Well, it arrived yesterday. Lovely case. The bass looks ... OK. I have ended up with a slightly more "feature-rich" bit of ash than I had hoped for (of course), but the gold is very luxurious - it does seem that the body simply had molten gold poured over it. The pickguard is a bit iffy - the hole for the pickup is about 2mm too big in two directions and you can see the body in the hole. If I had made that pickguard, I'd have started again in disgust. How is this possible when we live in an age of CNC and suchlike technologies?
Anyhoo, I had a band practice last night so I took it along anyway. What a lovely sounding bass! Everything's wired up right, the coil taps seem to make the genuine difference to the tone that was promised. It's loud, clear and has a certain "authority" (has bark AND bite?). I am pleased with how it sounds to the degree that the minor problems outlined in the previous paragraph melted away and to be honest I didn't think about them until I remembered just now. I didn't have time to play about with the setup so that was it straight out of the box, tuned up and away we go. Even in this state I found it easy to play, the satin finish on the back of the neck is sleek to move around on, frets are chunky and well finished. So I'm hoping that once I tweak it to my preferences, it'll be even better.
I think I'll make a new pickguard for it though
Will probably cost about the same for a blank sheet of 5 ply as it would to send it back (as I think it would be a stretch to call this one "faulty") and hope that the replacement is as good in the sound dept. so I think I'll stick. As far as the finish is concerned, I would have preferred smooth and glassy, but then would I have jumped on it if it was £1500 instead of £780? Probably not. Pragmatism, not idealism, for the right bass of course. I think the pickguard issue is a worrying indication of the Gibson lack of attention to detail that continues to be magnified x100 by the haters, but they seem to have provided me with a bass which works, is screwed together well (the pickguard is well screwed down), wired up properly and most importantly of all sounds GREAT. I do realise this may seem at first glance to be two faced when you remember my experience with the Grabber 3 70s Tribute, but recall that the two I briefly possessed had real, enjoyment sapping wiring issues which really bummed me out. There may have been a great sound in there, but it was hidden from me in hum and touch buzz. Don't want to dwell on that though. I had a lot of fun playing the EB last night. It stays in my
keine kollektion for now. Light, easy to play, sounds great, with a personality that shines through and makes it highly likeable in spite of any minor "it wouldn't be like that if I made it" issues.
Will take pics later, but here's a crappy phone one from last night's practice (because all the above is hokum without pics, right?)
