So I bought a Gibson bass again

[ilan]

Bought this 1970 EB-0L off eBay today for $480. Let's hope I like it more than the 1968 EB2C I once had.

Now the wait.

[ajkula66]

A very nice catch and an absolute steal at that price.

May it serve you well.

[Dave W]

Wow! That's less than I paid for mine last century. 

Put some tapewounds on her.

[Pilgrim]

Gee, that bass looks incomplete - no neck break!

Nice find!! Hope you enjoy it a lot.

[Grog]

Nice! Subtract the case & you got it for around $300!

[Granny Gremlin]

Slotheads are almost always what you get if it's a deal on a not-trashed EB.  You'd think it would be the other way round due to the short period they were made, but people want the normal Gibby headstock real bad apparently.

Congrats.

[uwe]

If it doesn't have bullet holes, it's not a real one. Or not from Texas. 

Congrats, Ilan, welcome to the dark side again - where truss rods are functional plus easy to adjust and routings for bridge pups not cavernous holes ...

Slotheads have their fans, even today, Michael Devin of the current Whitesnake played one (an EB-3L to be exact) for years, and not just for a song or two, but for most of every nightly set throughout their "Purple Tour" (Rob and I witnessed it in Utrecht):





You do know you have room for extra pups on it, right? 

Would you like refin recommendations? That cherry is kinda dreary you know and we have daring color advisors from Tacoma in this forum ...

[4stringer77]

Nice score. Looks like it has a good grain pattern in the wood body as well. Hope you take those gold reflector knobs off in favor of some witch hats.

[ilan]

Thanks guys. I have always had Gibson guitars around, but my last Gibson bass was sold 20+ years ago.

@Dave W - Tapewounds? For real? I was thinking I would probably look for the brightest rounds and then go thru my Sadowsky outboard preamp for edge... How does it sound with flats/tapewounds?

@Granny G - Visually I prefer the slotted headstock.

@Uwe - I like the faded cherry, and if in real life it looks like the pics, I'm not messing with the finish. As for disfunctional rods and swimming pools under the guard - let me assure you that I still love my Rics to death, and my current go-to bass is the Shadow.

@4stinger77 - I didn't know the reflector tops were wrong. Where do I find period-correct witch hats? Or - being black that doesn't amber, are repros OK?

[Dave W]

@ilan - I always used the original 60-115 LaBella black tapewounds on my EB-0L. The longer scale has noticeably more definition than the EB-0, the LaBellas are low tension which is good for that long skinny mahogany neck. Richard Cocco of LaBella told me years ago that the core of those LaBellas is a 44-98 roundwound set.They have good definition while being nice and warm.

If that won't be bright enough for you, I'd recommend sticking to light gauge rounds.

What I really like about the slotheads is that there's no neck-to-body angle. The fretboard sits higher off the body which puts some people off but I like it better.

[Dave W]

As long as we're posting slothead videos, here's Rick Danko and his slothead EB-3, from his Homespun video. That's Happy Traum on guitar.

[uwe]

"low tension which is good for that long skinny mahogany neck"

I know that neck looks worrisomely thin, but - this is no Ric!  - it is as stable as a Merkava tank as regards string pull (just don't drop it!). Not only does it bravely take bullet holes (Ilan could even take it to IDF reservist callups!), but also regular 105 gauge strings from all brands, the neck of mine hasn't given me any issues since you thankfully found it for me with that Texas dealer. It's one of my favourites.

Where the tension may give issues - and Dave will kill me for writing this - is the wonderfully thought out, stable and finely tooled two-point auto-tip (patent pending, extra string holder under consideration of research dep) bridge. You'll see. Not one of my long scale Gibbies has retained it, it simply wasn't made for long scale pull. My vintage long scale EBs all have the Hipshot Supertone II replacement bridge - except for the gun shot victim which has a Schaller loaned off a Victory bass. So you might stick to low tension strings after all, if only for that splendid piece of American hardware so often poetically lauded by our beloved Minnesotan! 

[Dave W]

I know that neck looks worrisomely thin, but - this is no Ric!  - it is as stable as a Merkava tank as regards string pull (just don't drop it!). Not only does it bravely take bullet holes (Ilan could even take it to IDF reservist callups!), but also regular 105 gauge strings from all brands, the neck of mine hasn't given me any issues since you thankfully found it for me with that Texas dealer. It's one of my favourites.

Where the tension may give issues - and Dave will kill me for writing this - is the wonderfully thought out, stable and finely tooled two-point auto-tip (patent pending, extra string holder under consideration of research dep) bridge. You'll see. Not one of my long scale Gibbies has retained it, it simply wasn't made for long scale pull. My vintage long scale EBs all have the Hipshot Supertone II replacement bridge - except for the gun shot victim which has a Schaller loaned off a Victory bass. So you might stick to low tension strings after all, if only for that splendid piece of American hardware so often poetically lauded by our beloved Minnesotan! 

It's not thin front-to-back, it's fairly deep. But it's a shade under 1 1/2" at the nut and barely 2 1/16" at the body end. And it's mahogany, not maple. Mine came with ancient-looking rounds, when I put on a set of medium Boomers, the relief was huge. I bought the LaBellas and never looked back. YMMV.

[amptech]

I vote for Thomastik Infeld!

I might have two witchhats somewhere, but might take some time finding them; I'm moving my workshop next month..

[uwe]

I vote for Thomastik Infeld!

I knew someone was gonna bring up Steve "Dude" Barr's unholy legacy sooner or later. 

A rubbery lot those strings are, I honestly tried to get to like them for a long time, but nah ...