SG RI Standard on Talk Bass with dual Dark Stars

[Aussie Mark]

Not Dave's cup of tea, I know, but the Dark Stars do look good on an SG shaped bass ....

http://www.talkbass.com/forum/showthread.php?t=676560

[Basvarken]

The Gibson EB turns into something of a Guild JS with those pickups.

[Dave W]

The Gibson EB turns into something of a Guild JS with those pickups.

Yep. In sound and looks.

[Lightyear]

Wonder if they have the original pickups for sale as well

[uwe]

Let's put this diplomatically: More a utalitarian look than a pretty one.

What have they done to my bass, Ma?

[dadagoboi]

What have they done to my bass, Ma?

+1.  I place a lot of the blame on Gibson for deciding to call it "SG" when they reissued it.  Maybe they were deservedly embarrassed about the wacky 3 knob configuration/placement.  They couldn't come up with the extra $20 or so per $1400 bass for an extra knob and a (even if fake) varitone switch?  Does make an original more valuable, though.

[uwe]

I was thinking more about the ghastly Dark Stars (don't like their visualy, never heard them) and the in this case indeed inappropriate Hipshot supertone!  

I'm a very big fan of the SG RI visuals (and sound), I like the three knob look better (not as cluttered  as four knobs plus the varitone never made any sense to me), the TB Plus pup is more usable than true mud, the minibucker on the SG is lightyears ahead (and betterplaced) than on the EBs of yore, the three point is a nice piece of tradition even though lesser mortals here can apparently not come to grips with it   and everybody and his brother calls EB basses in the SG shape "SG basses" in musician circles, us trainspotters here excepted. And finally: A few EBs escaped production in the sixties with no Varitone, but a toggle switch for switching the pups in a sensible way. Jack Bruce even played one either in late Cream days or post-Cream.

That dark-starred SG RI now looks like some cheap Jap knock-off from the seventies.  

Uwe (proud owner of one SG RI and two GoW SG maple flametop SG Supremes)

[dadagoboi]

The 3 knobs and their placement bothers me more than the no vari.  Visually it looks like an afterthought rather than a well considered design decision.  All the rest of  the "RI" is OK w/me except the name change.

For this particular pup setup I would  prefer a tone pot for each pup, it's trad Gibson on an SG and gives more control over the very different tone characteristics of the wide spaced pups.  Either that or a blend/vol/tone setup with 3 better placed knobs.

Did bass players actually call them SG basses before the "RI"?  Or just guitard players?

[nofi]

i have never heard an SG shaped bass referred to as anything but an EBO. must be be a euro thing

[uwe]

Before I became a Gibsonite, all EBs in SG shape were "those little, dark-sounding Gibson SG basses that they call E... something or other" just like all Grabbers were Rippers and the other way around and RDs were Thunderbirds with a different name, all Explorers Thunderbirds with a more angular shape.  

Originally, I believe SG stood for "solid(body) guitar)" and EB for "electric bass". But while Gibson never released a guitar called SG that was not SG shape (though the first SGs were actually called Les Pauls), widely varying shapes were offered under the name '"EB". The EB 1 had a different shape to the EB-2 and that to the EB-0, -3 and 4, the SBs had an SG shape, but were not called EBs, EB-650 and -750 were different kettles of fish altogether, 'twas all very confusing.   Consequently, the abbreviation EB never became identified with a single body shape while the abbreviation SG irrevocably did. Come the new millenium it only made sense to call the new EB in SG shape just that.

Of course, there should be some retribution for this. I herewith advocate that all Firebirds should henceforth be called Thunderbirds or better still "Mini-Thunderbirds". That is only fair as there are probably more Thunderbird bass players on the planet than there are Firebird guitar players (that Gibson's most beautiful guitar never caught on with guitards says everything there is to say about that simple life form).  

[lowend1]

i have never heard an SG shaped bass referred to as anything but an EBO. must be be a euro thing

I once heard a guy refer to a Jazz Bass as a "Stratocaster Bass"  , and know several bass players who still call the Thunderbird a "Firebird Bass".

[dadagoboi]

I once heard a guy refer to a Jazz Bass as a "Stratocaster Bass"  , and know several bass players who still call the Thunderbird a "Firebird Bass".

Neither Jazz bass or Tbird players I'd wager.

[lowend1]

Neither Jazz bass or Tbird players I'd wager.

IIRC the "StratBass" guy was not a bassist, and his mental acumen was well below par to boot.

[uwe]

Actually, I always wanted that. A Stratocaster-Bass. No joke. It must be the Ritchie Blackmore in me, but deep down inside I long for a bass that looks exactly like a Stratocaster in long scale bass size, single coil pups, tremolo, Strat input jack and all. And in white.



Not to forget a scalloped fingerboard. All frets. All the time.  

I'm not aware that any Jap knock-off, boutique much less Fender or the Neo-Fenders (EBMM, G&L) ever offered anything of the like. Which is weird given that G&L at least did a credible (if neck heavy) take on the Telecaster guitar as a bass via their Asat.

Somehow, neither a Jazz Bass nor a P-Bass look like a Stratocaster to me, the P lacks any elegance of the Strat and the Jazz has a nice shape, but is too feminine. I can't even put my finger on the difference of the Strat shape to these two others, but there is one, right?  

As much as I am a Gibson man in basses, I have this ugly subconscious bias   that "real men guitar heroes" have to play a Strat. Hendrix, Blackmore, Clapton (I prefer his sound with a Strat, now crucify me Cream fans!), Gallagher, Gilmour, Nile Rodgers, SRV, Beck (in his later years), Uli Roth, Wah Wah Watson, Yngwie Malmsteen and EvH (in his early years) left an imprint no doubt.    I even think that guitar heroes using the more comfortable Gibson guitar scale cheat a little, a controversial statement, I know.


Must this thread now be moved to the leper colony here that is the Fender forum?        

[leftybass]

Actually, I always wanted that. A Stratocaster-Bass.