This thread is related with the one at the following link (for those interested in the whole story of my experience ordering a Carl Thompson bass):
http://www.talkbass.com/forum/f8/i-...ustom-bass-ever-carl-thompson-content-719782/
Here we talk the bass.
As promised by Carl, the bass was completed by the time I arrived in NYC. I had the pleasure to go to the shop on march 7th and meet Pete, Joey and the man himself. This shouldn't be the subject of the thread but I have to say that talking with Carl has been one of the most valuable experience of my life. People who had the pleasure to meet this extraordinary human being know what I'm talkin' about...
Now the bass: incredibly light and balanced, it really plays by itself and have a wonderful deep voice: I don't know if that's related to the pickup (Kent Armstrong humbucker), the woods or the instrument scale but that's it ... a nice, deep voice. I'm glad that at the end I choose to go for a 36" scale: it's WAY easier to play than every 34" scale I've ever put my hands on.
I know beauty is in the eye of the beholder but that's the way it is ... to me that's a masterpiece. Woods are:
Body core: Mahogany
Body front top: Gaboon Ebony center with Cocobolo wings
Body rear top (from center to both sides): Fish-eye Oakwood, Cocobolo, Canarywood (stripe), Gaboon Ebony. The diamond is Gaboon Ebony.
Pickup cover: Lacewood with inlayed Gaboon Ebony diamond.
Front routed control cavity with Cocobolo plate.
Neck: Mahogany
Fingerboard: Macassar Ebony with outer Gaboon Ebony stripes. Mother-of-pearl side dots.
Headstock: Mahogany with Cocobolo front plate and Fish-eye Oakwood rear plate. That one is the same wood as the one used for the center stripe of the rear top but cutted from a different section. It looks totally different.
The name plate on the headstock is purple dyed wood (maple I think).
The electronics are very simple: one single Kent Armstrong humbucker pickup, passive tone control and a three position toggle switch: center is the operational mode; left is bypass, it totally silences the bass (clever intuition); right takes away some high end. This last position in conjunction with the tone control offers a wide range of nuances within the single sound available from the pickup. Yes, you've read right ... single sound as the pickup isn't wired for split coil operations: Carl thinks that splitting an humbucker is using the pickup in a way it wasn't designed for. Want a single basic sound? One pickup. Want more tonal options? Two pickups. I'm number one...
Here are some pics for your own pleasure ... and, of course, pics really don't do justice for this bass:
http://www.talkbass.com/forum/f8/i-...ustom-bass-ever-carl-thompson-content-719782/
Here we talk the bass.
As promised by Carl, the bass was completed by the time I arrived in NYC. I had the pleasure to go to the shop on march 7th and meet Pete, Joey and the man himself. This shouldn't be the subject of the thread but I have to say that talking with Carl has been one of the most valuable experience of my life. People who had the pleasure to meet this extraordinary human being know what I'm talkin' about...
Now the bass: incredibly light and balanced, it really plays by itself and have a wonderful deep voice: I don't know if that's related to the pickup (Kent Armstrong humbucker), the woods or the instrument scale but that's it ... a nice, deep voice. I'm glad that at the end I choose to go for a 36" scale: it's WAY easier to play than every 34" scale I've ever put my hands on.
I know beauty is in the eye of the beholder but that's the way it is ... to me that's a masterpiece. Woods are:
Body core: Mahogany
Body front top: Gaboon Ebony center with Cocobolo wings
Body rear top (from center to both sides): Fish-eye Oakwood, Cocobolo, Canarywood (stripe), Gaboon Ebony. The diamond is Gaboon Ebony.
Pickup cover: Lacewood with inlayed Gaboon Ebony diamond.
Front routed control cavity with Cocobolo plate.
Neck: Mahogany
Fingerboard: Macassar Ebony with outer Gaboon Ebony stripes. Mother-of-pearl side dots.
Headstock: Mahogany with Cocobolo front plate and Fish-eye Oakwood rear plate. That one is the same wood as the one used for the center stripe of the rear top but cutted from a different section. It looks totally different.
The name plate on the headstock is purple dyed wood (maple I think).
The electronics are very simple: one single Kent Armstrong humbucker pickup, passive tone control and a three position toggle switch: center is the operational mode; left is bypass, it totally silences the bass (clever intuition); right takes away some high end. This last position in conjunction with the tone control offers a wide range of nuances within the single sound available from the pickup. Yes, you've read right ... single sound as the pickup isn't wired for split coil operations: Carl thinks that splitting an humbucker is using the pickup in a way it wasn't designed for. Want a single basic sound? One pickup. Want more tonal options? Two pickups. I'm number one...
Here are some pics for your own pleasure ... and, of course, pics really don't do justice for this bass:
