" lots of great improvements!"

Dave W · December 09, 2015, 11:56:00 AM

Basvarken · December 09, 2015, 12:13:55 PM

Looks like a Zemaitis sans artwork

Granny Gremlin · December 09, 2015, 12:45:52 PM

I kinda like it, but not for that price (that's more than an all original one is worth, right?).

Reminds me of a geetar hack job I did for a bud back in high school. Cut the arched top off of a Univox LP body (not a carved solid piece but shaped plywood - leaving about a 3/4" ring of it where it was flat to the main body slab, and then made a stainless full body pickguard like that. The air gap remained so you could play it acoustically for bedroom practice. Bolted on an El Degas tele neck to that monster - another bud took the tune o matic and neck from the LP to put ion his (apparently real) Tele Custom that the El Degas neck came off of (he got a good deal on it in a pawn shop because everyone thought it was a ho vs a Febnder with replacement neck). I am a criminal, I know.

veebass · December 09, 2015, 01:34:02 PM

Add more brass- these weren't heavy enough.

uwe · December 09, 2015, 01:52:12 PM

We need a PETA for sodomized Gibson basses.

chromium · December 09, 2015, 03:32:05 PM

Surprised we don't have a long running "mutants" thread after all this time!

Here's another top contender (70? EB-3L) that I stumbled across recently...

"This bass was damaged in the 70s and "fixed" by trimming the treble side horn. Very good quality work, looks like a factory mod"

https://reverb.com/item/202606-gibson-eb-3l-1968

patman · December 09, 2015, 04:29:39 PM

Someone with woodworking skills needs to restore that one.

Granny Gremlin · December 09, 2015, 04:31:57 PM

That's a rare(ish) early L version too, judging by the bridge's proximity to the butt end.

Dave W · December 09, 2015, 05:45:01 PM

Back to my original post, is this even a Gibson body? It looks more like stripped and dark-stained mahogany to me rather than real walnut, but if it's walnut, then that's not a Gibson body. And any LP-shaped bass Gibson made circa 2006 had a carved maple top -- what happened to that? Who would buy an expensive bass and cut off the top?

Also, Gibson didn't use that tune-o-matic style bridge in the LP series that ended in 2006 -- they still had the Warwick bridge, and they had Schallers, not Grovers.

I wouldn't be shocked if this turned out to be a converted Epi.

Granny Gremlin · December 09, 2015, 06:12:58 PM

Quote from: uwe on December 09, 2015, 01:52:12 PM
We need a PETA for sodomized Gibson basses.

Again the Germans with their anal fixations; what part of the bass is the anus anyway (rhetorical, don't actually answer that)?

Nocturnal · December 09, 2015, 06:48:43 PM

Quote from: Dave W on December 09, 2015, 05:45:01 PM
Back to my original post, is this even a Gibson body? It looks more like stripped and dark-stained mahogany to me rather than real walnut, but if it's walnut, then that's not a Gibson body. And any LP-shaped bass Gibson made circa 2006 had a carved maple top -- what happened to that? Who would buy an expensive bass and cut off the top?

Also, Gibson didn't use that tune-o-matic style bridge in the LP series that ended in 2006 -- they still had the Warwick bridge, and they had Schallers, not Grovers.

I wouldn't be shocked if this turned out to be a converted Epi.

I think this was a limited Gibson model that had the raw or almost no finish when they started marketing that rough finish a while back. This bass has been around and I could swear it was in the used site of GC for a while. Didn't someone here buy one of these (minus the brass)?

Dave W · December 09, 2015, 07:49:22 PM

Quote from: Nokturnal on December 09, 2015, 06:48:43 PM
I think this was a limited Gibson model that had the raw or almost no finish when they started marketing that rough finish a while back. This bass has been around and I could swear it was in the used site of GC for a while. Didn't someone here buy one of these (minus the brass)?

You mean the BFG Bass? That makes sense, it did come with a t-o-m bridge and Grovers, and the grain wasn't filled. But it came out in 2010, not 2006.

Still, what a waste. If you mod a bass that much, don't expect to recover even the original cost.

Uwe did buy a BFG.

Highlander · December 09, 2015, 10:37:25 PM

Quote from: Dave W on December 09, 2015, 07:49:22 PM
Uwe did buy a BFG.

Somewhat akin to saying any day with a "Y" in it...

Basvarken · December 09, 2015, 11:52:59 PM

Maybe the seller just has the date wrong. If it said 1994 it could be a LPB1 Special with a different bridge. The brass plate could obscure the old bridge holes.

uwe · December 10, 2015, 05:27:05 AM

Quote from: Dave W on December 09, 2015, 07:49:22 PM
You mean the BFG Bass? That makes sense, it did come with a t-o-m bridge and Grovers, and the grain wasn't filled. But it came out in 2010, not 2006.

Still, what a waste. If you mod a bass that much, don't expect to recover even the original cost.

Uwe did buy a BFG.

Yuup, I do, and it's among the finest Gibson basses, but much too thick a body to have been used as a platform for this monstrosity (unless they shaved off huge amounts of maho material amd also the maple top of the BFG). Another possibility would be the Special Faded series from 2004 (you had one, Dave, and were so appalled about the workmanship you sent it back), that had a 4-controls-configuration too.