So I bought a Gibson bass again

[amptech]

Unless you play reggae, I can't see the point of the tone control on a gibson bass

I'm guessing three volumes.

[uwe]

That's the bass I found for him in San Antonio. Remember that from back in  the Pit days? It was a nice cherry EB-0L with one insignificant flaw, a bullet hole through the neck that also caused a lengthwise split. When Uwe had his luthier repair it, he had the poor thing refinished, no doubt against its will. 

Is this how I am thanked for this selfless Lazarus-type resurrection?! 

Tone contr-WWWHHHAAAT?  I don't even use that on active basses, at least not the treble one. I'm a full-on guy and with "gunshot baby" the choice of pup determines how bright my sound is. It's three volumes, right.

I'm sure there are people who can work with a passive tone control effectively - it's a precious gift that unfortunately totally escapes me to this day. If I play a bright sounding bass like, say, a Ric, I have no desire to take that characteristic away from it. I'd rather switch basses then.

[patman]

agreed about passive tone...

I have started to control tone with the pups...

I generally like a 2 pickup bass, and slightly back off the bass pickup, so the bridge dominates.  If I need darker I increase the bass pickup volume.

[Chris P.]

The only basses I use tone control on are maple board Fenders. Full on for the gnarly sound and 1/4 off for a more rosewood-ish sound.

[Rob]

Is this how I am thanked for this selfless Lazarus-type resurrection?! 

Tone contr-WWWHHHAAAT?  I don't even use that on active basses, at least not the treble one. I'm a full-on guy and with "gunshot baby" the choice of pup determines how bright my sound is. It's three volumes, right.

I'm sure there are people who can work with a passive tone control effectively - it's a precious gift that unfortunately totally escapes me to this day. If I play a bright sounding bass like, say, a Ric, I have no desire to take that characteristic away from it. I'd rather switch basses then.

I do remember that find very well.  Uwe do you have a "before" photo?

[Pilgrim]

About tone knobs on an EB....

When I installed the mudbucker on this EB-0 (the Dimarzio was already there) I made the executive level decision that a tone knob would be useless. No one needs to roll off treble on either of these pickups.

So I just made each pot a volume control.  Works great!

[Dave W]

I do remember that find very well.  Uwe do you have a "before" photo?

I have these.

[Dave W]

Is this how I am thanked for this selfless Lazarus-type resurrection?! 

Tone contr-WWWHHHAAAT?  I don't even use that on active basses, at least not the treble one. I'm a full-on guy and with "gunshot baby" the choice of pup determines how bright my sound is. It's three volumes, right.

I'm sure there are people who can work with a passive tone control effectively - it's a precious gift that unfortunately totally escapes me to this day. If I play a bright sounding bass like, say, a Ric, I have no desire to take that characteristic away from it. I'd rather switch basses then.

I remember showing Jason (the seller) a pic after the restoration. Too bad I didn't have a smartphone to capture the look on his face.     He was happy though, since he got his investment back.

Passive tone controls are useful to me, even with a mudbucker. Volume and tone controls do interact.

"gunshot baby"  Bob Seger song, right? 

[Rob]

Thanks for the pictures!
I had forgotten how bad it was.

[lowend1]

Well, since we're celebrating the EB-0 as well as Uwe's minimalist tendencies in restoring one, I will post my battle-scarred addition - a '68 that was originally cherry, but was "refinished" as you see here (except the headstock, where the cherry begins rather abruptly). I picked it up dirt cheap some years back and am planning a Supertone 2 bridge upgrade and the addition of a chrome TB+ in the bridge position. The headstock has a crack, but I ran some CYA into it and it seems to be relatively stable.

[uwe]

Looks great!

"Minimalist tendencies in restoring ...." , yup, that's me, sums me up. I hate to be invasive unless The Netherlands are concerned.

And to all you NRAists out there: Indisputably, the US of A has the highest rate of gunshot wounds inflicted on unsuspecting EB-OL necks. Statistics don't lie, so there!

[westen44]

This wasn't just in the USA; this was in Texas.  I'm not sure if any further explanation is even needed 

[lowend1]

Looks great!

"Minimalist tendencies in restoring ...." , yup, that's me, sums me up. I hate to be invasive unless The Netherlands are concerned.

And to all you NRAists out there: Indisputably, the US of A has the highest rate of gunshot wounds inflicted on unsuspecting EB-OL necks. Statistics don't lie, so there!

They do have a habit of jumping into the line of fire.

[Dave W]

The bass was sitting on a stand on stage when a fight broke out in the crowd. It was an innocent bystander.

[westen44]

That story somehow isn't surprising.