pretty sure that these days he only plays Carl Thompson Basses. Including "The Rainbow Bass" which many say is the first 6 string ever made, thought it never say the light of day till like 20 years later because Carl didn't think it would hold up to playing.
Yea, he has a variety of fretted and non-fretted 4-6 strings. There are multiple pages on the internet dedicated jsut to his basses
They could tell the stories better then I could I reckon.
Yea, he has a variety of fretted and non-fretted 4-6 strings. There are multiple pages on the internet dedicated jsut to his basses
They could tell the stories better then I could I reckon.Carl Thompsons mainly
www.ctbasses.com
He has a few fender jazz's and NS design electric upright (i think!)
But i saw on the Gov't Mule DVD he plays a ric
www.ctbasses.com
He has a few fender jazz's and NS design electric upright (i think!)
But i saw on the Gov't Mule DVD he plays a ric
Perfect-Tommy said:
If I may offer one slight correction--Carl Thompson did build the first 6-string "contrabass" (tuned B-C) for Anthony Jackson, but the Rainbow Bass isn't it. Carl built the Rainbow Bass for Les after Les gained a lot of attention for Carl's instruments playing a 4-string CT he bought used. That's my understanding from an interview with Les a while back, anyway.
Mike
Yup Mike is right.And after a while Les had to bring the rainbow bass back because it was unbalnced so Carl added a top horn
john turner
You don't want to do that. Trust me.
abark000 said:
carl's first 6 was made for anthony jackson, it was never fretless, and it still is in the possession of mr. jackson, iirc.
oooohhhhhhhh -- I was wondering why in the Tommy the Cat video the Rainbow appears to have a nub at the top, rather than the scrolly horn I'm used to. I didn't realize that was added later (i thought it broke off). Thanks for the info.I-Love-Ratm said:
john turner said:
I believe you're right. According to the Carl Thompson site:
"[Les']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."
The cherry six string was (supposedly) the first fretless six, not the first six. People read that line and skip over the word fretless and think it was the first six ever.
Rumzini said:
Because the body is made up of a series of thin, different-colored strips of wood laminated together (as opposed to a solid body), giving the appearence of a rainbow.
Aram said:
I have the DVD, Animals should not act like humans...seen the bass...is there a site out there that has close up pics of it??
I'm new to this so forgive my ignorance...it seems I've noticed alot of posts about 6 strings...if you are able to play one are you considered quite a good player???
www.ctbasses.com
Are you considered quite a good player if you are able to play one? I wouldn't think so. I'm sure any one us here CAN play it, but how MUSICALLY we play it would differ quite a bit.
--Matthew
Are you considered quite a good player if you are able to play one? I wouldn't think so. I'm sure any one us here CAN play it, but how MUSICALLY we play it would differ quite a bit.
--Matthew
Rumzini said:
Rumzini said:
It's all a matter of what you need. I personally don't plan to own a bass over 5 strings, plans change, but that's how it sits with me right now. It's just having more options. I like to compare it to playing a piano with fewer keys as to playing a full size. Just because you can tickle those extra ivory keys doesn't say anything about your skill level.
Example, Les takes both 4 and 6 strings on tours. Depending on the song, he plays different basses. I mean, it's a matter of what you need. I would feel like a tool if I had an 8 string bass in a Blink 182 cover band....
::edit::
Oh, about the first 6 string. I was confusing two separate stories into one. I spent an hour or so on the Carl Thompson info site and after awhile a few of the stories just started to melt together....
The Gov't Mule DVD is the deepest end....it has jason newstead, vic wooten, george porter jr, bela fleck, les and a few other people.....but as usual les is doin his slap n flamenco stuff on a ric 
Thank youheath_the_great said:The Gov't Mule DVD is the deepest end....it has jason newstead, vic wooten, george porter jr, bela fleck, les and a few other people.....but as usual les is doin his slap n flamenco stuff on a ric
also les just plays whateevr bass he wants to for the song...ive seen him play tommy the cat on a fender jazz...but he does always seem to bust out the rainbow bass for jerry was a racecar driver...even though i play it on a 4
And just watching the Primus DVD now the rainbow bass has no horn in the jerry film clip "Nacho's......steamy" but was added for the tommy film clip
Antoher bit of Primus trivia which i only found out the other day is that Ler was tought by............Joe Satriani
And just watching the Primus DVD now the rainbow bass has no horn in the jerry film clip "Nacho's......steamy" but was added for the tommy film clip
Antoher bit of Primus trivia which i only found out the other day is that Ler was tought by............Joe Satriani
