NBD: Clement #346

[gumbynotpokey]

She shipped Monday last week and I received her Wednesday.

I am thrilled. Tom was super fun and easy to work with in the ordering process. My first Clement. This is my second fretless. My first fretless some will remember, is my avatar pic: a Carvin neck through with a figured walnut top and epoxy coated BEM board.

For this build, I wanted a bolt neck, split PU and bare wood. She has a hard maple neck, single piece swamp ash body, black veneer layer, figured myrtle top, black hardware, 4 strings standard tuning, bare Ipe fingerboard, Carvin split PU, pure passive with a single tone and single volume knob, oil finish.

I can post the build-progress photos Tom sent me during the process. This morning Tom posted these final photos, so I'm too excited and wanted to get these posted. Can't wait for it to arrive and to hear the voice of this beauty.

TOM CLEMENT: "Thank you, sir, for your time, attention, patience, effort, and outstanding results."

 

[BassikLee]

Gorgeous bass. Tom is a great guy. His shop is about ten miles from my house. Good stuff. Your bass is beautiful. You'll have to report your thoughts once you've played it. I'm interested in the carvin pickup, too.

 

[gumbynotpokey]

Yeah, me as well. I babysat a product suggestion thread on their Forums for about 2 years, begging for them to do a split. They did, but a bolt with a split requires a dreaded pickguard. Not to hijack my own thread - I'll just say I wanted that pu in a nice top wood and Tom fit the ticket. I am super-curious about how this baby will sound all-in-all. I'm open to switching out the pu, but will sure put her through her paces for a while before I consider it. I want to settle in with this instrument and get to know what she can produce. Glad you like this bass. I'm all excited!

 

[gumbynotpokey]

She arrived Wednesday. Here are some crappy cell phone pics to get us started....

Don't know that I've seen a fingerboard this thick before. I love it. This slab of Ipe is so hard it's crazy.

Tom put the split pu in the classic P position. It looks too close to the end of the board, but this is 24 stops. He got it right.

I am DELIGHTED.

 

[gumbynotpokey]

 

[Skip_NJ]

You got some beautiful pieces of wood on that bass. Fantastic build congratulations! That bass looks nicer than a Carvin, glad you got exactly what you wanted.

 

[gumbynotpokey]

You got some beautiful pieces of wood on that bass. Fantastic build congratulations! That bass looks nicer than a Carvin, glad you got exactly what you wanted.

Thank you, sir!

 

[gumbynotpokey]

Finally got her outdoors here at home for a few better quality pics. Enjoy. Any comments are welcome.

Please pardon all the pics. I'm a little excited about this thing.

Had a chance to play an entire morning service with her this am. Tone report later - I'd like to play her with the band a few more times before I go into details. For now, I'll say I'm VERY VERY HAPPY with the sound.

Thank you, Tom Clement for this gem of a bass, and thank you, Carvin for the pickup.

 

[bhunt1]

That is some amazing wood - beautiful bass! I am not familiar with Ipe - is is as hard as ebony?

 

[gumbynotpokey]

That is some amazing wood - beautiful bass! I am not familiar with Ipe - is is as hard as ebony?

I had never heard of Ipe either. After I saw it on Tom's website I did some research. It turns out that its hardness rating is even higher than ebony. I chose it for that reason, primarily. I know it's overly cautious of me, but I know I'll play rounds and I wanted a bare-wood board. So, Ipe it was. He had a different piece that I looked at first but it was too light - it would have clashed with the myrtle top I had picked. I asked him and he thought I might be right. So, I picked the piece you see on the bass. It's darker and seems to complement the top. I AM HAPPY.

 

[nutdog]

That top is sick!

 

[Ewo]

Really striking top wood, and very nice grain match on the control cover. Enjoy!

 

[gumbynotpokey]

That top is sick!

Yes, sir!

And you know what? When you get a great instrument, it's great to get comments. I'm 5 yrs old all over again. THANKS!

 

[gumbynotpokey]

Yes, sir, I think Tom did a great job on the cavity cover and the whole instrument for that matter.

 

[UpperBout]

Beautiful simplicity, and simply beautiful.

 

[gumbynotpokey]

Beautiful simplicity, and simply beautiful.

Yeah, man - that's what I was aiming for. I know if course taste is taste, but I'll tell you what. Tom Clement delivered.

 

[Lackey]

Very cool. Ipe is commonly used as an architectural exterior wood as it is extremely resiliant. Look forward to the tone / pickup report.

 

[gumbynotpokey]

I plan to give her another run tomorrow night. Stay tuned for a tone report before the weekend is out!

 

[gumbynotpokey]

Played the evening service with it last night. Just a quick note (no pun intended) that this bass is very articulate, but not brittle or harsh. What I'm trying to say is that I can get very low tones at low volume that are warm and muted but still retain high definition and presence/clarity. I think that's the combination of the relatively high-output Carvin split plus the incredibly hard Ipe fingerboard. The sustain at any volume is very prolonged. More to follow - we have practice tonight.

 

[5StringPocket]

That is one stunning bass. If it sounds as good as it looks - wow...
This has me looking into a Clement build with the new Nordstrand BigMan pickup and 3b-4a preamp. The hardest choice is which of these tops to use with a wenge fretboard.