Curtis Novak EB4L pickup

[Chris P.]

Curtis Novak made a new Gibson replacement pickup:

"Finally got my final production parts for my version of the Gibson EB-4L pickup. If you are not hip to this pickyo you should Google it. Was produced during the 70's. It has a nice clean full tone. I wired it same "Revolutionary design" where you can play the whole pickup as a single humbucker, or the top 2 strings can be separated from the bottom 2 strings. Mine is designed to fit in a standard modern Gibson EB-0 pickup route."

At the moment only visible as post on his instagram profile:

https://www.instagram.com/curtis_novak_pickups/

[ilan]

Interesting. Waiting for the demo. I can't find a good EB4L demo on youtube.

[Dave W]

I can't imagine there would be much demand for these, not that many EB-4Ls were made. OTOH Curtis' business isn't mass production.

[uwe]

If your EB-4L pup has issues, you're happy for something like that. Wonder if he did something about the pitifully narrow magnetic field of the original pup which makes pulling a note near impossible, the tone immediately dies.

The EB-4L was the failed attempt to make a a long scale SG bass sound a bit more like a Jazz Bass.

[ilan]

I can't imagine there would be much demand for these, not that many EB-4Ls were made. OTOH Curtis' business isn't mass production.

I think he designed it as a mudbucker alternative for vintage EB3/EB0, for guys like me that love the bass but hate the pickup.

Wonder if he did something about the pitifully narrow magnetic field of the original pup which makes pulling a note near impossible, the tone immediately dies.

The same thing happens with 70s Rickenbacker button-top neck pickups. Butterfly vibrato high up the neck makes a tremolo effect.

[Alanko]

Looks like a forerunner of multi-coil pickups like Wal employ. Highly desirable for some, so maybe Gibson were ahead of the curve or failed to capitalise on the exotic coil combinations possible with this sort of thing?

[Dave W]

Looks like a forerunner of multi-coil pickups like Wal employ. Highly desirable for some, so maybe Gibson were ahead of the curve or failed to capitalise on the exotic coil combinations possible with this sort of thing?

It does look like the original, which predates the Wal, but I don't know if it was the first of its type. IIRC the problem was the narrow magnetic field around each string.

[Grog]

I’ll post a few photos of the original, looks real close……..

[Pilgrim]

The EB-4L was the failed attempt to make a a long scale SG bass sound a bit more like a Jazz Bass.

As a friend of mine says,  "The WHY question occurs to me."

[godofthunder]

  While I am not a fan of these pickups this is just the thing for someone wishing to restore a gutted EB4L.

[Basvarken]

How many are there who need/want to restore their EB-4L?
Two, worldwide?

[godofthunder]

How many are there who need/want to restore their EB-4L?
Two, worldwide?

lol I colyd have used one a few years ago!

[Dave W]

1066 were shipped according to the Gibson shipping totals.

[Chris P.]

Maybe it sounds good in a modern SG Reissue Bass? I like the fact Curtis is doing stuff other people don't.

[Rob]

By chance do you know how the magnets are positioned regarding their N:S orientations?
i have 4 coils wound on sewing machine bobbins that I might use.

Since I'm asking do you know the resistance per coil?
Thanks