Violin bass

[Freuds_Cat]

https://www.julienslive.com/view-auctions/catalog/id/71/lot/27325/from/find-lots/

Serial number 614108 - Gibson EB1 Violin bass, with large V shaped crack on top, in hardshell case. Stand up pole for bass is present. Large square covered "trap door" cutout in back. Original pickup has been removed but is present with original brown cover. There is a hand made pickup in the neck with unique tortoise shell pickup guard. Bare wire on front of bass. Together with a handwritten note reading in full,

"Serial #614108 / This is one of the 1st Electric Bass Guitars / Gibson made. I was responsible for the violin / shape - and also my son Rusty L.P. Jr. / changed it from Hi to Lo Impedance. / Note - it all came about (the Electric Guitar Bass / from me playing my E string on the guitar as a / Bass using my thumb - this proved it could / replace a stand up Bass and Leo Fender & / Lots others picked up the idea - / Les."

[Dave W]

We talked about this one up in the Outpost Cafe thread. Of course Leo didn't pick up on this, he preceded it and Tutmarc did at least 15 years before Leo. And of course it had nothing to do with playing bass notes on the E string of a guitar, nor was he the one who started that. And I'm pretty sure neither Les or his son were responsible for choosing the shape.

[Grog]

Gibson had a shaper to carve the contour on the top of the bass as they did to the Les Paul Guitar. They did this because they knew Fender didn't have one & they were trying to play catch up to the models he already had on the market. That plank of wood with a neck bolted on it wasn't gonna catch on anyway!

[uwe]

Lester has contributed other things to music, let's shroud these notes in polite ignorance. And thank the Lord that Gibson did not invent the bass guitar with the EB or otherwise none of us would probably play bass today!

[Dave W]

Lester has contributed other things to music, let's shroud these notes in polite ignorance. And thank the Lord that Gibson did not invent the bass guitar with the EB or otherwise none of us would probably play bass today!

This was not polite ignorance. Les was a serial exaggerator. Most of the mistaken beliefs about what he did were spread by Les himself.

This one is laughable to us as bassists. How many non-bassists will take it as true without looking into it, just because he claimed it?

That's not to take away from what he did accomplish. It just means that you shouldn't take anything he said at face value.

[uwe]

I meant that we should politly ignore those notes/let's not speak ill ... - he certainly knew what he was doing.

If there is one thing laudable about the EB then it was its stubborness to totally ignore Leo's superior invention. It's barely audible subwoof would not have changed the history of pop music like the P Bass did.

[Pilgrim]

This one is laughable to us as bassists. How many non-bassists will take it as true without looking into it, just because he claimed it?

That's not to take away from what he did accomplish. It just means that you shouldn't take anything he said at face value.

True enough - and Les was not alone in that regard.  Similar comments could be made about many other artists, notable among them Carol Kaye and Dick Dale, both of whom have made notable contributions to music.

For that matter, assumptions and mis-statements about bass playing and basses are rampant among those of us who have not been stooled to the rogue of bass.

[Barklessdog]

I meant that we should politly ignore those notes/let's not speak ill ... - he certainly knew what he was doing.

Yes he did, many people do not realize all the notes that left his fingers.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PYlG7qb3iCs&feature=related

[clankenstein]

thaw out that husband.try a blowtorch.you could run it on listerene. hes all over that les paul aint he.

[Dave W]

True enough - and Les was not alone in that regard.  Similar comments could be made about many other artists, notable among them Carol Kaye and Dick Dale, both of whom have made notable contributions to music.

...

Don't forget Link Wray.

thaw out that husband.try a blowtorch.you could run it on listerene. hes all over that les paul aint he.

Those five minute Listerine commercials were the only "show" Les ever had on TV, they ran for about a year and a half. Les later claimed that he had a TV show for seven years but it never existed.

[mc2NY]

Those five minute Listerine commercials were the only "show" Les ever had on TV, they ran for about a year and a half. Les later claimed that he had a TV show for seven years but it never existed.

I don't know....production crew and credits and a national sponsor advertising...is that any less of a "show" than "The Kardashians," "Real World" or "Housewives of Atlanta"?

Certainly makes you long for the time when women could sing, play guitar AND darn your socks and cook dinner

[OldManC]

h/t Aussie Mark 

[Barklessdog]

You guys are really asking for it from the women here......  Oh wait, there aren't any!

[TBird1958]

You guys are really asking for it from the women here......  Oh wait, there aren't any!

I shan't get too cheeky if I was you! 

[Barklessdog]

Under 50?