The Last Bass Outpost

Jim's grumble posting about, well, "Vaginas" inspired this ...  :mrgreen:

...but my real answer would be this one-off fretless Super 400 bass.

(http://elderly.com/items/images/55U/55U-3166_front.jpg)

Well, as your Queen I 'm somewhat predictable - you know I love Thunderbirds above all. I added it's endearing ugly/way cool sister the RD as a second.

However, as I age disgracefully and realize I won't be prancing around in a miniskirt onstage forever I think one each of these would be very nice.

(http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/dd306/veronicasteed/yummy_zpslkg0xdeb.jpg)

The original Thunderbird is probably the most beautiful bass ever made. The Non reverse the less attractive sister while not as pretty the NR does have it's charms.

I would pick the RIC cresting wave as the most aesthetically pleasing design.

Haven't voted yet, TBird Rev would be my # 1 without question, but torn between Explorer, RD and Victory as regards second choice ...

Quote from: TBird1958 on May 13, 2015, 04:38:54 PM

Well, as your Queen I 'm somewhat predictable - you know I love Thunderbirds above all. I added it's endearing ugly/way cool sister the RD as a second.

However, as I age disgracefully and realize I won't be prancing around in a miniskirt onstage forever I think one each of these would be very nice.

(http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/dd306/veronicasteed/yummy_zpslkg0xdeb.jpg)

Admittedly, the offset fretmarkers on the IV/V are kinda cool.

Quote from: ilan on May 13, 2015, 04:35:03 PM
...but my real answer would be this one-off fretless Super 400 bass.

(http://elderly.com/items/images/55U/55U-3166_front.jpg)

I had to skip that one, Ilan, too esoteric! I still play it regularly, but almost always only at home, the hugely responsive thin top make this bass hellishly feedback-drone-prone. You can feel the top bulging and vibrating while it feedbacks! You can't even get it to the volume of a politely strummed acoustic guitar. It records well though.

What, no WRC clown bass?  :P

You knew how I would vote.

I voted non-reverse and new EB...

EB 5 string would fit my stage bass needs very well...i am not as much attached to my high C string as to the low B.

i guess im a failed guitarist, and a Lord of the Rings fan..."filthy hobbitses!!"

Quote from: Dave W on May 13, 2015, 06:27:32 PM
What, no WRC clown bass?  :P

Silly Purple Clown Bass, SPCB, let's get those references right, please, this forum is committed to scientific accuracy, Dave! I left it out because there is no point in naming a bass everybody else on earth refuses to own/be seen with!

As 80ies designs go, I liked it!!! Steel Panther would pay me a king's ransom for it.

Quote from: uwe on May 13, 2015, 05:54:28 PM
Admittedly, the offset fretmarkers on the IV/V are kinda cool.

So is her bra!

But I wouldn't need markers on those, I can handle fretless just fine.

I dig the Reverse T Bird and the EB-1....then the NR Bird.....and the explorer bass.....but they NEVER made a Futura...then I like the original 1959 Ebo basses too....

I like that 400 bass a lot. 

The Vagina hasn't grown on me yet.  That was too easy.

(http://i45.tinypic.com/e0quio.jpg)

 :-\
Is the Embassy a Gibson design?
???

In most cases I dislike basses based on a guitar design, like the Squier Telecaster Bass or some LP basses. Or the other way around, like the Rick 480, which isn't a good looker either. There are some exceptions: The Billy Bo looks much better as a bass and so does the Thunderbird. And I do like the SG and LP jr. style basses. Although the Billy Bo Bass came 50 years after the designing of the guitar and the Firebird and Thunderbird were designed at the same time. One of the prettiest basses ever!

I voted LP (single cut) and Explorer. I REALLY love the Gibson shapes. They really got it right on so many models. Reverse T-Bird, '59 EB-0, later EB-0/3/SG, RD...

Ever since I saw John Waite playing his Zemaitis with the Babys on the Midnight Special (stop laughing!) I've wanted a Les Paul style bass. Just so sexy and rock n roll. And then Entwistle with the ExplorerBird and Alembics... I've got 4 Gibson-shaped basses now - LP, Epi Explorer, FenderBird, and Hamer B12S.

Quote from: uwe on May 13, 2015, 06:51:43 PM
Silly Purple Clown Bass, SPCB, let's get those references right, please, this forum is committed to scientific accuracy, Dave! I left it out because there is no point in naming a bass everybody else on earth refuses to own/be seen with!

As 80ies designs go, I liked it!!! Steel Panther would pay me a king's ransom for it.

Yes, I know it's the SPCB, but (1) as you have pointed out before, it's really royal blue and (2) you have a 5-string red version.

(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v615/uwehornung/IMG00308-20100916-1228.jpg)

(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v615/uwehornung/IMG00311-20100916-1231.jpg)

Thunderbird and 20/20 here.  I have a slow 20/20 burn on.
P

Quote from: Baz Cooper on May 13, 2015, 09:05:58 PM
I dig the Reverse T Bird and the EB-1....then the NR Bird.....and the explorer bass.....but they NEVER made a Futura...then I like the original 1959 Ebo basses too....

The same top three choices as mine except I'd switch second and third.  Great taste, BTW. 

EB-1 and EB-3. One looks like a nice double bass with French corners and the other one has devil horns and those are bad ass. I love my Money bass but I have to admit the body is a bit on the small side in proportion to the long neck. The single cut LP shape is nice but I had to pick my two all time favorites. The rev T-bird is okay. I just think the styling is a little tacky like fins on a car or pointy sunglasses.

EB0 doublecut fo sho. 

After that it's a bit of a toss up for me.  TB Rev is iconic, but I dunno.  RD is an update of that, so probably out.  I like the TB NRs more maybe.... probably some hollowbody would be #2.  I love me some hobbits but it's not my favorite design ( .  SG shape is also not in the running.  Surprise contender: Victory - really well done and ergonomic/Fender but better.

I love the look of the Explorer and the shape is surprisingly ergonomic so that design gets my vote.

Curiously enough, post being first to vote, I find myself in allegiance with the Queen of Washington State... ;)

I was going to vote for the new V bass but couldn't find it on the list.

And I do like the EB bass (although it is more discontinued than new) it is not for the visually weird design

For sheer beauty I chose the Thunderbird and then the Nonreverse Thunderbird because there's something beautifully functional about those. Funny though, I play the reverse Thunderbirds I have very seldom.

Then you get into how colors affect the bass. I think an all black RD is amazingly beautiful, just as I think an all black Victory is gorgeous. I think natural finish Bass IVs are beautiful but the painted ones are hideous. Go figure, and I have not Italian in me...

I'll take a short scale SG-body like the EB-0.

Simple, light, well proportioned.  You see it and you KNOW it's a Gibson (unless it's a spinoff Epi.)

It's probably not as outright pretty as Justin Hayward's 1963 cherry red 335 guitar, http://justinhaywardguitar.com/ but it says Gibson.

Quote from: Pilgrim on May 14, 2015, 06:42:32 PM
I'll take a short scale SG-body like the EB-0.

Simple, light, well proportioned.  You see it and you KNOW it's a Gibson (unless it's a spinoff Epi.)

It's probably not as outright pretty as Justin Hayward's 1963 cherry red 335 guitar, http://justinhaywardguitar.com/ but it says Gibson.

I completely agree with everything you're saying.  I wish I could have said the same thing myself.  But since this is supposed to be limited to design and the visual, I have to say TBird, both versions. 

Quote from: Denis on May 14, 2015, 06:08:20 PMThen you get into how colors affect the bass. I think an all black RD is amazingly beautiful, just as I think an all black Victory is gorgeous. I think natural finish Bass IVs are beautiful but the painted ones are hideous. Go figure, and I have not Italian in me...

I totally get that! Agreed on the IV, and conversely, a black RD looks killer, as you said, but I'd have zero interest in a natural one.

I'm pleased that I'm not the only one who voted for the doublecut Junior shape original EB-0. My other vote was for the SG/EB shape. Both in heritage cherry, of course.

Quote from: gearHed289 on May 14, 2015, 07:27:01 PM
I totally get that! Agreed on the IV, and conversely, a black RD looks killer, as you said, but I'd have zero interest in a natural one.

I guess it could be agreed that mine is anything but "natural..." :o

Quote from: Dave W on May 14, 2015, 10:47:34 AM
Yes, I know it's the SPCB, but (1) as you have pointed out before, it's really royal blue and (2) you have a 5-string red version.

(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v615/uwehornung/IMG00308-20100916-1228.jpg)

(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v615/uwehornung/IMG00311-20100916-1231.jpg)

Much like the Wehrmacht, that design would have conquered the world if they had only let it!

Quote from: Dave W on May 14, 2015, 09:07:48 PM
I'm pleased that I'm not the only one who voted for the doublecut Junior shape original EB-0. My other vote was for the SG/EB shape. Both in heritage cherry, of course.

Huh, so far that doesn't even have a vote?! That is option 14, not 4!!! Did you miscast your vote?

I am surprised how little votes the SG devil horn shape has drawn, when we last had a poll like this some years ago that shape came out second after the TB (both Rev and Non-Rev). Where have all the SG-shape EBlers gone?

OK, so I'm predictable, I voted hollow body and non-reverse.  What else is there????  Oh, I didn't notice the other choices!   8)

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaand, the vote from Lapland goes to....... Reversed T-bird..........aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand.......Eb0-59! That's all from the Laplandian jury, sirs!

(http://www.google.de/url?source=imgres&ct=tbn&q=http://c300221.r21.cf1.rackcdn.com/lapin-tytt-ja-elvis-kaamoksessa-the-girl-from-lapland-and-elvis-1357043078_org.jpg&sa=X&ei=-P5VVefgFsijU7C8gdAG&ved=0CAUQ8wc4ZA&usg=AFQjCNHTnNPkmaoeRlkiPburfwTzzQd4Cg)

Quote from: uwe on May 15, 2015, 07:18:49 AM
Huh, so far that doesn't even have a vote?! That is option 14, not 4!!! Did you miscast your vote?

I am surprised how little votes the SG devil horn shape has drawn, when we last had a poll like this some years ago that shape came out second after the TB (both Rev and Non-Rev). Where have all the SG-shape EBlers gone?

Option 14 has 5 votes. You must have been looking at the line above.

I voted 4 and 14.

Quote from: uwe on May 15, 2015, 04:04:16 AM
Much like the Wehrmacht, that design would have conquered the world if they had only let it!

It's a nice looking body shape, IMHO. With the right electronics and without the pinstriping, it could have been a hit in the late 80s.

It sure took the devil horns of the SG to new extremes (bit like a Punisher does!)! In that way it did continue long loved Gibson tradition.

You're right about the voting, the way my computer shows it, the outcomes are not aligned to the options - duh!  :-[ So SG-EBs (and not Explorers, I was wondering) are still the most favorite shape after TB Revs and Non-Revs. Nothing ever changes here.  :mrgreen:

This one.  First one in, it will be the last one out.
(http://i976.photobucket.com/albums/ae241/cata1d0/1960%20EBO/P1080065P_zpsvdixcrxm.jpg) (http://s976.photobucket.com/user/cata1d0/media/1960%20EBO/P1080065P_zpsvdixcrxm.jpg.html)

I voted Les Paul Bass and (reverse) Thunderbird.

Les Paul Bass because it is the best bass in my opinion.
And Thunderbird because I think it is the most iconic bass Gibson ever built.

Voted reverse Tbird - a lifelong favorite.

Might have considered explorer, but Gibson never seems to get that body right on a bass (IMHO).  If they would only just trace an import Epi... or a Hamer Standard...

Yeah, have to vote original reverse TBird....but Les Paul Sigs are a close second, with a warm spot for the original EBO (although Hamer did them better :)

I voted for the Hobbit & the hollow bodied basses, but I would have liked to have added the EB-1 & the 20/20 also.................. I want a recount!!!

Uwe didn't give me my options, but just to be clear -

The two I'd pick are the 335-bass and the SG-bodied EB-0. Both classics, both practically perfect in look and function.

Use options 4 and (nearest to 335) 8, Al... that's your EB0 and EB2 slots...

Quote from: mc2NY on May 15, 2015, 04:13:21 PMa warm spot for the original EBO (although Hamer did them better :)

Yeah, but their PUPs look like crap and are mounted on the wrong place .........  ;)

Hey, Uwe, that's a fantastic painting of EP and the Girl from the Lapland country. Is there anywhere else on the net where I can find it?

Quote from: Stjofön Big on May 16, 2015, 03:45:55 AM
Hey, Uwe, that's a fantastic painting of EP and the Girl from the Lapland country. Is there anywhere else on the net where I can find it?

http://www.markkulaakso.com/galleria2004-06.php

I would like to add this -

(http://40.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m4c9etXt5S1qaqr3zo3_1280.jpg)

Quote from: ilan on May 16, 2015, 06:03:58 AM
http://www.markkulaakso.com/galleria2004-06.php

Oh my! I was thinking why does poor Ilan of all people here have to stumble across a site that at first sight seems to echo Nazi art after I had first posted a pic I had found when I googled "Lapland" - those nudes are too close for comfort for me to Leni Riefenstahl photography and other "Aryan" art like this here.

(https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-51Za9sWjmeM/TX6CgTsIHSI/AAAAAAAAI2E/ptCI00ULhCM/s400/Saliger+Diana%2527s+Rest.jpg)


But once you look closer, you see that while the artist heavily cites "Germanische Kunst" (which was influenced by romantic Scandinavian art no doubt) he happily does so tongue in cheek, not only on the paintings with Elvis. There is also more than a bit of Helmut Newton in it.

(http://www.markkulaakso.com/gallery/kuvat2006/09.jpg)

PS: Explanation for our younger as well as American viewers: That is, yes, pubic hair those ladies sport.

Quote from: ilan on May 16, 2015, 06:12:30 AM
I would like to add this -

(http://40.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m4c9etXt5S1qaqr3zo3_1280.jpg)

Much appreciated, Ilan.  ;)

(http://www.google.de/url?source=imgres&ct=tbn&q=http://www.bigsbyguitars.com/vibe/wp-content/uploads/artist_blackmore.jpg&sa=X&ei=tkVXVeqSBYb4UtPogcAL&ved=0CAUQ8wc4FA&usg=AFQjCNH8ABYuQ8pYv7q7AQQ39PAFe0owzA)

Don't you love it when the neighborhood girls just sit around the yard nude? 

Weeeeelll... never knew Elvis had been around my areas.... At least he left them reindeers alone... And the bears... And the birds... Whoops, that he did not, I understand! Well, the reindeers, and the bears, he left alone...

Quote from: TBird1958 on May 13, 2015, 04:38:54 PM

Well, as your Queen I 'm somewhat predictable - you know I love Thunderbirds above all. I added it's endearing ugly/way cool sister the RD as a second.

However, as I age disgracefully and realize I won't be prancing around in a miniskirt onstage forever I think one each of these would be very nice.

(http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/dd306/veronicasteed/yummy_zpslkg0xdeb.jpg)

Great choice! And I agree. I'd love to pick one up.

I voted SG-shape. I still love that shape (and think I voted the same last time around). I like it even more since I got hold of an SG-Z last year (it looks great in Ebony finish). Second vote is LP, just because both the Triumph and Standard are great basses.

Quote from: uwe on May 16, 2015, 07:29:00 AM
Much appreciated, Ilan.  ;)

Fins, Uwe... Fins... :mrgreen:

Quote from: OldManC on May 16, 2015, 12:55:42 PM
Great choice! And I agree. I'd love to pick one up.

The IV was a really good bass, but would be visually more appealing with a 4 in line headstock.

Nah, that would be too Fendery.

The eyesight of longstanding members here must be waning if the Gibson IV/V gets a vote! The blind choosing the lame.  8)

Where is the option "I don't care as long it has black hardware"? :D

Quote from: Basvarken on May 17, 2015, 10:05:34 AM
Nah, that would be too Fendery.

And hard to tell a difference from a Victory then. BTW: There were actually prototype Victories in the mid-80ies that featured TB Plus pups which were first introduced to the masses with the IVs/Vs.

Actually THIS is among Gibson's best visual designs.  It certainly gets attention....poor castrated thing.

Yes,  it does have a Epiphone logo....but it is stamped as an "Official Gibson Prototype," so can sneak in as a Gibby.  And there were more than one of these prototypes, so apparently Gibson designers were seriously considering it!! At least the Devo fans at Gobson were.

The Gibson/Epi Semi Teardrop.....

I've always liked the look of Rippers very much.  I'd give it an honorable mention.  Here is the Ripper II.  Too bad they were pricey and, of course, a limited run, too.  Still, if the opportunity ever presented itself, I'd love to have one some day.  Very high up on the list for me. 


http://www2.gibson.com/Products/Electric-Guitars/Bass/Gibson-USA/Ripper-II-Bass.aspx

Those were nice. Not exactly a ballsy rock bass (suspiciously low output), but very nuanced with a lot of - usable - tonal shades. The countless varitone variations beat what the original Rippers offered.

The Ripper II does appear to be a step up; I agree.  For my purposes, though, I'm sure an original Ripper would do fine.  But neither is particularly easy to find. 

Nothing wrong with an original Ripper either. The Ripper II just sounds more "studio", it records well. And the orignal Ripper has more mids, the II is more cleaned up/mid-scooped in sound.

With six tone selections, I'm sure the Ripper II would be useful in a studio.  That isn't the main reason it would appeal to me--other factors prevail--but it would be something to consider.