The Last Bass Outpost

I was reading the new VG that came in the mail yesterday & noticed this in the Readers Gallery. A great collection of Gibson Basses. If we don't know this guy.....we should!

My wife & I took another road trip down south. Heading back, we circled up to Chattanooga TN. Last time we were there we were caught in a flood & really didn't get to see anything. Since then, the Songbirds Guitar Museum opened. That gave me another excuse to go back. They have a main room that you can see for a general admission, these basses were in there...…………



They also had some nice original T-Bird basses that I must not of photographed.
For an extra fee, they will take you on a tour of their vault. If I have the story right, they have about three sets of displays that they rotate from time to time. Many of the guitars are special orders or one of a kinds that might have been made by an employee etc... The display they are showing now, consists of Gibson ES Models & some unique Fenders. They had one 1959 EB-2 on display in that collection. It was well worth the time to go through it.

I don't think I've ever asked this here before. The case that my Les Paul bass came in is sort of unusual. I've never seen another like it. Has anybody else seen a case with this type of interior shipped with a Gibson?

Today is the ninth anniversary of Les Pauls passing. One of the things I had on my bucket list to do was visit The Les Paul Exhibit in Lester's home town of Waukesha Wisconsin. The building has been under repair & restoration for over three years & the Les Paul Exhibit just re-opened recently, so off we went.  A neat old building from 1893. The exhibit was pretty cool, but not as well done as the one in the Discovery World building in Milwaukee. Unfortunately, no photos were allowed in this exhibit. They had two low impedance guitars along with many things documenting his life in Waukesha. He is buried a few blocks away along side of his Mother.





With plenty of time to spare, we decided to drive to Milwaukee & re-visit the display at the Discovery World. The only two Les Paul exhibits that I know of are only about a half hour drive apart. I had been there over ten years ago. The top floor of this building was one of the two places that held a public reviewal for Lester after he passed away. This display has quite a few low impedance guitars & a few prototypes along with many of Les Paul's recording machines. I was able to take a few photos here...……….

The seller is a bit off on this one...………. He says it's one of only 45 produced in '58. It has the same case that my first reissue had that I though was an aftermarket case, but I've seen several since with the same chunks of bare foam on the lid.


 https://www.ebay.com/itm/1958-Gibson-EB-1-eb1-Vintage-Bass-Guitar/163056722624?_trkparms=aid%3D222007%26algo%3DSIM.MBE%26ao%3D2%26asc%3D50999%26meid%3De561c459b27e402c96e0d1473d5a29d8%26pid%3D100005%26rk%3D3%26rkt%3D12%26sd%3D202313458314%26itm%3D163056722624&_trksid=p2047675.c100005.m1851

I just came across this bass on Reverb. It was special ordered supposedly in silverburst. The control plate is also odd. It doesn't have the three position tone preset switch & an extra control where the output jack would be. Also no phase switch. There are only two photos so you can't see the jack on the bout. The guitar versions of these years had two output jacks on the body of the guitar but I've never seen a bass this way. EBay has a Polaris  White Hobbit that it claims to be one of the very last ones ever made, it still has the output jack in the control plate. What do you guys think? Original or modified?

https://reverb.com/item/10528392-gibson-les-paul-recording-bass-1979-silverburst

https://www.ebay.com/itm/1982-GIBSON-LES-PAUL-TRIUMPH-BASS-the-very-last-example-made-by-Gibson/162678573667?hash=item25e0660a63:g:8PEAAOSwnHZYRbOz

I was just reading a post on the Gibson Forum, a guy is looking to reproduce Mallory Switch Plates due to how expensive they are if you do find an original. Sniper Dog had produced & was selling replicas back a while ago. He was having some health problems, a nasty leg infection if I remember correctly. It just dawned on me that it has been quite a while since he posted anything, at least that I've noticed. I wonder how he's doing?

I just came across a guy on the Gibson Forum asking about an odd guitar. He just purchased a lot of 20 guitars from somewhere in Tennessee. It looked like an early Les Paul prototype like Rob's bass, I referenced his book to be sure & posted a photo. Looks like a rare find!

http://forum.gibson.com/index.php?/topic/139368-what-is-this/page__gopid__1883497#entry1883497