The Last Bass Outpost
Gear Discussion Forums => Gibson Basses => Topic started by: neepheid on June 05, 2015, 07:48:34 AM
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Stock levels dwindling, no sign of it in the 2015 lineup, is it officially the end of the road for the EB after only 2 years? Too soon! The Victory struggled on for 5! ;)
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Do you mean that the Victory did not live up to it's name? :)
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Do you mean that the Victory did not live up to it's name? :)
(http://i976.photobucket.com/albums/ae241/cata1d0/ME/bush_zpstxlcc4m3.jpg) (http://s976.photobucket.com/user/cata1d0/media/ME/bush_zpstxlcc4m3.jpg.html)
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Do you mean that the Victory did not live up to it's name? :)
Gibson-internally it was mocked as "The Loser" - I heard that from Phil Jones who joined them as a luthier at the time the Victory had grown a bit long in the tooth and not lived up to expectations.
Gibson giving up on another bass model prematurely or belatedly (depending on your view)? What else is new? I'm probably the only person on earth who owns two EBs. :mrgreen:
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Yes, it's done for. In the words of Mr. Cleese: 'E's kicked the bucket, 'e's shuffled off 'is mortal coil, run down the curtain and joined the bleedin' choir invisibile!!
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I'm surprised a completely new model like the EB lasted as long as 2 years, though I had the notion after the first year that it was popular enough to last even longer than 2 years. My best guess is it does'nt stand up to be as price increased as the SG and Thunderbird (which probably still sell good enough for Henry).
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You didn't need to kick the living sh*t out of the point I was making, people. Some of us happen to enjoy our Victories - it's my go-to recording bass, I'll tell you that for nothing.
Leaving aside people being less delicate than me about it, my point is that something that wasn't held in high regard by its parent company was allowed to live for 5 years - what the hell does that say about the EB? I quite liked mine.
Gibson do a year of unprecedented affordability then follow it up thinking they're some sort of boutique builder? The "V"? That's just stupid. But what do I know? I'm only one of the suckers who keeps buying their stuff.
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You didn't need to kick the living sh*t out of the point I was making, people. Some of us happen to enjoy our Victories - it's my go-to recording bass, I'll tell you that for nothing.
Leaving aside people being less delicate than me about it, my point is that something that wasn't held in high regard by its parent company was allowed to live for 5 years - what the hell does that say about the EB? I quite liked mine.
Gibson do a year of unprecedented affordability then follow it up thinking they're some sort of boutique builder? The "V"? That's just stupid. But what do I know? I'm only one of the suckers who keeps buying their stuff.
The Victory may have been internally mocked but that says more about the mentality at Gibson back then than any fault with the bass.
I did understand your point. OTOH I keep in mind that the Victory came from a different era. Henry J. didn't buy Gibson until 1986. IIRC the Victory guitar models were already gone by then, and the basses didn't last much longer. Things are obviously different now. The company seems to be throwing things against a wall to see what sticks.
I'll be surprised if the V-Bass ever makes it to production. I'll be even more surprised if the current pricing structure holds, since sales from the 2015 guitar line have supposedly been terrible. A couple of former employees with inside contacts have posted elsewhere that sales have only been 30% of expected goals.
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....And I do like the EB too, a friend of mine sill got his 2013 sunburst - the first thing I do when I visit him
is to pick it up and fool around with it for an hour or so.
I am surprised too! If I needed a versatile, new long scale bass (which I don´t) this would be it! I really think it´s a good instrument and a thorough design (except the glued knobs, perhaps :) ), I get a 70´s vibe from it - nice and solid, not s pretty as the 60´s ones but a decent gibson design that gets the job done.
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I'll be surprised if the V-Bass ever makes it to production.
The curse of the "V"... :o
Continental V - STRIKE 1...!
"V"... STRIKE 2...!?
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Coincidentally I just finished playing my 2014 EB for the third straight night. I love it. The neck fits my hands perfectly, it is versatile sound-wise, and sounds great. The only thing I don't like is it's weight. It's not really heavy, it's just that I have been spoiled by a Carvin B4 that is very light, I'll get used to it.
One other thing. The case handle is flat and uncomfirtable. This is a brown case with red lining and a sticker saying case made in Canada.
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When I had Uwe's EB here, I didn't find it that heavy either. But it does have a large body, so no surprise that it outweighs your B4.
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The curse of the "V"... :o
Continental V - STRIKE 1...!
"V"... STRIKE 2...!?
It is possible Gibson awaits sufficient preorder figures before pushing the production start button. In that case, yes probably doomed to never reach any stores.
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Gibson-internally it was mocked as "The Loser" - I heard that from Phil Jones who joined them as a luthier at the time the Victory had grown a bit long in the tooth and not lived up to expectations.
Gibson giving up on another bass model prematurely or belatedly (depending on your view)? What else is new? I'm probably the only person on earth who owns two EBs. :mrgreen:
I think EBs will be judged favourably over time.
I used wonder if I was the only person who owns two Victory basses until I saw there is a guy on another forum with two Victory Standards. :)
People who have Victorys seem to regard them well, if a little on the heavy side. I think the weight can be seen in the context of the time they were made. F*nder had produced some incredibly heavy basses in the later half of the 70s. Gibson had produced the RD in the late 70s which are even heavier than Victorys in my experience, but not as heavy as some late 70s F*nders. So Gibson probably didn't see overall weight as an issue at the time, particularly when seeking to balance their basses better. Possibly also explains why RD basses are so much thicker through the body (about 42mm) (and heavier as a consequence) than RD Guitars (about 34mm).
How thick through the wings are 70s T Birds?
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I never said a bad thing about Victories! I was attracted by their look right from the start and own a Standard, Custom and Artist as well as another fretless Standard. I think they sound fine, the necks are indestructible and I find their heaviness reassuring.
There is no such thing as a heavy TBird as long as it features the glued in wings. All through the ages the wings have been around 3" thick, a little less at the thin parts, a little more at the thick ones. Anybody who hasn't played a TBird is surprised about how light it is considering its size.
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I never said a bad thing about Victories! I was attracted by their look right from the start and own a Standard, Custom and Artist as well as another fretless Standard. I think they sound fine, the necks are indestructible and I find their heaviness reassuring.
There is no such thing as a heavy TBird as long as it features the glued in wings. All through the ages the wings have been around 3" thick, a little less at the thin parts, a little more at the thick ones. Anybody who hasn't played a TBird is surprised about how light it is considering its size.
3 inches is approx. 77mm...you sure about that?
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I love my EB13, and mine is extremely light. I still wanna replace the 'guard tho', the glued-on knobs are a drag.
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Too bad about the EB. I haven't played one, but it seems like a fine bass on paper. If I were looking for a 5 string, I would consider one.
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...I still wanna replace the 'guard tho', the glued-on knobs are a drag.
Would you rather they came off every time you pulled on them?
Seems little enough a sacrifice to carefully cut them off and replace with set screw equipped knobs when you get a new 'guard.
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3 inches is approx. 77mm...you sure about that?
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All through the ages the wings have been around 3" :rolleyes:
1 1/4" thick,
a little less at the thin parts, a little more at the thick ones. Anybody who hasn't played a TBird is surprised about how light it is considering its size.
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I never said a bad thing about Victories! I was attracted by their look right from the start and own a Standard, Custom and Artist as well as another fretless Standard. I think they sound fine, the necks are indestructible and I find their heaviness reassuring.
I know you didn't. :)
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I saw this pic on the back of a music magazine around 1981 and was immediately hooked:
(http://www.google.de/url?source=imgres&ct=tbn&q=http://www.vintageguitarandbass.com/graphics/victoryadd2S.jpg&sa=X&ei=mOF1VeCCO4jSU5zwg-gB&ved=0CAUQ8wc&usg=AFQjCNHr5w_PYN-z2tcbmsUpzbb6QOuTtQ)
Years later, I played one in a shop in 48th Street in NYC and immediately liked its feel and sound. Torn between it, a checkerboard binding black Ric and a Kubicki Factor, I went for the Factor (it was 1988, so I'm excused!).
I finally made amends on my Victory-less fate in 2003!
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All through the ages the wings have been around 3" :rolleyes:
1 1/4" thick,
a little less at the thin parts, a little more at the thick ones. Anybody who hasn't played a TBird is surprised about how light it is considering its size.
Thanks. I agree TBirds are surprisingly light.
I wasn't sure about the 70s TBirds, as I haven't beheld one in person. .
Where I was going with this was to try and make sense of the very thick bodies on the RD and Victory Basses. With a thinner, lighter body the RD bass would expected to be pretty poorly balanced, particularly with a heavier neck than the TBird and that the neck in the RD seems to be shifted about one and a half frets further out of the body at the heal away from the bridge end compared to my TBird.
With an upper bout to attach a strap pin to, The Victory shouldn't have an inherent balance issue. I suspect they just went with the same body thickness as the P Bass for that one.
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Once I put my RD Artist back together, with all the electronics, slung out and only one working pup, and the section of fin slimmed down, I'll advise re balance and neck-dive... being honest, I don't recall much dive...?
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Once I put my RD Artist back together, with all the electronics, slung out and only one working pup, and the section of fin slimmed down, I'll advise re balance and neck-dive... being honest, I don't recall much dive...?
That's my point. They don't dive much, but if they had made them with a lighter body (to cut weight) they probably would have.
Love to see your RD back together.
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The Victory would have had balancing issues with a lighter body:
- it had a double octave neck,
- not set that deep into the body for better access,
- but even more importantly: it had extra steel rods in its neck (in addition to the truss rod) to stabilize the neck. That is why those Victory necks are so incredibly sturdy and stiff (without being overtly fat). You also notice it in sound. A P-Bass is livelier, its neck resonates more, Victories sound kind of deadish (or "focused" if that is your preference), because the neck doesn't really move at all.
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I played an EB five string again last Tuesday, for about an hour. I'm still not ready to give up the Hobbit for a five string, but I like the bass. It does seem to have a bit of neck dive though. He picked it up used for a great price. The case was nice too..............
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Don't kid yourself, you're not going to give up the Hobbit.
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With about 15 other Gibson basses to choose from, the Hobbit still seems to be my main squeeze................. (sorry 20/20) :o