I paid the $5 for expedited shipping and my EB arrived today. The fit and finish are flawless, nothing like the new stuff I've seen in Guitar Center. The infamous grain telegraphing through the finish is present, but for what I paid, I don't care. Picking it up, it is also VERY obvious why it is so named: it has the light weight and feel (but not neck) of Gibson's earlier thin slab-bodied basses. The neck is satin-finished and feels very much like the profile of my Epi Les Paul Standard but slightly thinner, probably because of the satin finish vs the Epi's heavy poly. Speaking of heavy, it weighs in at about half what I am used to with ash bodied Fenders and my faux-hogany Epiphone. I had to shim the stripped strap button on the Epi and mahogany doesn't produce the pale whitish dust that came out of the hole when I removed the button. Epi says it's mahogany, but it looks and sounds like maple to me.
Soundwise, puzzlingly, the EB sounds much more like a Thunderbird than the ACTUAL 2015 Thunderbird with the same bridge and pickups. With the pull volume knobs down, it's every other Jazz Bass copy out there, but when you start playing with the taps, it REALLY comes to life with a nasty snarl and a ton of low end. The stock strings are nice: clearly new, but not clanky. The setup is probably too high for Ox fans, but it's perfect for me with plenty of room to dig in.
I'm leaving the plastic on the pickguard for now. The EB reminds me VERY much of a G&L L-2000 but with lighter weight. I don't have an L-2000, but for that price, I could score a used one and have more options with the same basic tone. Even with the Gibson name and great price, I'm going to seriously put it through its paces before I declare it a keeper. Unlike what seems to be the majority of the bass world, I LIKE heavy instruments and the light weight freaks me out a bit. I'm used to more inertia in my playing.
Where was the review thread for this one? Searching "EB bass" here is like looking up "Asian porn" on Google.
