Les Claypool Auctions Personal Pachyderm Prototype Bass

by Kevin Johnson Wednesday, August 8th, 2012

Les Claypool Personal Pachyderm Prototype Bass Almost two years ago, Les Claypool reached out to his fans for help. His two month old nephew was diagnosed with a rare form of infant leukemia and the family needed help defraying the cost of the medical bills. Now two years old, baby Matthew has been fighting the disease and is currently undergoing bone marrow transplant therapy, which is another costly yet important treatment. As such, Claypool has decided to auction one of his personal Pachyderm prototype basses.

“It is at this point that I have decided to put up one of my main performance four string basses for public auction in hopes of not only raising some needed cash for Matthew but also to raise attention to the notion that infant leukemia is rapidly growing and places like St. Jude’s Hospital are beacons of hope for families that are struggling to deal with such tragic situations,” the bassist stated.

“The bass I’m putting up for auction is the final prototype, Les Claypool brand, PACHYDERM, four string bass,” he continued. “It is one of two, (the first being my current ‘main’ with a bit smaller body), and is the design that all future PACHYDERM basses will be modeled after. I have been playing this bass live for the past year or so and it is a fabulous feeling and sounding instrument. The notion of the PACHYDERM basses was for me to create the most playable and ergonomically comfortable instrument I could think of and have them hand-made by a longtime friend and guitar maker extraordinaire. Having played many basses over the years, I crossed different elements of my favorites as well as some innovations of my own.”

The 32? scale bass features a maple body with a walnut top, which Claypool says gives it warm tone with a bit of punch in the attack. The Primus frontman had it fit with a single EMG split coil pickup with one volume knob, while the other knob controls LEDs inlayed in the neck. Other features include a bronze Pachyderm medallion set into the headstock, a Kahler tremolo bar, and an exotic wood pickguard.

The bass is currently up for auction on eBay. The no reserve auction is set to end at 10:30am Pacific time on Wednesday, August 15th, with 100% of the proceeds going to help Claypool’s nephew Matthew.