Springtime for ... (no, not him) ... my luthier!

uwe · February 19, 2008, 05:05:23 AM

Once he's done with fixing the truss rod of my 62 Fender Reissue P bass and has turned it fretless, he'll no doubt need something else to do. This could be it:

http://cgi.ebay.com/1959-GIBSON-EB-2-BASS-GUITAR-NO-RESERVE_W0QQitemZ280202029687QQihZ018QQcategoryZ118993QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

I've put a bid already in, but what do you guys think it is worth? Neither a possibly bad neck reset, an only vertical rather than horizontal headstock crack nor a complete rewinding of that mudbucker seem insurmountable obstacles for having that missing banjo tuner headstock EB 2 in my collection.

Discuss!!!

Herr eb2's input especially welcomed, never mind those misguided foreign policy opinions!

Uwe

Barklessdog · February 19, 2008, 05:07:39 AM

I guees it depends on if you have one, how much will it cost to repair.

You know your luthier can do it.

Dave W · February 19, 2008, 08:32:18 AM

Forget the asking prices he mentions on gBase, you know they aren't realistic as selling prices.

An Austin store had one in 2006 for $2250. It was all original, all functional and no headstock break. While prices have increased in 2 years, I wouldn't pay that much for this one.

chromium · February 19, 2008, 10:34:36 AM

Nice one!

That's local to me - so holler if you need help with anything on that front.

I never know what to expect with the prices. I just saw a '66 fetch $2900 USD up there. It was clean, but still...

Rhythm N. Bliss · February 19, 2008, 05:43:39 PM

I've got the banjo tuners on my '53. They're fragile, y'know.

Barklessdog · February 19, 2008, 07:03:59 PM

Ah, Spring Time For Hitler...

The Mel Brooks thread begins

IIIIIT's Spring Time for Hitler....One two three kick!

uwe · February 20, 2008, 04:31:39 AM

Quote from: Rhythm N. Bliss on February 19, 2008, 05:43:39 PM
I've got the banjo tuners on my '53. They're fragile, y'know.

And crap, I know that from my EB-0 LP Junior shape where I had to have them replaced (again by banjo tuners, I wanted to stay faithful to the original), gears were slipping ... I remember speaking to someone from Gibson parts who earnestly told me that "there was no way banjo tuners could work with bass string pull".

THEN WHY DID YOU PUT THEM ON YOUR EARLY BASSES IN THE FIRST PLACE?

godofthunder · February 20, 2008, 05:11:27 AM

"THEN WHY DID YOU PUT THEM ON YOUR EARLY BASSES IN THE FIRST PLACE?" The poor lad most likley was not even born before 1970, how could he possibly understand ? Flat wounds didn't ( don't) have much tension the banjo tuners were barley able to handle those. I once years ago put Roto sounds on my Hofner, could barley tune it. Hofies suffer from broken tuners I suspect in part to the introduction of round wounds, the necks couldn't take them either. Hope you can save it. I don't think I'd pay more than $1,500 for it and I'd have to want it real bad.

uwe · February 29, 2008, 05:14:17 AM

Gotcha!!! Some of you guys will probably think this a little high, but all the fifties EB-2s I've seen in the last two years were steeply priced. This will only need a refin at the neck and a reset at the most (to cover the headstock repair) plus a rewinding of the pup, none of that is a major repair considering the value of these things and my luthier's skills. Who knows, I might even refin the body, depends on what condition it is.

Uwe

eb2 · February 29, 2008, 10:33:43 AM

Foreign policy on hold, I think this was a good deal. That break doesn't look either that bad, being on the tuner side, or badly repaired. Most banjo peg EBs suffer far worse cracks. Your luthier should be able to inspect the work, and possibly only do quality touch up to the finish. It seems to be missing the pickguard and rod cover - both of those are easily replaced as long as you aren't a goober and demand something from the exact year. And when you figure on the huge cottage industry of making aged truss rod covers for Les Pauls, you should be able to get one that looks like it is from 1959. The finish wear on the back was earned from honest living, and I would not care a bit about that. Add to that you have the original brown case, and that is some really nice icing on the cake. Most of those got snagged by vintage dealers to sell to goobers with their ES335 dot necks. The case is worth a few hundo as is. So, considering these things have asking prices (non-broken) increasingly in the 10 grand range, and hardly ever show up in decent shape anymore, you got a deal. A single coil pup from earlier would have been nice, but what the hey? The pole in the middle pup is the same as the later 60s mudbuckers, so you could drop one in while awaiting the re-wind.

As far as the banjo pegs, the key to their proper working is to purchase correct strings. Low tension is the rule. If you like roundwounds, go for short scale or med scale of decent balance of guage. It has been so long since I had to buy strings for a banjo peg bass that I am not sure who offers what. For flats or tapes, I used Labellas. Roto TruBass tapes were too high tension. I tend to overlook Fender bass strings, but that is a mistake as they offer good strings. I found that med scale rotos worked better as the silk would get into the nut with many short scales. My experience with GHS and D'Addarios were not as good. TI did not exist when last I had one.

The best ever - as always - were Rotosound Multi-Core Flats. Oh, how I miss those.

Good luck! Post pics.

uwe · February 29, 2008, 10:57:54 AM

I've used Pyramid short scale roundwounds on my 53 EB (1) and TI Flats short scales (in fact they're medium) on my banjo tuner EB-0, both worked fine. I also still have a set of Labella Flats short scale and one in Höfner/"Beatles Bass" style (which are too short for a regular headstock short scale Gibbie, but might do the trick on this banjo thing).

I played with the idea of adding an extra pup, but knowing this will get me stoned here I won't! But the push button choke thingy might have to go for a toggle and the possibility of the mudbucker being heard without the high mids cut off.

Chris P. · February 29, 2008, 11:47:00 AM

Congratulations Uwe. As you already have some nice EB2's, do something nice/special with it! Two mudbuckers? two chrome TB-Plusses? Two Darkstars and a white body?

Maybe some little swastika's as position markers? (Knowing myself, I guess I already made this joke earlier.)

eb2 · February 29, 2008, 12:01:12 PM

I will be the first in line to stone. I am all in favor of modding the typically abused and beaten Gibson bass. Once routed, they are often beyond the scope of reasonable restoration, especially if you are paying someone else. However, this piece has come along this far without major damage - especially by the scale typically found on banjo peg examples. Original finish intact, reasonable repair done to a relatively minor headstock wound, and major parts intact. Assuming the repair is of decent quality, the finish touch up would make this worth more. About the only major invasive work I could see for this one is if you came across a solid banjo peg neck on an EB2 that had DiMarzio P pups put in with a screwdriver (Seen it), and swapped the good neck.

Dave W · February 29, 2008, 12:47:08 PM

Congratulations on the score. I would never have paid that much but now that the dollar is being reduced to peso status I suppose it isn't so bad. I'm sure your luthier will do a good job, whatever else you decide to do.

chromium · February 29, 2008, 02:57:10 PM

$2200-or-so US Pesos doesn't seem too outrageous to me these days, for an early one like that. To be honest, I don't even know what the realistic street price is for one of those. I can only recall some of the inflated dealer prices that usually get slapped on these. I have a feeling you did good, though, if you compare it to what the later 60s specimens are fetching at auction.

I bet the issues that one has will fix/clean-up nicely, from the look of things.