The Last Bass Outpost

I certainly do not wish to be argumentative as I hate that kind of thing.  I will just explain how I came to be fairly certain that plastic nuts and multiple piece bodies have been used on many Gibson guitars for a long time now.

At the bottom of this post is the last spec sheet I had for the Faded series.  Note that it lists a plastic nut.  My spec sheet for the Special series doesn't denote the nut material at all.  When the Special came out it was largely just a renamed Faded model with a few different finish color options.  I assumed that the plastic nut carried over to the Special, but it may be that Gibson found it simpler to stay with one nut for all their models, I dunno.  The guys I know at the factory say small changes like this drive them crazy and that it would not be out of character at all for Gibson to have continued using plastic nuts on the early Specials until they ran out of them before switching to Corian.  I don't know for a fact that happened but I'm just saying nobody should be surprised if it did.  I can ask if it proves to be a burning question.

There is no question in my mind that plastic nuts were used on many of the cheaper Gibson models.  I know for a fact my 2008 Faded SG bass had a plastic nut that I replaced with a bone nut.

Additionally, the 2007 STD SG bass that I later bought has a 2-piece body (and Corian nut).  Multiple pieces have been used for over 20 years now.  One of the engineers I know that used to work at Gibson told me that finding large slabs of Mahogany was getting harder and harder as fewer old-growth Mahogany trees were available.  He also said large scrap pieces that used to be discarded were now being used for the cheaper model bodies.

As to Dave's comment about the number of pieces, I wasn't saying that the Special necessarily had to have 4-piece bodies, only that they might contain up to four pieces.  Not necessarily unusual to find 2-piece bodies but also not unusual to find 4-piece bodies on the cheaper models.  Or 3-piece bodies for that matter.  I suspect (without knowing for sure) that's one of the reasons that the burst version of the Special came out; the burst would better hide the number of pieces in the body.

The above is what I think I know.  I'm happy to be corrected if I have erred in any detail.

The info below came directly from Gibson's web site from about 4 years ago


FEATURES FOR GIBSON SG BASS GUITARS - Faded Models   

    Pickups: Neck: Vintage-style TB Plus bass humbucker
    Bridge: Bass Mini-humbucker
    Hardware: Chrome
    Fingerboard: Rosewood
    Scale: 30-1/2"
    Nut Width: 1-1/2"
    Nut: Molded plastic
    Bridge: 3-way adjustable
    Neck Material: Mahogany, rounded
    Body Material: Mahogany
    Controls: 2 volume,1 tone
    Includes Gibson gig bag

Actually there are 5 differences, none of which materially affect the tone.  The pickups, pots, bridge, tuners, neck, and body are the same.  Here are the differences:

-  STD has a Corian nut, Special has a plastic nut.

-  STD has trapezoidal inlays, Special has dots.

-  Std gets the flower pot/holly inlay on the headstock, it's omitted on the Special.

-  Std gets premium nitro finish, Special gets the thinner cheapo finish.

-  Typically (but not always) the STD has a 1 or 2 piece body, the Special may have as many as 4 pieces.

I have friends who work at the Nashville factory.  They all say the deluxe nitro finish process on all the higher end guitars is an incredibly labor-intensive and time-consuming process, and that's where most of the savings are on the Special/Faded models.

Leftybass:

Loosen your strings and check the tuner hex nuts on the front of the headstock and the retaining wood screws on the back.  Mine were loose as a goose.  It appears slight wood shrinkage has caused the headstock to lose a bit of thickness.  Nothing a wrench and a phillips screwdriver won't quickly fix but I think this problem is common to most of the recent 2013 NOS EB close-outs.  YMMV.

Oh yeah, for maximum cosmetic effect snug the hex nut first and make sure you have the tuner key shafts aligned all nice and parallel before final tightening.

This is just a curiosity question.

I bought one of the 2013 Gibson EB basses that Sweetwater was blowing out for $700.  I was looking over the 2015 Thunderbird specs and noticed that it now uses the same Alnico V pickups in what appears to be the same or similar placement as the EB.  Got the same push-pull coil tapping pots and Babicz bridge as well.  Since the scales are the same at 34" doesn't that mean pretty much mean the only difference that would affect tone is the difference in body and neck wood?

Looks to me like you might be able to EQ the EB bass to sound very similar to the T-Bird, although it's probably wishful thinking to believe a $700 bass could pull the same weight as a $2,600 bass.  Like I said, it's just a question born of curiosity and ignorance, but I would be interested to hear from the T-Bird gallery.  I've played older T-Bird basses and love the tone but never owned one because the T-Bird ergonomics don't particularly suit me. 

Thank you kindly for the confirmation, Dave.

Well, the EB bass arrived.  As many of you noted, the finish is not great and one of the tuners is noticeably crooked, but the tone is super.  The frets are not particularly sharp so playability of the neck may be this axe's greatest attribute.  I think this is likely to become my go-to bass.

In looking through the "owner's manual" I find no mention whatsoever of the coil-tapping function.  I've only played this bass at low volumes thus far but my ears cannot detect a great difference between the single-coil mode and humbucker mode.  I assume that when the vol. knobs are pushed in this is the humbucker mode and when they are pulled out is the single-coil mode?  Confirmation would be good here.

Thanks again for all your collective input.

-Bob

I'm right there with you, Dave.  I don't understand why my '07 SG bass isn't properly classified as an EB bass but the new EB bass (which has nothing in common with the old EB series) gets an EB moniker.  Not to mention that Epiphone ended up with the EB0 and EB3 names.  Just makes it more confusing for old guys like myself that grew up in the EB-1, 2, & 3 era.

Well, Sweetwater had a couple of 2013 models (NOS) in a vintage fireburst finish for $700.  Seems like a decent price for a USA-made Gibson so I bit on one.  We'll see what what I wind up with.  Replacing the pots is no big deal if I have to do that and finish wear is just a matter of time anyway.

Thanks to all for your input.

The 2014 Gibson EB's are currently on sale and I am tempted.  There seems to be a fair amount of owners on other forums who had electronics and controls issues with theirs (loose barrel jacks, wonky pots, etc.)

It would comfort my very liver if any of you guys with an EB could comment on your experiences, both good and bad.

-Bob

The fully adjustable intonatable bridge sounds like the solution, but it comes with a caveat.  It may change the tone for the worse as far as your ears go.  It appears that the rosewood popsickle bridge provides a bit of warmth that is not present with the all-aluminum bridge.

When I was looking for my Korean reissue Longhorn I played a couple with the adjustable/intonatable bridge and there was indeed a difference in tone.  It wasn't my cup of tea but everyone's ears are different.

I wound up with a Korean Longhorn with the popsickle bridge and, as noted above, while they're a PITA to adjust they can be adjusted to achieve intonation on all but the very highest frets.  Ya just gotta wanna.  And have patience.

Well, you guys are correct about it being basically a P-bass.  And, the Hondo is a solid body long-scale bass whereas most of the Longhorns are hollow body short scales.   

That being said, the Hondo has its aficionados.  Tom Comet, the bass player for Webb Wilder and the Beatnecks uses one frequently with an Orange amp and gets a very nice tone out of it.  He used to use the Hondo as a backup to his Fender Precision, but now the Hondo usually gets the nod and the Precision sits in the backup stand.

I agree that one should not expect a Hondo to sound anything like a Longhorn but there are many worse choices than a Hondo.  Just my $.02...

The McMaster-Carr link above is the best alternative I found, but someone else has already posted it.  The JAEBird/Cataldo source is also not bank-breaking.

There's also an eBay seller who has 4-48 socket head cap screws, 3/4" length, in a 25-pack for $8.50 with free shipping:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Socket-Head-Cap-Screw-4-48-x-3-4-Qty-25-Fine-Thread-/360774686997?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item53ffd8d915

I can find 4-48 screws, but so far only in quantity, and most companies have a minimum order which is probably greater than you want to spend.  Still looking and hope to find you something, maybe by tomorrow.  In the meantime, here's a chart showing you how many head sizes are available:

http://kmac-distribution.com/machine-screws/threads/4-48.htm#.U00MyKKLjFw

4-48 screws may be obsolete in the guitar world but they are still widely used in industrial applications.  I occasionally use them myself.

They're available; you'll just have to order them on-line and you may have to order a quantity a bit greater than what you actually need.

What length screw (threaded length) do you need and what type head do you want on it?  I'll see if I can set you up with a link.

-Bob

All good info here.  Thanks.  There's more professional EB0 players than I imagined. 

I have an old '68 EB0 that I break out once in a while on small nightclub gigs when we're playing '60's tunes, but it's hard to justify doing it, tonally, because all my more modern basses sound so much better.  But that neck.  What a great feeling neck!  Most comfortable bass I've ever played.

Also, I've found that if I run the EB0 through an old Cry Baby Wah pedal I can adjust the tone for room acoustics much better than if I omit it altogether, and can add a bit of treble instantly for solos.