NBD Midtown

[Alanko]

I traded a Fender P for this sunburst Midtown! My first full fat Gibson, having gone through much of the Epiphone catalog with a screwdriver and chisel.

It's an interesting bass. Sort of like if they had developed a fictional EB-2DL in the mid '70s? The volute was a big surprise, as was the 34" scale length and flat top.

Fretwork and finish is good. The sunburst is nice, whereas some of these have a black band squirted around the body with minimal transition. I'm glad it isn't one of the Midtowns with the shorter treble horn.

Both pickups together have a nice scooped but thumpy tone. Each pickup solo'd is a bit disappointing? Bridge pickup is uneven across the strings and the neck pickup is a bit distant and spongy-sounding. Things need adjusting, but I'm thinking a Dimarzio Model One might sort the neck pickup situation out.

The cream pickup switch tip is my first mod. Second will be a pair of amber speed knobs as the black look a bit pedestrian. Frets need polished and the fretboard is a bit dry and dirty.

[Grog]

Very nice & congrats! Didn't these com with the same TB+ pickups that the SG Bass came with?

[Alanko]

Very nice & congrats! Didn't these com with the same TB+ pickups that the SG Bass came with?

That is my understanding. The poles on the mudbucker are for show.

[doombass]

And I found the pickups being a bit too lame on the SG Reissue I had. Speaking of lame I traded that bass for an SG-Z  . The remedy fpr that was installing a pushpull pot wired to enable having both pickups in series. That Midtown is a beautiful bass.

[morrow]

They really are beautiful looking things. Nice catch.

[Grog]

That is my understanding. The poles on the mudbucker are for show.

They seemed to use TB+ Pickups in just about everything for a while. Even my Les Paul Standard Oversized Bass had them in a standard humbucker shape.

[doombass]

Yes, they used (still use? on the SG bass) the same LP guitar sized humbuckers they'd had for 15 years on LP Standard basses for a lookalike Mudbucker.

[Alanko]

First round of mods are complete!

• Thicker foam under the neck pickup as it was loose and clunking under the cover.
• gold reflector knobs and cream switch tip
• Hipshot chunky boi bridge
• fretboard scraped, burnished and waxed
• Maruszczyk 45 - 105 flatwound strings

After a bit of hunting, this appears to be a 2015 bass. Were Gibson going through a fallow period? The fretboard was incredibly rough, with lateral tooling marks from the board being milled. The lacquer on the front face of the bass is also surprisingly undulating and uneven. Is this just what Gibsons are like?


The bridge pickup still has a weak G string response, whereas the faux mudbucker has a weak E string response!

Beyond that, lovely bass! 

[4stringer77]

This was made in the dog days of the Henry J era. On the other hand, there are some fans of the version of the T bird from that year. The only year it got the DeCola pickups. At least Epiphone is trying. I'm still waiting to be impressed by any of Gibson's modern bass offerings. They could have at least hung in there a little longer on the Les Paul Double cut Jr. tribute that everyone seemed to love.

[morrow]

Those DCs are great little basses. They just recently disappeared from the Gibson site , although production stopped years ago. I had been hoping they might have done another run.

[westen44]

This was made in the dog days of the Henry J era. On the other hand, there are some fans of the version of the T bird from that year. The only year it got the DeCola pickups. At least Epiphone is trying. I'm still waiting to be impressed by any of Gibson's modern bass offerings. They could have at least hung in there a little longer on the Les Paul Double cut Jr. tribute that everyone seemed to love.

Ok. so maybe they did cut the Les Paul DC Jr.  But they did keep the Gene Simmons EB-O for only $6,999.  Seriously, though, I really did like the LP DC Jr.  Besides sounding good, it's also very easy to play.  As a hobbyist, I find that very useful. 

[4stringer77]

Hey, where else can you get a signature bass from a Kennedy Center honoree? Totally worth 7k. Did anyone figure out what's under the hood of that EB-0 pickup? Hopefully not a tb+.

[uwe]

b]540386]
This was made in the dog days of the Henry J era. On the other hand, there are some fans of the version of the T bird from that year. The only year it got the DeCola pickups.[/b] At least Epiphone is trying. I'm still waiting to be impressed by any of Gibson's modern bass offerings. They could have at least hung in there a little longer on the Les Paul Double cut Jr. tribute that everyone seemed to love.

Best and most versatile TBird ever, no joke. It is beyond me why they gave that pup configuration up and reverted to the TP Plus soapies.

The Midtown basses are lovely to look at and also play - their sound however is something you have to work at if you are enchanted by them otherwise. Uneven string response? You bet. Not an assertive-sounding bass.

[exiledarchangel]

Best and most versatile TBird ever, no joke. It is beyond me why they gave that pup configuration up and reverted to the TP Plus soapies.

If Gibson was making sense, it wouldn't be Gibson. Same as women.

[Alanko]

I've not kept this bass. I part-traded it for one of the new American-made Mustang basses.

I was on the cusp of changing pickups etc, but thought I should quit while I was ahead. The Midtown looked superb, but has no presence through an amp. The guys I did the trade with thought the bridge pickup was broken until I demoed it through a bigger bass amp. It really does sound that thin and lifeless... sorry lads!


Hopefully Epiphone reissue the Rivoli at some point.