Three Non-Beatle Basses ...

[uwe]

Herr Scott Dasson, for all his (s)awful sins aptly documented in this forum, is a good person at heart, albeit misguided at times. He was kind enough to obtain a little Epi for me and here it now is among its Gibson brethren:




I'm quite enchanted by it. Of course, soundwise it has nothing whatsoever to do with either the fifties model or the late 60ies reissue (fat slabs of maho while the Epi is your usual light wonderwood with an as skill- as deceitfully applied thin maho veneer), but it has a - very good - fretless voice of its own. Surprisingly double-bassish, scoopily hollow with a blur warm enough to keep out the cold in winter nights. I had planned to replace the rather low output Epi pup with either a true mudbucker or an SG-RI mockbucker, but I like it's current acoustic note so much that I will keep it original.

And while the pic doesn't really show it due to the lower stand of the Epi: It is medium scale so I don't look quite as silly playing it slung as with the Gibbies.

Valuable acquisition for/addition to the herd, vielen Dank, Herr Dasson!

Uwe

PS: No snide remarks about the Schaller monstrosity on the fifties EB-1, please, I know, I know ...   But it has made intonation perfect (which wasn't bad with the original bar bridge it has to be said) and if Jack Bruce is allowed to do it ...   I still have my liver though, thank you.

[PhilT]

Looks great. It's good the Epi has a character of its own, rather than just a cheap copy. A couple of fretted ones came up in the UK recently. Mr Bruce has completely confused the eBay historians - "as played by Jack Bruce in Cream before he switched to the EB3". Felix, of course, is forgotten.

[godofthunder]

Very glad to see it arrived safely ! Happy to help. I had never noticed before but the body shape is quite different on the Epi.

[gearHed289]

Interesting that they didn't quite replicate the body style of the Gibsons. 

[uwe]

They probably thought it was too quaint - it is - and went for a little Höfner vibe instead. Also, the original shape would have involved more intricate cutting and routing.

[Highlander]

Compared to the much more overtly violin shapes of the originals, she looks more like a scaled down double...

The sound difference is nice to know...

[mc2NY]

Nice Gibbys/Epi Uwe!!

Well.....if we're talking about non-Hofners....here's Hamer's LONG-scale twist on the Beatle Bass. I think they only made a dozen of these back around 1990. I've seen maybe half of them. Michael Anthony, Jack Blades and  Kip Winger each have one. I saw Jack Blades using his sunburst one, backing up Ringo Starr on some TV show.

Took me forever to find this one. 3+1 headstock, ebony 'board...pretty sure its a solid mahogany body with a set maple neck like they were doing on other basses at that time. The neck profile is more like a 90s Hamer Chaparral Bass, slightly flat/fast feel, defintely not like a Hofner. Really cool binding work, very wide at some points on the sides. Cool deep metallic blue color.

[Grog]

Nice!!!    The complete EB-1 Trilogy!! Do you have all three origional telescoping end pins? I've had two reissues, the first had the end pin missing & there was no real clear picture of what an origional looked like. I finally found one but I think it might have been from the first version. These are so rare, that most people would have a hard time verifying if the part is origional............

[uwe]

I have the end pin for only the Epi, but as a pick player I have no use for it really. It's awkward to play upright with a pick!

That Hamer looks cool. As if time hadn't stood still for the Höfner.

[gweimer]

I'd probably kill to get one of those Hamers.  You can find a shot of it in the Hamer ads with Kip Winger.  I also recall hearing that there were only about a dozen made.  I also seem to recall that McCartney was given one of them.  I think one of the TB members owns one or two of them.

[Grog]

The end pin is kind off an oddity. It really doesn't work very well & it feels very awkward. I play with my thumb so it doesn't do me much good either. It's just case candy!  

[mc2NY]

Uwe...What other basses had Gibson/Epi made in a medium 32-inch scale?


Also...regarding Paul McCartney having one of those Hamers...yes, I heard Hamer  made a lefty for him but that he complained that the boomerang inlays "made him dizzy" or something like that.

[uwe]

I don't have a complete picture of what Epi has produced in all these decades, but with Gibson I'm only aware of the eighties Explorers being medium scale and my one-off Super 400 Acoustic Bass from the Custom Shop. It was either short or long with Gibson, never medium or extra-long.