Eric67SGBase Posted April 20, 2008 Share Posted April 20, 2008 Hello vintage Gibson Collectors. I am new to this forum and would like to know if anyone out there has a vintage Gibson bass. I have had mine for about 5 years and absolutly love it. It has an SG body style, dark red color, and looks quite similar to the 61 Gibson SG Standard. It has two double humbachers in line in the middle of the body and one single pickup close to the bridge. I was told that it was possibly an EB3. When I baught it I was told it was made in 1967 and the serial number marked in black ink at the top side of the back of the neck is 880455. Does anyone have something similar to this bass? Does anyone know anything about my special toy? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
L5Larry Posted April 21, 2008 Share Posted April 21, 2008 Sounds like a '67 EB-3 to me. Your decription is kind of confusing. Post some pics and somebody will be able to tell you for sure. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rd_artist Posted April 24, 2008 Share Posted April 24, 2008 Where are the pics? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eric67SGBase Posted April 24, 2008 Author Share Posted April 24, 2008 Please check back to this site tonight. I will post some. I appreciate your interest. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eric67SGBase Posted April 26, 2008 Author Share Posted April 26, 2008 Thanks John for the help.... Well sideways does more justice for the scale... You can see aftermarket rickenbaucher style hardware but it has really good action, holds tune great, so unless I sell...or get the money in my pocket for a restoration... I will probably keep it the way it is. All the pickups work equally well. What do you guys out ther think it is? An EB3 from '67 as I've been told from the ametures? What are the circular indentations on the pick guard? I know these things are only worth a fraction of thier brother 6 string '61 SG Standard guitars... any idea on a value? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rd_artist Posted April 26, 2008 Share Posted April 26, 2008 wow,although it's not pretty,it is a very interesting idea adding another big humbucker and an extra set of pots. Does it sound muddy? yes it was an eb-3 my guess is somewhere between 1961 to 1969, what is throwing me off is the pickguard the varitone switch looks like it was mounted on the pickgaurd and I can't find any examples of that anywhere, although it's possible the pickguard is homemade. If you decide to restore it it would require a lot of wood to fill in the routing for the extra pickup and pot holes, I don't think it would be worth it, besides if you like the way it sounds and play then keep it as is, even homemade custom work is interesting. you can check this website out for more information. http://www.gibsonbass.com/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rd_artist Posted April 27, 2008 Share Posted April 27, 2008 Eric can you post some pictures of the back headstock? I want to see if there is a volute,if there is that would date it between 1972 and 1979. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eric67SGBase Posted April 27, 2008 Author Share Posted April 27, 2008 Wow! Thanks for your interest in this bass! Maybe we can track it down a little further. My bill of sale was for a '67 bass that suposedly came out of Chicago. I baught it at a very long in business pawn shop (hundreds of old instruments) in downtown Denver. I paid $700 cash and this must have been about 10 years ago. See picture of the back of the head stock. The headstock is solid body with the neck.. no seams. But the neck is seamed to the body (see next pic). It is missing the varitone control. Wish I had it to hear the 4 different tones. But I cant see any evedence of where it should go (between the control pots closest to the pick guard). If someone added the 2nd double hunbucker and put on a custom pick guard I wouldn't be surprised but there is litteraly no evidence of the custom work from a cosmetic standpoint. After looking at the website I think that the hardware could be stock. I am missing the solid chrome bridge guard covering the bottom of the strings, but I can see where it use to go. It's got the exact footprint as the EB3 on the website. Check at http://www.gibsonbass.com/EB3.php The one thing that is throwing me off is the original drilled holes at the back of the headstock. Thanks for your interest and your help John. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rd_artist Posted April 27, 2008 Share Posted April 27, 2008 Based on the neck 67 is probably correct, I thought the big circular pattern near the pots was a hole where the varitone switch was, hence my confusion, it's possible that one of the extra pots took the hole where the varitone switch would be, one reason I don't think that this would be a factory custom job is that the two big humbuckers are not consistant one has guard rings and the other doesn't, it's not really important as long as you enjoy the bass. One more question: is it long or short scale? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eric67SGBase Posted April 28, 2008 Author Share Posted April 28, 2008 The bass is a short scale. I love it because for an ameture like me, the action is supurb. Close enough to the frets for very light touch but not close enough for the strings to buzz on them. I agree with you on the guard vs. no guard on the double pickups. The guard is nice for me as a thumb rest, and there is not room on the body for two guards. To answer another question...it is pretty "muddy" with the double pickups on high volume and low tone. I thought that this was due to the relatively unclean amp I am using, Crate 500w with a 4x10" cabinet. But reading the information you have led me to I understand now that this is a trait of the pickups and solid body construction. You have been a great help John, for me as an ameture player and collecter. Thank you very much. One other question, do you know where I can find old parts such as the chrome guard that is missing on the bridge? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rd_artist Posted April 29, 2008 Share Posted April 29, 2008 You may want to try All parts.com they may have something that will work or search ebay, to be honest the reason you find the bridge covers missing from vintage basses is that they served no real purpose and got in the way so they were removed and usually discarded. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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