My 1961 EB3

[dexter]

Hi everyone , you will have to forgive me  boasting , but i cant help it ... i finally pulled it off ,and got to buy the bass of my dreams,  a first year of production 1961 EB3 , serial number 288**
One of only 132 that were produced that year !  Never thought i'd manage it , but i DID , so you could say i'm feeling pretty lucky and one happy guy  This bass plays better than anything i've played before, sounds totally awesome , has an incredible fast neck
I bought it off Ebay a couple of months ago ,  it had been refinished , but the color was totally wrong ! it was a pinky /cherry color , but i pushed the button anyway ,as you just dont see them that often.  I sold off a Fender Jazz bass i had owned for 25 years to fund the purchase, which i don't miss or regret at all.I hadn't played it in a few years since getting turned on to the early EB basses a few years ago.
Anyway , i got the EB at a fair price , had it shipped back to Australia , and a fantastic  nitro refinish job , done here in Adelaide , Australia , by a great bass builder /repairer ,  Brian West ,  Fretco Guitars , ..... with the original case which is in  in great nick too ,  couple of sets of brand new  half round Daddario's and i still had change left over from the sale of the Jazz Bass.  happy happy me 
I had saw one go on the bay a few months prior , same vintage, and it went for almost 5 grand U.S.  I got mine at a real deal , i'm telling ya ,only thing missing is the wooden thumb /finger rest thing , so I will be keeping my eye out for one on the bay. I also need the round plastic thing with pickup position markers , so if anyone 's got one they don't need , i'd happily buy it off ya.
I can't see any holes in this bass where a mute was once before , so i don't believe that this bass was ever fitted wth one.  i'm not putting one on anyway , i love the look of this bass the way it is!

anyway , heres some pics of her , alongside my modified 63 EBO ,for comparison , so you can see what a great job Brian did of the Nitro refinish.  This bass is a real head turner , and on the first gig i took it out on , i had at least half a dozen comments on how great it was.  Pretty happy with this bass , thats for sure !



 




dexter

[uwe]

Very nicely done, a worthy rescue! 

So do you use the different varitone sounds much?

[dexter]

Thanks Uwe, nice to have favorable comments from yourself , the king of Gibson basses .

I mainly use the pickups blended together in differing amounts of volume , but also find i can get a great 'soloing '  tone , by using just the rear pickup itself ,it gives a very defined cutting tone.  Of course the front p/u on its own sounds like mud , but by blending , the variety of sounds one can get is very versatile ,
dexter

[Barklessdog]

Wow a black pickup EB-3. You do not see those very often. Very nice.

[Rhythm N. Bliss]

Congratulations, Dex! West did a really great job!!! Beautiful!

[ramone57]

lookin' good, and congrats on the deal!

[Dave W]

Nice bass and excellent restoration. 

[eb2]

Nice save.

Somebody get this man a finger rest!

[TBird1958]

Both are beautiful basses and your luthier is quite talented too. Congratulations

[OldManC]

Beautiful basses, both of them! Congratulations on getting the bass of your dreams. It's a great feeling, isn't it?

[godofthunder]

Stunning ! I love early EB3s

[Highlander]

Very... very... nice... with envy...

[Daniel_J]

Beautiful indeed, and really a great refinishing job. Congrats.

Is there a screw hole for the hand rest like on that EB-0? Also, I'm interesting to hear about the diference in tone between those 2.

[clankenstein]

mmmmm tasty.i bet thats loads of fun to play!well done.

[jmcgliss]

Those basses are so fundamentally cool, it hurts!