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Epiphone Expert-6


RobinTheHood

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NAME:

Epiphone Expert-6

 

Price:

$1100 MSRP

 

Purchased from

The Music Stand, Berkley, Mich

 

Features

Body - 2-piece ash

Neck - 24-fret, 3-piece quartersawn maple neck-thru

Fingerboard - Rosewood

Pickups - Epiphone Jazz pickups

Electronics - Active pre-amp with boost

Nut - Plastic

Scale - 34"

Tuners - Epiphone die-cast

Control Knobs - Black tele-style

Bridge - 6-saddle fully adjustable

Nut width - 2.05"

Truss Rod - Dual action 2-way - Double truss rods

Colors - Ash

 

Sound Quality

Intermediate+ sound quality. Better than the EBM P/Js. Able to get a good Fender-style sound from these pickups.

 

Fit and Finish.

Beautiful natual ash finish with open-pore sealer and black hardware. Not a flashy looking bass, but beautiful nonetheless. The Expert-6 is the 6-string cousin to the EBM, and thus, shares its unique body styling. Everything on this bass has been great for the past ten years with little maintenance. Much like the EBM basses, the potentiometers are prone to crackling unless kept clean. The elctronics are upgraded from the EBM models and seem to be a bit better quality in regards to both the pickups and preamp. The input jack seems to be of better quality and has always been and remains to be extremely tight fitting with any 1/4" cable that I've used. The headstock is non-reverse with 3x2 die cast tuners. This bass holds tune well and requires little adjustment with seasonal changes.

 

Impressions

Nice to look at and sounds good too, albiet very heavy. Much like the bolt-neck EBM, this bass is capable of very playable, low action. The pickups have better range than its EBM P/J bretheren and the string spacing is tight for people with smaller hands. The neck feels great and the back is somewhat flat, like a wide C-shape. I keep the high C tuned to B like a guitar and often use this bass for playing the acoustic intro to Wish You Were Here when I dont have my guitar. Unfortunately, this bass doesnt get as much play-time as it should.

 

History

Allegedly produced from 1992-1996, but all of the models I have seen or read about were produced in 1994. Not much is known about this bass model. It is rumored that the electronics were prototypes that never went into full production for other models. There are also rumors that there was an American-made version of this bass. However the closest thing to a USA version I have found was an Expert-6 that was sent to Gibson Nashville before final delivery to be routed and fitted with EMG humbuckers. The Expert-6 was produced at the Samick plant, in Korea.

 

Expert6.jpg

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Thanks! I just have the three Epiphone basses...and one EBM is a parts bass these days. Some day, I want to strip it down to a natural finish, put Bartolini pickups in it and a Badass bridge on it...then a new/used EBM neck...some day!

 

I think I have seven epiphone guitars and basses all together, plus a Kramer Striker owned by Gibson, made at the Samick Korea plant.

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I'm so old school that the idea of a 6 string BASS just blows my mind!!!!

As a Git player, I have to ask: are the extra two strings added to have

one LOWER string and one HIGHER string than a traditional 4 string Bass?

 

Wrong way to phrase question? Maybe WHAT are the gauges of the additional strings?

THAT should help me out!

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I'm so old school that the idea of a 6 string BASS just blows my mind!!!!

As a Git player, I have to ask: are the extra two strings added to have

one LOWER string and one HIGHER string than a traditional 4 string Bass?

 

Wrong way to phrase question? Maybe WHAT are the gauges of the additional strings?

THAT should help me out!

 

I'm not sure what the guages are. Like any other guitar, that is up to your personal taste...or availability of the string. But yes, there is a low B and a high C. I've considered stringing it up like a guitar; EADGBe, but I'm not sure what that would do to the neck or how to o about it properly. I think I'd have top get a 5-string set of light or medium guage strings and then a baritone low E for the high E string.

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