Author Topic: Stanley Clarke Bass (Read 792 times)

hendixclarke · « **on:** July 21, 2007, 04:38:13 AM »

Please can someone set the record correctly?

Was the shape of the Alembic which Stanley Clarke plays, shaped and designed according to Stanley Clarke from the 70's, or was this shape and design already established before he chosen the Alembic brand?

I believe Stanley Clarke is The Jimi Hendrix of the bass (and that's as high I could award him for his contribution to bass wizards) but correct me if I am wrong, the Fender Stratocaster is not called the Jimi Hendrix style because the design was established before Jimi found strats.

So, was the shape of the Alembic which Stanley plays, created with Stanley's influence of the 70's or not?

dela217 · « **Reply #1 on:** July 21, 2007, 05:46:13 AM »

If I understand the question correctly, the body shape that you are referring to was around before Clarke played Alembic. I have basses earlier in production that have that body style, and from what I understand, Clarke was not introduced to Alembic until 1973/1974. I think it is referred as the Stanley Clarke body style because he was what put Alembic on the map as far as Alembic basses go. He brought them from what was mostly an unknown company into the spotlight. I wonder if Stanley would have been noticed as much without that signature sound too?!? Whoever came up with that initial body style, (I think it was Susan Wickersham) I love it!

Michael

grateful · « **Reply #2 on:** July 21, 2007, 06:19:15 AM »

Only unknown to non-deadheads!

hendixclarke · « **Reply #3 on:** July 21, 2007, 06:34:45 AM »

I too own the an Alembic from the 70's era and it was never references as the Stanley Clarke bass. No doubt, Stanley did put Alemebic on the map but he was very young then, and a black man of his time, had very little influence in design area of a lilly white owned company in Marin County (or very close). I am not making this into a white/black issue (please don't go there...) I was just trying to have a educated historic perspective on the bass design and who influenced the body of the said Series I that Stanley loves so very dear. Man, the body is beautiful and round like a beautiful woman.

When I look at a PJazz in comparision, it looks un-uniformed and somewhat De-formed.

Stanely would have made it with, or without Alembic. I believe Alembic got more educated on by Stanley's experience over the years as an expert consultant for the company. But as far as the body goes, Alembic was first to siduce Stanley and others including myself, with such a booty of a bass. Now, I really know why they call it the bottom.

lbpesq · « **Reply #4 on:** July 21, 2007, 09:42:21 AM »

Hal:

I really don't think it was a black/white thing. Rather, I believe it was a space/time continuum thing. Alembic was invented and designed a few years before Alembic heard of Stanley or Stanley heard of Alembic. As good as Stanley is, he just wasn't good enough to travel back in time and tell Alembic how to design the bass. Nothing racial going on. Only physics.

Bill, tgo

richbass939 · « **Reply #5 on:** July 21, 2007, 10:42:09 AM »

I'm not pretending to be a historian here, but I seem to remember hearing that SC got his first Alembic in very late 1971 (please correct me if that is wrong).
As far as putting Alembic on the map, I think it depends on what part of the map a person comes from. I heard about them via the SC route. Many others first heard through the Dead connection. Others report that their first exposure was through Mark King. There are several other early Alembic players that could be added to the list too.
Rich

bsee · « **Reply #6 on:** July 21, 2007, 12:26:23 PM »

Well, per the histories, the Stanley Clarke Signature bass wasn't introduced until 1986. From that point forward, I could see anything in that shape referred to as the Stanley body style by the general public. It is officially referred to as the Small Standard body style, even if you're looking at the quote generator for a Stanley Clarke Signature bass today.

As a side note, I have to say that I find Hal's post regarding race offensive, particularly in the characterization of Alembic.

dela217 · « **Reply #7 on:** July 21, 2007, 01:14:55 PM »

I think Stanley got his first Alembic in 1973. It was lost when the equipment truck got stolen! He then replaced it the next year with what is known now as his brown bass. I know I sound like a Stanley fan, but I am not really. I am just an Alembic nut.

dela217 · « **Reply #8 on:** July 21, 2007, 01:19:26 PM »

Hal, I just peeked into your profile. You have one pretty bass there! What is the scale length on that one? By the placement of the 5 pin connector, it looks as though it could be a long scale. No?

Michael

dannobasso · « **Reply #9 on:** July 21, 2007, 04:38:20 PM »

My reaction to the third post was wow.
This company and this board is so far from that thought process.

dfung60 · « **Reply #10 on:** July 21, 2007, 04:46:56 PM »

It may just be random memory, but back in the 70's when I first learned about Alembic, you regularly saw that long scale basses had the point body, medium scale basses had the omega body, and short scale basses had the symmetrical body that Stanley became associated with. These were all Series basses, but they didn't call them that yet, because they were the only instruments Alembic built (Distillate came next, but must have been at the end of the 70s).

Before Stanley Clarke started playing Alembic, he was playing a Gibson EB-3. So, if there was really any correlation of which body a particular scale bass would have in standard configuration, then he would have had that small body first. Today, Alembic is all about options and customization, and that's always been a part of their story, but there did seem to be a very strong correlation of shape and scale in the past (and plenty of other things to do variations on).

That might be at least partly functional - a long scale neck on the small symmetric body would have a very serious balance problem, although even short scale players complain about it even now. As today, I think Alembic is extremely open to trying different things that you think you'd like, but unlike some order takers out there, Susan and the Alembic folks don't have any problem telling you that you're asking for something that won't work.

My mind is boggled that Stanley would have played a Gibson EB. From a construction and playability standpoint, those old Gibsons are very nice, but tonally, it's hard to imagine what Lopsy Lu sounds like coming out of that big neck pickup! Stanley is a very tall, thin guy with huge hands which even dwarf an upright bass, so it's interesting to me that he chose the short-scale bass when he went electric.

David Fung

hieronymous · « **Reply #11 on:** July 21, 2007, 09:32:09 PM »

I actually like the weird muffled distorted sound of Stanley Clarke's bass on Hymn of the Seventh Galaxy! After seeing the YouTube clip of one of the songs for that album where Stanley is playing a Rickenbacker 4000, I began wondering if maybe that's what he recorded the album with. He also played a jazz around that time - you can see it in the album photos for Where Have I Known You Before.

Actually, the EB-2 kind of makes sense - it's similar to the Guild Starfire, which as we know was an important instrument in the early years of Alembic!

cozmik_cowboy · « **Reply #12 on:** July 21, 2007, 10:32:01 PM »

In the mid- to late 70s I read a Guitar Player cover story on Stanley (this was before Bass Player came along). He recalled playing the EB3 at a gig, and someone from Alembic (I disremember who - probably Ron or Rick Turner)came up to him after or on break and said, basically, hey, your chops are great, but your sound ain't - try this and handed him an Alembic. The rest, as they say, is history - paraphrasing again (hey, it's been 30 years & a lot of - um - fun, you know? Exact quotes are a bit out of the question) he said it was the first time what his ears heard was what he heard in his head.
Same story mentioned that he was first-chair bass for the Philadelphia Orchestra when he was 17 - can you say versatile?

Peter

hieronymous · « **Reply #13 on:** July 21, 2007, 10:50:07 PM »

It's actually not totally clear what kind of Gibson he played - my understanding was always that it was the hollow-body EB-2, but he also owned EB-0s and EB-3s (the SG shaped ones). There was a whole (LONG!) thread over at the dudepit. Sorry to obsess over this, but I'm one of those weirdos that loves Gibson basses!

Oh and here's the amazing YouTube video with the Rickenbacker 4000.

And I realize that I've kind of gone off-topic, but I thought the Gibson EB-2/Guild Starfire Bass connection was interesting, though not particularly relevant.

jazzyvee · « **Reply #14 on:** July 22, 2007, 02:46:21 AM »

Until I started looking for an alembic bass I never even knew about the other body shapes. All I knew was the SC body shape as I'd only ever seen him and alphonso johnson using an alembic.

Never heard of the Dead back then so didn't know their connection. So for me Stanley was the connection between me and alembic and the first alembic I had, just had to be the SC Model. Didn't know about the series.. just knew I wanted an alembic of that shape.

So alembic was only the company that make Stanley Clarkes basses.
Now I know more.
Jazzyvee