The Last Bass Outpost
Gear Discussion Forums => Gibson Basses => Topic started by: Dave W on April 02, 2013, 12:13:41 PM
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It's fretless. And heavily modified. Don't scream.
http://minneapolis.craigslist.org/hnp/msg/3699362243.html
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It was on ebay last week. I'm negotiating with the seller now.
Edit. It's mine now.
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Congrats! Hope you got it at a good price.
He mentions Hoffman Guitars filling the fret slots. Hoffman is a first class acoustic guitar builder. I'll bet the mods are well done, even if they're regrettable.
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Was the neck thinned down on this one or is 33mm the usual width on these? It sure seems small to me.
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I'll answer these questions when it gets here, which should be Monday.
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It's hard to say anything about the mods without really knowing what state the bass started in. If the seller started with a shell, then it's fair game from there, but I wouldn't have done DiMarzio pups. It looks like you would be able to drop some nice Humbuckers in there without a lot of effort.
What the heck is that butt plate? Is that covering added weight to correct the balance? A good fender washer and an S strap can fix that neck dive pretty easily! Or a Crown Royal bag! 8)
What did you end up paying for it? The body seems to be in really good shape, however, and completely intact.
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And the good news is that if you ever want to change the pickguard, there's a template close by at Pickguardians!
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All maho basses make nice fretlesses. I'd consider that before putting frets back in. I'm still lusting for that fretless TBird (from the factory) someone offered on Ebay years ago, but then withdrew without any explanation. George Carlston even knew the guy and that the Bird was legit fretless.
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Was there ever any factory fretless EB-0 or EB-3 made? Any known custom orders around?
I used to play fretless a lot before, but my fender P fretless is now the only long scale I play.
Good bass, but I´m a lot more at home with gibson short scale. Any pro players with positive EB-3 fretless
action goin´on here, I´d like to know!
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... George Carlston even knew the guy and that the Bird was legit fretless.
CS request...? just to get an "in" from them...?
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how is that bass even playable unless you have tiny bill wyman hands? that neck width... ???
http://www.bing.com/images/search?q=bill+wyman+signature+bass&id=44152DF6D27EF8863A4BD062D8044A3F0FC23F2F&FORM=IQFRBA#view=detail&id=DCD54E899745CBCF9C8609F7DC139D2E82ABB8A8&selectedIndex=18
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I had a Vox violin bass that was as narrow as the Wyman, it was playable with no trouble, and I sure don't have tiny hands. Even if this Embassy is that narrow at the nut, it's wider at the bridge than the Wyman or a Hofner.
I don't know what the original Embassy specs are. The Embassy's TRC at the base is as wide as the neck, or almost as wide. This one looks the same. Maybe the width has been modified, but I wouldn't automatically assume that. We'll know soon enough.
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My Embassies goes as follows: The '67 one is 37,5 (+ 0,00 something) mm at the nut. The '64 one is 38,0 mm at the nut. Now, the manufacturing years is something I'm not sure of. Those years are what I was told, when I bought them 10-15 years ago. None of them's got their serial number left, so I can't be sure about the age of them.
33 mm sure sounds a bit stripped down, Wymanised.
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If you look at the back of the headstock, it doesn't appear that the serial number is there anymore. The general condition and look of the body would support a good sanding, resulting in some thinning.
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I don't know why, but I assumed the width at the nut would be the same as a similar vintage Thunderbird.
The seller did save the serial number. Wrote it on a peice of paper and put it in a drawer somewhere. There is some of it still there I can make out a 0 in the one picture.
In my parts boxes I have the correct tuners, pickups and covers, and one of Scott's bridges and one of the doctors tailpieces, but I'm not going to change anything right away. I'd probably most want to put the pickups on it but I bought those for my Model 1 Thunderbird so I don't know. Has anyone here played a fretless with T-Bird pickups?
UPS tracking says it is already in Ohio, I should have it tomorrow.
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By any chance....do you have any EXTRA nickel T bird pickups??? I need one..
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All maho basses make nice fretlesses.
Unfortunately that's not true. I had a Hamer Cruisebass back in the 80s that I de-fretted. I never managed to get a good tone out of that thing. Different strings, different pickups, nothing helped. I even considered one of those brass plates for the back of the headstock, but never bothered. I sold it and eventually had my alumi-Kramer de-fretted. Now THAT one kills!
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That Hamer was maho neck and body? :o
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That Hamer was maho neck and body? :o
The first series Cruise Basses were all Mahogany. I like the earliest ones with the West German Schaller branded tuners best! 8) (they went to Hamer branded tuners/bridges around 1983)
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It arrived safely yesterday. It's definately 1.5" at the nut. The back cover hids a huge counterweight that the bridge id through bolted to. That will probably be the first thing to go as I prefer light weight to lack of neck dive. There was a very slight bit of routing for the jazz pickups, but not enough to show if the proper pickups and trim rings were installed. There is a problem with the wiring though; turning down either volume control down completely turns down both pickups. With the volumes up though it sounds great.
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Unfortunately that's not true. I had a Hamer Cruisebass back in the 80s that I de-fretted. I never managed to get a good tone out of that thing. Different strings, different pickups, nothing helped. I even considered one of those brass plates for the back of the headstock, but never bothered. I sold it and eventually had my alumi-Kramer de-fretted. Now THAT one kills!
Same with my Guild b402 fretless with a mahogany body. Just a dead sounding bass.
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It's hard to say anything about the mods without really knowing what state the bass started in. If the seller started with a shell, then it's fair game from there, but I wouldn't have done DiMarzio pups.
What did you end up paying for it? The body seems to be in really good shape, however, and completely intact.
From the previous owner:
"guitar had been stripped of all hardware (including frets) when i bought it in 1985. my intent was to have a fretless that played (and sounded) like my fender jazz so adjusting between songs would be a little more seamless. the entire guitar had been extensively slathered with exterior enamel paint. i was able to salvage the serial number - which i needed to provide to the retired master inspector of epiphone production to order the head stock logo. during refinishing, the serial number became lost and i've since misplaced the envelope i put it in some 25 years ago."
I bought it for $1000.
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You got it for an excellent price. Wiring is fixable and pickups can be replaced with something you want.