The Last Bass Outpost

Reminds me of another strange gibson I saw on the fly guitar pages, a ´65 or so eb-3 converted eb-0.

Same sunburst refin, they suspected that it might have been done at the factory. Factory finish or not,
looks great....

I have used the guitar hum buckers before and they do sound good in a bass.  I doubt mine were 59s, but they do work well in a bass.  I can't believe the 335 still isn't anywhere on the Gibson web site that I could see.

Well, if they do improve on the SG pups in a new EB2 model, I'd be tempted.  Of course, if they introduce mud it might be a show stopper for me.  I wouldn't mind a true EB 2 remake as long as the pup was a little clearer.  I've got plenty of mud in my old ones!

If i send Gibson my prototype EB-6 neck pickup, maybe they will reissue that one too

I really like guitar humbuckers on bass guitars, too. For my recent EB-6 project (I´ll make a thread for it) i put
a leftover 1978 T humbucker in the bridge position. Beautiful chord sound, good balance and correct spacing.
But for the neck PU, i couldn´t find humbuckers with such narrow spacing. I even filed my nut with uneven spacing,
giving a tad more room for fingering the lower 4 strings. The test pickup that was closest, lost most it´s tone while bending strings.

I dreamed up this ultimate EB-6 neck pickup, with both screws and iron bar for the upper coil to suit bending,
really tall coils with somewhat thicker wire, and alnico 5 bar. The goal was a 10K output and a strong but clear
sound - and custom spacing.

I spent most of my spare time this week, but it turned out really good. I had a hard time finding a proper slab of iron for the upper coil, so I ended up hammering an old iron tube flat and shaping it with a file. The lower coil bobbin is just
a 5 mm iron rod (curtain weights) glued directly into the bobbin material. I´ll post soundclips if I ever learn myself how to do it...

A friend of mine wanted to buy a T-bird once - but turned it down because the case did´t go into
the trunk of his car!

I have never bought a new gibson, but i came close once - i think it was in ´98 and the guitar shop just got in the usual gibsons of that time, but one instrument i just had to try - it was an explorer in a beautiful bronze sparkling finish and mini humbuckers. I picked it up just for the looks (at the time it matched my dark green leather pants just great) but it played so perfect I must have been in the shop for 2 hours, such a delight.. And great sounding. This shop never set up their guitars (or basses) good - or they just didn´t do it. It felt like an old guitar, really - but I´ve never had this experience with 
a new gibson before or since. I´ve only seen Thunderbird basses from gibson in this shop, but they are not my cup of T.

When it comes to quality control, I agree - you should get what you pay for - and a brand new gibson should be perfect.
But how was the Grabber recieved when it first came out? The cheap approach, bolt on, crappy bridge etc. must have put off many of those used to gibsons of the sixties. My first bass was a 1975 Grabber, and I do love it - but the whole feel of it is far away from my sixties EB´s. And the oldest (1963) seems to me the best of them.

I always ignored my Grabber´s flaws - but perhaps it really shouldn´t have left the factory either...

There´s all sorts of reasons why people butcher their instruments. No wonder, who better to turn to when you´re about to turn crazy
than your guitar? There is no better friend than an old gibson bass, and being a bit messed up might turn your personalized axe into something quite different too - it´s become your therapist , doctor or whatever. That´s no bad medicine at all

When I grew up, there was this puzzled old man who claimed to know a hundred different A7 voicings. I never recall seeing him
with a guitar or met someone who heard him play. But one day his fender twin reverb came in for repair in the local guitar store,
and it was painted with dots of different colours all over... And of course, it wasn´t a cosmetic modification.
He said that they coloured the tone of the amp just the way he liked it.

 

Seems to be this person's first sales item on ebay.

But at least it's an honest description: 'It looks used'   

That, I'm sure, has to do with his "claw technique", where one finger rests on one one string and plays that most of the time.

I ´claw´all the time. Suits me perfect