The Chandler
Royale:
30 Questions
with Paul Chandler
Part 2
The Royales Tom owns have gone from
very traditional finishes to very flashy pearloid tops. Who's idea was it to
put pearloid finishes on those basses? Are those options available to the
public or just on special instruments for Tom?
I thought the pearl tops would
further capture the feel of those old German guitars Tom liked, so I thought
we'd try it. The material is difficult to get and work with, so at this time
Tom has the only ones in the world. We will be doing a batch of a dozen
12-strings soon, I think I have enough material left to do 3 tops maybe. Otherwise, we can do most of the regular type finishes as well as our supersparkle ones.
The Royale quickly became known as
the "Rolls Royce" of 12-string basses. Was this always the plan or did that
level of attention to special details develop over time?
The longer we stay in business,
the more it has come to me that we don't have to be the biggest or the
baddest... we just want to make really nice, well thought-out products for
people who can appreciate them. I am flattered to hear of the customers'
praise for the guitars. I have to tell you, building a 12-string bass is
like building 3 guitars. The bridge requires a lot of hand work, of course
the nut is very complicated, and we really try to make each one the best
possible in all areas. I especially appreciated it when one customer called
Adrian after receiving his Royale and told her "It exceeded my
expectations". Obviously, the longer we make them, the more we learn and
the better the guitars get.
Are you currently building any
Royales for Tom? If so can you tell me a little about them?
He has asked Adrian to build
some new Royales for him...he likes to take a new guitar and get it all beat
up from playing so it looks 30 years old. I don't have any specifics for
you right now, however.
Can you detail the construction of
the Royales? How much do they weigh on average?
Body: 2 or 3 piece solid swamp
ash, polyester finish.
Neck: laminated from 3 pcs. maple, 2 stringers Wenge, 2 bars of graphite, Pau Ferro fingerboard; 21 med jumbo frets & 12-inch radius, single 2-way truss rod, graph tech "tusc" nut, nut width: 1-13/16 in.; 34" scale, basically a little wider than a Les Paul.
Electronics: Neck pickup: split humbucking high output; middle and bridge pickup: humbucking soapbars; various wiring and output options available upon customer order.
Hardware: Gotoh Tuners, Schaller Strap Locks, Custom bridge and tailpiece, all chrome plated.
Weight: I have my 12-string on loan to Tom Hamilton of Aerosmith right now so I can't weigh it for you, but I think they are approximately 15 lbs. based on our UPS shipments.
Who designed the bridge and
tailpiece and what went into that process?
I designed the bridge. The
bridge uses 8 saddles as the 2 octave strings intonate in the same place and
the fundamental string intonates in a different place. The tailpiece matches
the bridge string spacing so the strings don't flair out behind the bridge
to pass through the tailpiece. Also, the tailpiece has a channel milled into
it to conceal the string balls. The pieces are fabricated from brass, chrome
plated.
Most high-end 12s come standard
with active electronics, but the Royale's pickups are passive. What were your
reasons for choosing passive pickups?
TP will no way even consider
having a battery anywhere near any of his basses. He feels it is just
something else to go wrong. I thought it might be worth a try but it is a
forbidden topic with him. In keeping with his original idea and sound, we
have tried to offer maximum flexibility through switching and signal routing
within the passive realm. We have made one Royale with active electronics;
this was ordered by Glen Pavan at Guitar Center, Hollywood and recently
purchased by a great 12-string player, Rodney Mollura from LA.
The Royale has a unique
string-spacing with the octaves being further apart from the fundamentals than
most other 12s. Who came up with this idea and why?
The octaves are tightly grouped
together and slightly separated from the fundamental strings. With a little
finesse, you can pluck them separately. The idea is to hit a harmonic on the
octave strings and pluck a lower note on the fundamental, offering a wider
range of sound. Also, I feel it helps to keep the octave strings from being
"masked" by the massive signal produced by the fundamental strings... just
that micro second of delay in your picking action gives the octave strings
presence and definition. I've played regular 12-string guitars that have the
fundamental string first and you can barely hear the octave string when
playing. What's up with that? It defeats the whole purpose.
The Royale has a very 'vintage'
look to it. Were there specific instruments from the past that inspired its
appearance?
If you look at those old
Hamburg-era Beatles photos, Stu Sutcliffe has this ancient Hofner bass,
1-cutaway typical German guitar for that time. That's what we're going for. Most of the customers buying the Royale are Cheap Trick or pop music fans,
and seem to like this retro styling. I like it anyway.
The first time I personally saw the
Royale was on the cover of Cheap Trick's 1997 release "Cheap Trick". Did
having that bass on the cover of that record generate a lot of interest in the
Royale and in Chandler in general?
We have been in business since
1980, which I think is a long time. You can advertise all you want, but
with so many guitars and guitar companies out there it just becomes visual
"noise" on the magazine page. Having our guitar on the CD cover helped to
put the guitar in a different setting. I think it definitely helped our
sales and brand recognition. You can always tell if I've been in a record
store because the "Cheap Trick" CD section has that cover with our bass on
it facing out!
