My Favorite EB/SG

[OldManC]

Many of you know the story but it's been a while and I finally have a few pictures, so... 

I saw this EB on eBay in 2002. I'd been a Thunderbird fan for years but a back and shoulder problem I have makes it hard for me to play them all night. When I saw this I thought it might fit the bill instead, so I went looking for info on it to see what it was worth and what I should bid. That's how I found the Dudepit and started down this crazy road! I learned then that this "model" really wasn't. It never existed (though Gibson actually did make a one off that I sent off to Uwe a couple years ago). As luck would have it I missed out on the auction but religiously kept an eye out for it and saw it back up on eBay two years later. That time it came home to me and has survived even the worst economic sell offs. It turned out to be an EB4 that someone filled, rerouted, and equipped with (what look to be) Greco pickups - They're not 60's Gibsons, as advertised originally. No matter though, because I love the way she sounds. This has been my number one bass for a couple years now (which really makes me miss the one I sent off to Uwe)! I have the parts to build another one (but with the new SG Bass pickups) with an EB3L I have. One of these days...




And NO, that's not what it looks like. I swear, I don't even try... 




This is the one off I sent to Uwe. Not exact, but similar.

So with all the bass love Gibson's given us over the last couple of years, couldn't they finally start producing my favorite model with this body, a long scale EB/SG Bird?

[Highlander]

That's the "project" you discussed with me a while back that resulted in my PC having your '72 MB on board...?

[EvilLordJuju]

I remember both of these basses from previous posts... both very nice looking (and I bet sounding) basses

so if not 60s Gibson pickups, what's under the covers? Does it sound more EB or more TB?

I still have my empty greatdealz pickup cases just waiting for a project like this... but whether i'd have them closer to the bridge like the red one, or closer to the neck like yours...

[Barklessdog]

Really nice basses George. How did the two compare with different pickup placement / tone wise?

[godofthunder]

I have always loved that white one, The cherry long scale is a beaut also. I think the closest Gibson ever came to this concept was the SG Z.

[uwe]

The SG-Z suffered for its deliberate "un-Gibsonishness". In an effort to make that bass with a traditional look sound modern they crammed the pups way back to the bridge (farther back than even on a modern LP), gave it a thin neck (which, together with the smallish SG body, offers precious little wood at all) and topped it off with meek sounding pick-ups attempting to sound single-coilish and not phat.

The one-off SG I have from George goes the other way: Thickened body (thicker than even the seventies EB-0 and -3 bodies), stubby modern Les Paul size neck, pups moved forward to the neck and TB Plus pups in nickel or mock-nickel casings. That bass sounds fatter than either a TBird or even a Les Paul bass, but - there is no free lunch - it sacrifices all the guitarish agility that many people like about an original sixties EB-0 or -3. The SG-Z looks way more elegant, but can't hold a candle to the one-off's full-bodied sound.

[OldManC]

From Uwe's description it sounds like my white one is the vintage version of the newer one off. It still has some of that angry piano tone (those Greco pickups make sure of that) but it's fuller sounding. No mud but pickup placement means lots of low end anyway. With the maple neck of 70's EBs it's kind of a set neck Fenderbird.

Ken, you're right. Your mudbucker came from my EB3L, which is now a carcass waiting for some love (wait a minute, that sounds wrong).

[exiledarchangel]

Very nice basses both of em, for some reason I like whitey more, that bridge (or middle should I say) pickup position looks interesting...

Ken, you're right. Your mudbucker came from my EB3L, which is now a carcass waiting for some love (wait a minute, that sounds wrong).

No, it doesn't, after all love never dies.

[gweimer]

There really is something about a nice white bass.  I found this picture in my stash today, and remember that I may have bid on it on Ebay a number of years ago.  It's a Newport, nicely refinned, with an added pickup.

[FrankieTbird]

Love those two EB/SG basses.  Very nice.  The neck pickup on the cherry one looks like it's right in the SWEET spot, but I don't think I'm liking the traps on the neck.

[nofi]

gibson likes to mess up basses with those things. the jack casady for instance. i can't stand inlays on anything.

[OldManC]

Gary, that's a beauty. I copied it because that gives me the perfect template for rehabbing my EB3L. I was considering white with a black guard and that picture confirms it.

[Highlander]

... which is now a carcass waiting for some love (wait a minute, that sounds wrong).

[OldManC]

Cold Ethyl. 

[SKATE RAT]

that red one is perfect. that is the perfect bass. everything about it is perfect.