GIBSON EB6...? 4 days to run - £3,800 to bid...

[Highlander]

OMG... you've got me at it now...

Reputedly owned by Mr Entwistle...

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/GIBSON-EB-6-BARITONE-GUITAR-1959-EX-JOHN-ENTWISTLE-EB6_W0QQitemZ390037814783QQcmdZViewItemQQptZUK_Musical_Instruments_Guitars_CV?hash=item390037814783&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14&_trkparms=72%3A1121%7C66%3A2%7C65%3A12%7C39%3A1%7C240%3A1318

Opinions please sentients...

Nearly forgot to add - this looks almost TOO good a condition for something the same age as me...

[uwe]

Wonder how high it will go? Mine cost me 10.000 bucks a few years ago, that is by far the most expensive instrument I ever bought and I have no inclination to repeat the exercise ever. Buying instruments above 5.000 bucks is silly. I consoled myself with the fact that I got my other, later EB-6 (in the SG-shape) for a comparatively mild 2.000 bucks (it was stripped, but nicely so).

Uwe 

[Highlander]

Are you on a mission to convert the Americas now, mein freund...?

My, how you've changed...

Now Uwe, who is your musical hero, and how far would your self-imposed limit hold you back if one of their instruments came up for sale...? I was seriously impressed when you mentioned Felix's EB1, who was one of my major influences...

Here is a thought... I was a stupidly crazy vinyl collector for a while and kept pushing the envelope out to the limit of my finances...

my Dell laptop keeps crashing so partially posting this to say goodnight to my daughter... back in a moment...

Where was I... oh yes... Well, a friend who, along with his wife worked as cabin crew for BA while I was avionics, and every so often he would come back with some gems, and knowing I was a keen collector of Neil Young items showed me a picture disc single, one of a numbered 200 made by for WB's Kent Crawford as Xmas 1978 prezzies... The going price was £125 in 1980 - I bought it - that tingling, drug-like sensation you get when you find something special and rare, something to treasure... a couple of years later the same guy caught wind of a copy of "Southern Pacific" in a red and black triangle shape - one of six made and handed out to NY's personal friends - $2000 to me if I was interested...
It was out of my league...
I started to break up the collection to buy things I needed, but this single stayed and eventually, at a record fair, where I was selling, and occasionally buying, minor items only, of course, I bought a clock mechanism and affixed it to the 45 and it still adorns the wall in my home to this day... curiously enough, it is an extremely good timekeeper for a quartz mechanism...
Now what has this got to do with this...?
A work colleague was an obsessive KISS collector, and a guitarist... the comics, the dolls, the whole kit-and-caboodle... I gifted him their 1976 tour programme (blew his mind - turned out to be there first programme, so he said, and I even had some "SNOW" to go with it...) and he spotted a Gene Simmons "Punisher" up for sale in London and it caused the same type of "ITCH"... and got him in hock for over £1400 to the boss-man...

Now here comes the rub...

The Neil Young single represented the moment when I had to be realistic and think of what was going on around me at the time, and until I pointed this out to my "associate" I had never connected what I had done to what the single was - "Comes A Time"...

I could have understood if it had been aThere "Comes A Time" when you have to settle down, in Mr Youngs words, but my erstwhile "buddy" (a "TOSSER", by any other name) had a "PUNISHER" to remember his moment... a BASS, when GUITAR was his instrument - purely to be a wall-hanger...

Now what was I saying, Uwe...? what would make you "itch"...?

ps, I knew of the SG type (Jack Bruce...? another influence) but had never heard of an EB6 until today - as I live and breath, you are the man...

Now I can catch up with you - PC issues have been dragging me through the gutter these last few months....

[uwe]

I own celebrity basses, or let's put it that way: I own basses where pre-owners have claimed they were once owned by celebrities, but not in one case did I buy it for the celebrity factor. That doesn't mean anything to me, I'm into model deviations.

I have a supposedly 53 EB-1 preowned by Felix Pappalardi, I bought it because it was nicely cherry refinned, an EB-1 was missing in ze collection and I liked the idea of not another turd brown EB.

I have a Wayne Richard Charvel design Gibson prototype once played by the bassplayer of Kingdome Come, don't even know the guy's name, it was a NAMM show one off prototype, that's why I needed to have it.

I have a Custom Shop 8-string LP Standard made for and played by T.M. Stevens who scrawled all over it - I was just interested in the multi-string aspect of it.

My 1965 rev TB IV was once owned by Kenny Aaronson so they say, I needed a double pup sixties TBird, this one was as good as any, had it refinned in purple/lilac burst. Beautiful.

I have a passive single-coil LP Deluxe, a prototype made for and played by ME'SHELL N'DEGEOCELLO. It's an LP trying to sound like a Jazz Bass. I'm neither lesbian, nor black nor do I slap, but if you ask me that is probably the one celebrity bass I'm fondest of the "celebrity factor".

Uwe

[Highlander]

I don't believe you would ever buy one just because someone owned it, maybe...  just not your style...

Model "deviations"...? I guess that's why you get on so well with "Veronica"...

I'd like to get a hold of an EB2 one day, as well as an EB3L, and a REAL T'bird... thinking... My first bass was a Grenn (japanese copy...?) EB2, and although she was a bolt-on and the action was horrible, I learnt a lot on that instrument, and then came my Tequilabird (gotta give her a good refin, and a more permanant name...) - still think the refin on the RD as discussed, but not giving that away until unveiled...   

[eb2]

I think every EB-6 ever made was celebrity owned for anywhere from one week to a couple of years.  Back when they were a two grand bass guitar or less, it was kind of easy to wake up one morning and say "geeze, I got a lotta money tied up in that thing that I use like an effects pedal - I think I will sell it."  Adjusted for inflation (wait a year) now I would say that is in the 5 grand ballpark.  At closer to $10 g's, you hold on to it a bit longer.

But, this one is supposedly Entwistle's.  It may have been, but he owned a lot of stuff, and he certainly didn't qualify for any Einstein award in his purchases of vintage instruments.  So, is this broken headstock, changed tuners, eh-level bass worth that much, Pounds Sterling?  I can't see it.

[Bionic-Joe]

Uwe, that 65 Reverse thunderbird was mine. I got it from some dude in New York for $2,000.00 back in '02, had a slight headstock crack repair, played it for a few months, my son was born, needed money. sold it to Scott Silver at Chicago Music Exchange for around $1,600.00 and then he sold it to Kevin Borden at good Guys. Then some how, you got it. So I don't think that was a celebrity owned. Unless you call me, Baz Cooper , a celebrity. I also had that bridge custom made by a CNC guy I worked with for a case of beer. Then had it nickel plated. Look at the bottom. You won't see the 3 holes in the bottom for the mutes. That was a cool bass.

[Highlander]

EB (sorry, don't know your name) - I have issues with anything more than 4 strings (with exception of my Ibanez 12 acoustic - but that has not been strung with all 12 for at least a decade...) - just get too confused by all those extra notes...
Only posted as I'd never heard of the model, and lo-an-behold... now if the "readdies" were spare and it was your "namesake"... like that short-story I posted, "... for when I sleep, I dream..." In reality I have only got two hands and I'm getting a fair amount of flack for using more than one instrument... not that that'll stop me...

Herr Bass-Meister - I probably (probably?) need a bit of education on the "model" and "deviation" front (the sheltered and cloistered life I have led up until recently) - found some links to WRC at Gibson but could you post a link referencing his work mid 80's, and possibly a pic of your prototype...?
Your reference to the "JAZZ" lady was quite interesting... quite a player and singer...

[uwe]

Uwe, that 65 Reverse thunderbird was mine. I got it from some dude in New York for $2,000.00 back in '02, had a slight headstock crack repair, played it for a few months, my son was born, needed money. sold it to Scott Silver at Chicago Music Exchange for around $1,600.00 and then he sold it to Kevin Borden at good Guys. Then some how, you got it. So I don't think that was a celebrity owned. Unless you call me, Baz Cooper , a celebrity. I also had that bridge custom made by a CNC guy I worked with for a case of beer. Then had it nickel plated. Look at the bottom. You won't see the 3 holes in the bottom for the mutes. That was a cool bass.

I had no idea. Who is this Kenny Aaronson anyway! Now I feel really honored. Do you still recognize your baby? (To the defense of Kevin Borden, he didn't mention the Aaronson lore as a selling angle, but only after I had bought the bass. It played no role in my decision to get that bass. And Baz is a lot more famous anyway, his wife Alice even has her own band!  )



http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v615/uwehornung/P1020544.jpg




http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v615/uwehornung/P1020532.jpg

[uwe]

EB (sorry, don't know your name) - I have issues with anything more than 4 strings (with exception of my Ibanez 12 acoustic - but that has not been strung with all 12 for at least a decade...) - just get too confused by all those extra notes...
Only posted as I'd never heard of the model, and lo-an-behold... now if the "readdies" were spare and it was your "namesake"... like that short-story I posted, "... for when I sleep, I dream..." In reality I have only got two hands and I'm getting a fair amount of flack for using more than one instrument... not that that'll stop me...

Herr Bass-Meister - I probably (probably?) need a bit of education on the "model" and "deviation" front (the sheltered and cloistered life I have led up until recently) - found some links to WRC at Gibson but could you post a link referencing his work mid 80's, and possibly a pic of your prototype...?
Your reference to the "JAZZ" lady was quite interesting... quite a player and singer...

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v615/uwehornung/DCP_2194.jpg


WRC was hired around 1987 (possibly a little earlier) to give Gibson's then-product line the much needed (some people thought) eighties Super-Strat with ice hockey stick headtock makeover so en vogue at the time. So he built these two models with Rick Turner diamond shape pups (hiding split coils underneath), a 4 and a 5 string, for a Namm show for Gibson. Maple body and neck, Wilkinson bridge, Hipshot drop D on the 4 string, bolt-on, double-octave neck, pretty ungibsonish all in all, except for the outsize headstock that was an ice hockey stick echoing the Epiphone batwing headstocks from the sixties via its lower wavy curves. A third model is believed to have existed too, but was supposedly destroyed as part of some legal settlement between Wayne and Gibson. They did not go into production (many people here say: that was a good thing!), but he also fooled around with the Victory and turned it into the Q-80, changing the body from maple to maho in the process, adding Grabber pups and attaching a huge ice hockey headstock:



http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v615/uwehornung/gibsoncustbassfront.jpg



That model - most unfortunately, many people here say - went into production though not for long, when it was superseded by the Q-90 with a - horror of horrors - fenderesque P/J pup combination and a still ice-hockeyish, but smaller and more rounded headstock. Herr Charvel's stint with Gibson wasn't long either, he was leaving again by 1988 and in a huff too. Doesn't like to talk about his time with Gibson much, but his son was good enough to give me the info on the above basses.

The prototypes are generally lovingly and with respect to my feelings referred to by the good people of this forum here as "SPCB" (silly purple clown bass) and "SRCB" (silly red clown bass). Alas, jealeousy breeds hate and ignorance!  They sound P bassish, but with less character, authority and midrange than the real thing. 

Uwe

[Bionic-Joe]

WOW!!! I probably would have done white but that shure Luks Perdy!!! Yes, my wife Alice is famous!!! Hey does anybody have an Orville T bird pickup laying around??? I'm trying to duplicate my Non Rev 8 string by making one with a single pickup. If not, there's Mike Lull.

[Highlander]

Mein Gott, Herr Hornung... "The things we do for love"... Danka for my lesson...
If I was in your position, owning those instruments would be a requirement and nothing to be mocked by those who fail to understand...

re the purple-burst 'bird - I know it may be out of place of me as they may be original to type (just a lack of personal knowledge), but get the controls stripped of the gold colour and matched to the body, or black...
Jackie, my better half, would imeadiately wrinkle her nose at the sight of, "Lilac and Gold...? I won't put my name to that...!" reference to some wedding invite cards someone asked her to make...
I gotta agree with her... those colours clash, and coming from me... 

[uwe]

I agree, it's a bit kitsch!  I have kept them on sofar thinking they might be the original ones but they probably aren't in any case, so I'll look for something more tasteful. Regards to your wife!

Uwe

[Highlander]

Uwe - compliments past on to her - with your contacts you must be able to find/know someone to colour code a few for you...?