"If they had not angled the necks, the tuners would have gotten all tangled up n' stuff."
That is certainly the reason why it had to happen here but merging the two bodies in a less close fashion or using smaller tuners (which Gibson already used back then) could have avoided the issues altogether, smaller lighter tuners would certainly make sense on a double neck.
I don't think that we can rule out that someone had a a lefty EB-6 and asked Gibson to glue it together with an EB-3 he had as well. Besides the strange controls arrangement, that might also explain that the different components stem from different periods, just look at the varying eras of the Gibson logos:
with none of them being really typical of 1970 when this contraption was allegedly created:
SG shape
EB-6s were deleted in 1966 - had Gibson built one in 1970, I doubt they would have still used the bar bridge rather than using an intonatable guitar bridge.
The EB-3 can't be older than late 67 - when the dreaded tip-o-matic two point was introduced, but at the same time
not any younger than 1969.
By 1969/70, the neck mudbucker featured a black plastic frame which this one doesn't.So Gibson was supposed to have built something from scratch in 1970 using three to four years old parts? I doubt it.
For me, the final straws are however the refin and the price:
- That a doubleneck bass would see that much action that it would need a refin is doubtful - more likely the black color covers a seam of the originally cherry components.
- To be the real thing, this double neck is way too cheap, I think the buyer knows that this an after-market marriage which is why he is careful not to assure too much about the Gibson origin.
That said, if the four stringer was a long scale bass I might be intrigued enough to make an offer. Instead, I have written to Gibson asking them about it. Regarding that "Rush-LP bass" we discussed a while back they were kind enough to answer that they had never seen or heard of such a bass and that without serial number it was impossible to tell.
Uwe
