You’re not limited to a shape found in a font; you can combine font characters, draw free-hand or mix-and-match shapes. Each document you create can have eighteen clefs; in order to create your own, therefore, you’ll have to replace one of the eighteen default clefs.

To design a shape clef

1. Choose Document > Document Options > Clefs, then click the Clef Designer button. The Clef Designer dialog box appears.
2. Click on the clef whose characteristics you want to alter.  
3. Set the middle-C line for this clef by typing a number into the Middle C Position text box. A value of zero places middle C on the top line of the staff; this number indicates the number of lines or spaces that middle C is to be positioned away from this top line. For example, the treble clef, which places middle C one ledger line below the staff, has a Middle C Position value of –10, because one ledger line below the staff is ten lines and spaces down from the top line of the staff (whose number is zero).
4. Set the vertical positioning of the clef symbol by typing a number into the Clef Position text box. This value, measured in lines and spaces, determines where the new clef will sit on the staff. A value of zero places the baseline of the clef on the top line of the staff. Note that the baseline of a clef is based on its musical meaning, and isn’t quite the same as the baseline for regular text. For example, the baseline of the treble clef isn’t the bottom of the character—it’s the “curl” that sits on the G line of the staff; the baseline of the bass clef is centered between the two dots (the F line), and so on. Thus the Clef Position for the treble clef is –6, six lines and spaces lower than the top line of the staff.
5. Select Musical Baseline Offset and type a value into the text box. This number sets the distance, in lines and spaces, between the normal baseline for the clef (as defined in the previous step) and its vertical position when it occurs as a clef change in the middle of the score, and hence at a reduced size.
6. Click on Shape, then Select, then Create. The Shape Designer appears. Finale provides a template of the staff lines, to give you an idea of size and position when your clef appears in the score. A small origin circle marks where Finale will begin the clef horizontally and the Clef Position vertically. You’ll probably want to draw your shape close to the origin circle, unless you want extra space before this clef. If you want to create extra space after this clef, insert a blank character to the right of the clef. (For extra space before or after all clefs, see Document Options-Clefs.) To change the line of the origin circle, see the Clef Position earlier in this text. To insert a text character, click on the Shape Designer menu and choose Set Font. Select a font, then return to the Shape Designer. You can now click on the Text tool, then click on the window to type a character in the selected font. For more details about using the Shape Designer, see See Shape Designer.
7. Press ENTER twice. You return to the Clef Designer dialog box.
8. Click OK twice. You return to the document. From now on in this document, any time you access the palette of clefs, you’ll see the new clef represented as one of the eighteen available. Any music that follows it will be notated according to the definition of middle C (and the “stem-flipper” value) you’ve created. If you want to use this clef in other documents, see Save Library dialog box.

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