Gospel Bass Lines: Do you play yourself? If so, what has been the most influential aspect of developing your playing style?

Tim Cloonan: I do play, but not bass. I’m a guitar player (uh oh!) but ultimately decided to build basses because there is a huge number of extremely talented bass players in my area and no one around who could really help them out. Guitar techs generally do a very poor job of setting up and properly maintaining basses, so it seemed like a good gap to fill.

As a player, I started at a very early age and ended up getting a degree from Temple University in Jazz Performance for guitar. For me, the most influential aspect of developing my own style was listening to music. Plain and simple. After awhile I outgrew a need to categorize and judge players, I realized everyone had different strengths and weaknesses and I appreciate what the greats bring to the game.

Gospel Bass Lines: Do you have any advise you can offer bass players starting out?

Tim Cloonan: There are two things which stand out to me as being important. The first thing is something a professor in college explained to me: never forget that being a musician is physical. Your fingers will hurt, and your dexterity and coordination will be challenged. Playing music isnﾒt entirely a head game, you need to build a physical tolerance to what ever instrument you play and understand it takes time to build things up. The second thing (perhaps the most important) is that playing music is supposed to be fun!

Gospel Bass Lines: From the inception of CallowHill^TM you decided to design with the Bassist coming out of the Black gospel tradition. You stated on your site, that if this tradition were a town, then you arent even on the same planet. What are some characteristics that define the players coming out of the Black Gospel Tradition, for you?

Tim Cloonan: From my perspective, the principal characteristic (which isn’t exclusive to players coming out of this tradition but is often lacking in players coming from other backgrounds) is aural tradition. In other words, the musicians learn the way any musician should learn, by using their ears. Players who learn other forms, be it Rock, Jazz, Blues, whatever, often get lessons and practice but never really PLAY. Most of the players I know coming out of the Black Gospel bag learned in much the same way, but then had to get their chops busted and think on the fly in front of an audience a couple times a week at a very early age. If you’re in this situation and the organist decides to throw some curve balls, the bass player has to be on their game and adapt. Having played with more bass players form the aforementioned tradition, I’ve tried numerous times to derail them on gigs and sessions just to be a wiseguy and have had very limited success!

Gospel Bass Lines: You spent over ten years repairing basses for players coming out of the Black Gospel genre, what were some of the issues that the players would ask you for assistance in correcting?

Tim Cloonan: The main thing is WEIGHT. As a repair tech there really is never anything I can do about it, but most guys who have to perform for 4+ hours at a time don’t like it when they have a neck-heavy cinder block tied around their neck the whole time. The other issue is getting a full spectrum sound with the controls set flat. Many Gospel players go through a phase where they like to boost the lows and highs and cut all the mids. Eventually, they realize that particular eq curve has no definition to the audience’s ears and straighten the curve. When that happens, the question that comes up is, “What pickups and preamps will provide a great full sound with minimal tweaking, and without background noise?” The other thing is setting the basses up so they play easily without excessive fret buzz.

Gospel Bass Lines: You’ve worked with a very talented array of musicians, in developing your instruments. What’s the most common thing this all-star cast of musicians like about CallowHill^TM basses?

Tim Cloonan: The thing that most players of my instruments tend to like is light weight, no deadspots, versatility, ease of playability, a very thick, raw tonality, and super definition in the low B strings (or Bb in Maurice’s case) The other feature they like is reliability. If the battery dies you just pull up on the passive tone knob and the bass is still going strong, and all of the wiring is executed with solid silver Teflon coated audiophile grade wire so there’s never any risk of a bad solder joint. I guess overall they like that I confronted and solved every complaint they ever had, and improved everything they always loved to begin with.

Gospel Bass Lines: What is meant by “no deadspots”?

Tim Cloonan: Deadspots are areas on the neck (sometimes referred to as wolf-tones) which sound quieter in comparison to other notes . Also, you can have notes which are extremely lively and more sensitive to touch. Session players focus on this and most players prefer instruments with minimal deadspots because itﾒs easier to record.

Gospel Bass Lines: Back to the talented musicians. I have heard up and coming bassist ask, “what does it take to get endorsed, by a Bass company” Being a builder of quality instruments, can you offer any insight as to what you look for in Musicians to work with?

Tim Cloonan: Personally, I can’t stand endorsements. I work extremely long hours, and the components in my instruments are more expensive than many of my competitors so my “profit margin” is tiny. Many of us in the bass building trade joke that we make under $10.00 an hour – but for many of us this is true. My standpoint is that if a player wants an instrument they will endorse it by BUYING it. The musicians who helped me develop my line were picked by me, and they don’t function as endorsers in the traditional sense, but rather they are my R&D department. They request models, we design them together, I build them, and they take them out and test them in multiple environments in an effort to determine if they make the cut. If I’m given a green light, it becomes available to the public as an offering from the company.

In a nutshell, my take on endorsements is that large companies NEED endorsers to lend credibility to poorly constructed mass production instruments so that kids can go the local Guitar Center and purchase said instruments with their parent’s money! I’m not a large company, and have no wish to become one.

Gospel Bass Lines: What aspects led to the selection of your R&D players?

Tim Cloonan: For me, it was about stepping back and asking myself who has a unique voice and who has something to contribute to take things a step further. I looked at their style, touch, and taste in gear and then went from there.

Gospel Bass Lines: Many of the visitors to Gospelbasslines.com, are starting out and looking to identify their sound. I get questions about amps and basses, my response is usually don’t go broke, trying to get gear, you can’t afford. Do you have any advise to assist players who have budget instruments and equipment to help them find good tone with what they have, or in making the decision of what to purchase?

Tim Cloonan: I think most players put way too much emphasis on gear and image. A majority of the players I deal with who play high end basses (regardless of what kind of music they play) want people to “oooh” and “aaah” when they bust their instruments out of the case. Come play time, most of them simply can’t hang. It sounds brutal, but I see it all the time. When a heavy hitter like Derrick Hodge picks up something I do he’s tuned into what makes it good and appreciates all the detail work and care that goes into the construction, but if I were to hand him a $75.00 Walmart special bass he’d make it sound just as good. Players get “brandalized” all the time. They see a player they like using a particular brand, and they develop an odd allegiance to that brand. The players that sound the best will do so on anything because they took the time to develop a touch on their instrument. They understand that differences in pressure on each hand will yield different tonal results, they know how to shape lines dynamically, they know where in front of the bridge to play with their right hand, and they do all these things and more intuitively because they took the time to figure it out. My advice on buying gear is to try stuff out, buy what you like and understand that a $3000.00 bass isn’t necessarily 10x better than a $300.00 one. Develop a touch, learn the strong points and weak points of what you have, and make it work.

Gospel Bass Lines: That’s great insight.

Gospel Bass Lines: For those who want to get the process started of getting a CallowHill ^TMbass, how can they get more information about which style of Bass best fits the needs of the type of Gospel Music they primarily play?

Tim Cloonan: It’s pretty easy, they can email me through the website or just call. I’m not a custom shop in that the models I offer were painstakingly developed and are what they are for a reason. I make what I make, but I do offer a lot of options and I’m happy to discuss ideas with players. If I’m not willing to incorporate certain features or if my pricing isn’t quite right, I’m always happy to recommend other builders for players to check out as well.

You can find Callowhill Guitars online at http://www.callowhill.net.