Hello, I am A Gibson Bass addict......

[Barklessdog]

Hello, I am a Gibson Bass addict and I'm not sure why, but since high school in the mid 70's, I bought my first bass, an alder Gibson grabber, which was fine till I traded in to order a new Gibson RD that just came out ( I still own) . I'm not sure why only Gibson, but it was re-enforced by an awful Guild B302 experience and never looked back.

Later I bought a Carvin 6 String which was nice but not great, a 6 string bass is just not like playing a 4 string, it's more methodical & finesse.


Then along came the internet, the Dude Pit and Gibson bass forums. Now I have 5 Gibson basses all of a sudden and still want more.

Yes, I am a confessed Gibsonhollic and I need help.....

Now confess your sins, acceptance is the first step, or was it anger or denial

[doombass]

Thanks for sharing John. Hello all. I'm a Gibson Bass addict. It all started after about a year of playing bass. I had borrowed a Ric 4001 and my brother and guitarplayer of the band bought me an Alder bodied walnut Grabber. 2 years later I was seduced by the Leo created P-bass and I got stuck subconsciously dissatisfied for eight years until I bought a Gibson EB-3, started searching for details and stumbled across Dudepit. Six years later I have eight Gibson basses. I don't know what struck me.

[PhilT]

When I was a teenager learning guitar my father would talk about Gibsons as the Rolls Royce of guitars. I don't know where he got this idea from, as the nearest he got to playing was a ukelele. Possibly from dance band guitarists he'd seen with ES355s. Anyway, when I was 21 he bought me a J50, which was way out of proportion to my playing ability, and although I still have it, it rarely gets used now. He died a few years back and somehow I felt driven to have one Gibson bass to take out with me, like its a connection to him. So it will probably stay as one Gibson, though in time it might be a different one, who knows.

[Barklessdog]

Six years later I have eight Gibson basses.

Very impressive Daniel, wow, I was wondering how many you owned.

With each Gibson bass comes new sonic colors, every model is a new adventure.

[doombass]

With each Gibson bass comes new sonic colors, every model is a new adventure.

That's a large part of the addiction. Same brand. Different sounds and shapes. Guess that's why we're so open minded here.

[TBird1958]

 I play Gibsons because alot of the bass players I first listened to did. My first bass was a Japanese EB copy, from about '72. My first real Gibson was a '76 'Bird that I got for all of $350 around '78. That one got away from me   truly one I wish I'd never let go. I went until 1989 without a Gibson, )tho there were many other basses in that time) an add for a local shop said they had an '88 re-issue 'Bird, I was there the next day I wanted it SO bad. I gave them some money as a down payment and proceeded to hawk everything I didn't need to pay that bass off. It is of course my White one, for 19 years now my steady player with the black hardware....Now it's my chromey lover! From there, many other basses have crossed my path, Rick's Rich's, Musicman, Kramer, F****r, Epi, truth is:  When a Thunderbird was found, I usually bought it at the expense of anything else. Today there are only 'Birds roosting at my house with the sole exception being a Washburn AB20 ABG........If Gibson ever made an acoustic 'Bird I have one of those too      

[godofthunder]

  Hi, I am a Gibson bass addict. Aside from from Paul most of my favorite bassist used Gibson. Jim Lea, John Entwhistle, Overend Watts, Dennis Dunaway. Gibsons just had the sound to me and they always seemed to have guitar like action, so easy to play. Fenders and the like seemed so pedestrian, Gibsons wild and exotic.

[chromium]

I don't really have a problem, since mine are only used recreationally 

One of my first LPs as a kid was Tull's Benefit, and I really dug the look and sound of Cornick's bass.  Of course now twenty years later, I find out that Cornick hated his EB-2D, and only used it on one song ever.  Thanks, Jules.     

I had played as a kid, but had taken about ten years away from music due to burnout (several bands and school at the same time; bands lost).  I guess it made more sense back then, but I had been conditioned by teachers and other musicians to think that I needed "versatile" basses (main basses were the old white Stingray fretless, and a beat up, modded Aria SB-Elite). 

When I started playing again, I reflected on the err of my childhood ways, and went and bought my '66 EB-2D.  Now three EBs and a Japan Epi later, I couldn't be happier!  Plan to add a Triumph someday as well, and something of the 6-string variety (looking at the Les Paul Specials, ES-333, 335-S, and "The Paul").

[SKATE RAT]

i am also an addict,started playing in '89 on a Squier P-bass than an Ibanez which sucked and then a '75 P-bass,got my first Gibson in '99 a sunburst G3.now i have 5 gibsons and a fake Ripper.i still have my Squier and Fender but they don't get much use.i stick to my Ripper and LPB-1 for the most part.while there are a few more Gibbies i want...NR BIRD,EB-4L,Grabber,LPB-3,another ebony board Ripper.what i really want is a Ric.sorry.

[godofthunder]

No sorries I like Rics me self 

[Lightyear]

BOLLOCKS!!  I don't have a stinkin' problem, no problem at all, I could stop at any point in time.  I mean, my Gibson thing is just recreational   

Actually - I blame Gene Simmons. I wore out a copy of Alive and leaned how to play most of that album on my 6th hand Tiesco.  But looking at all of the shots of those Grabbers got to me and I got natural alder Ripper for Chrsitmas when I was 14.  I, in a moment of early mahogany lost, sold it to buy a Magnum, which was sold to by a pristine 62 Pbass...... a brief trifling with an early 70's EB0.

Three years ago after about a twenty year hiatus - work, family, bills - I came back to lusting for Gibson.  I have just one real Gibson, Studio 4, and my Fbird.  Still, I'm looking for good deals, Yes - I am a cheap Bastid!  When somehing pops up that works I'll pounce.

I also have a NOS Ripper/RD neck that will become my hog/maple RD.

[Nocturnal]

I'm not sure that I'm an addict yet, but as of this week I have 2 Gibsons. I have my beloved 01 ebony T-bird and my wife shocked the Hell out of me a couple of nights ago when she came home with my LP Standard bass!  (I was going to pick it up next week but she wanted to suprise me!)

In the past I've owned a 76 ebony T-bird (that I have kicked myself in the ass contiuously since trading it) and just a couple of months ago I bought & sold 2 Epi NR T-birds. Maybe I have more of a "problem" than I thought!

[eb2]

My addiction has crested and subsided.  I originally wanted a Rivoli as I dug the blubbery mess of Paul Samwell Smith on the Rave Up album.  I always thought the ES looked fairly rock n roll cool, and complimented my greaser ethic already in place with my Tele-bass.  So I did some asking around, got laughed and jeered at, and found that the EB2 was more common.  I bought my first - a minty cherry red stock 68 with the original case - for $150.  At the time a boat anchor used 70s P would run $300 to 400, so this was amazing. Over the years I have owned and abused so many that I am not sure anymore, but I have solid memories of 3 1958 EB2s, a 60, a 64, a 68, a 59 EB0, a 61 EB0 LPjr, a 61 EB0 SG, a 65 EB0, a 69 EB0, a 69 EB3, a 56 eb, one of those things with plastic pups and a metal control plate (450?), and probably somethings I am forgetting.  I also turned one of the 58 EB2s into an Explorer bass using an 80s Korina Explorer.  Oddly enough I never did get an Epi Rivoli. I now only have two.  With the exception of the Explorer recreation, I never paid more than $250 for a Gibson bass, and the number of old EBs, Tbirds, LP sigs and recording, Ripper/grabber/g3 and Epis that I passed on because they were more than that but less than $350, is staggering today.  I am happy living vicariously through the rest of you.  All is back to normal.   

[drbassman]

I started with the typical gateway drug, an Epi EB-0.  It was innocent enough, but I got hooked quickly and advanced soon into an Epi EB-3.  I was attracted to hollow bodies next and bought my first Gibson, the EB-650.  After that, I spun out of control and have been on a Gibson binge ever since.  I'm not cured, nor do I want to be.  I've come to grips with my addition by getting my wife hooked on collecting too and now it's really not so bad!  Having a partner in crime is way more fun than trying to hide your disease all of the time!   

[Max Soren]

When I was a teenager learning guitar my father would talk about Gibsons as the Rolls Royce of guitars. I don't know where he got this idea from, as the nearest he got to playing was a ukelele. Possibly from dance band guitarists he'd seen with ES355s. Anyway, when I was 21 he bought me a J50, which was way out of proportion to my playing ability, and although I still have it, it rarely gets used now. He died a few years back and somehow I felt driven to have one Gibson bass to take out with me, like its a connection to him. So it will probably stay as one Gibson, though in time it might be a different one, who knows.

I can completely identify with your experience since my father also regarded Gibson as being the Rolls Royce of guitars.  As a teenager with a Teisco which was falling apart, I was extremely pleased to receive an EB-O which he bought for me and which I still have to this day.