Gibson EB-3

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Gibson EB-3 / SG Standard Bass
Gibson eb3 67.jpg
Gibson EB-3, built in 1967
General
Type Electric bass
Manufacturer Gibson ; United States
production
  • 1961–1979 (EB-3)
  • since 2006 (SG reissue / hour bass)
Construction and materials
Scale length 30.5 in (775 mm) short scale
Body Solid body made of mahogany
neck Set neck off
  • Mahogany (EB-3, until 1973)
  • Maple (EB-3, until 1979)
  • Mahogany (SG standard bass)
Fingerboard Rosewood (EB-3), roasted maple (SG standard bass), 20  frets
saddle Corian
Mechanics 2 × left, 2 × right; capsuled
Footbridge / bridge Fixed, one-piece metal bridge with individual saddles
Pickups and Electronics
Pickups

2 × humbuckers

Tone control passive
  • 2 × volume
  • 2 × sound (EB-3)
  • 1 × sound (SG standard bass)
  • 4-way pickup selection (EB-3)
Unless otherwise stated, the data come from the manufacturer's website (as of June 9, 2014)

The Gibson EB-3 is an electric bass model manufactured by the American musical instrument manufacturer Gibson Guitar Corporation from 1961 to 1979 . Due to its body shape , the electric bass is reminiscent of the Gibson electric guitar model Gibson SG and is therefore also called the SG bass .

history

The predecessor of the Gibson EB-3 was the model EB-0, which was built from 1959 to 1979. This model had a single, double- coil humbucker in the neck position as an electromagnetic pickup . This pickup is jokingly called " Mudbucker " by musicians due to its very muffled and bass-heavy tone, which can be additionally dampened by the Varitone height control (German, analogously: "Matscher"); Critics criticize the limited sound possibilities of the model. With the successor model, the EB-3, a second pickup in the format of mini humbucker was added in the bridge position , which provided sounds that were somewhat higher in the treble and thus more assertive in ensemble playing.

Modifications

From 1969 to 1971 the EB-3 was built with a headstock pierced by two windows , similar to the headstock of a concert guitar ("window headstock ", English slotted headstock ). In 1971 a variant of the model with a long, 34- inch measuring scale ( English Longscale ) came out under the name EB-3L , which, however, tended to be very top-heavy. In the same year, the model's neck, previously made from American mahogany , was replaced with one made from the harder maple wood, and the pickups were moved closer together for an overall lighter, higher-pitched tone.

Today Gibson offers a further development of the EB-3 under the name SG Standard Bass or previously as SG Reissue . Gibson subsidiary Epiphone sells a replica of the EB-3.

Well-known EB-3 players

Jack Bruce ( Cream ) with Gibson EB-3

The Gibson EB-3 became better known through the English rock music bassist Jack Bruce , who used the model on all albums of the rock band Cream - with the exception of the band's first album, on which the six-string electric bass model Fender VI was used instead . Bruce played the Gibson bass mainly at high volume over amplifier systems from the British manufacturer Marshall . So he achieved a distorted sound that inspired him to solo, guitar-like playing. This tone combined harmoniously with the sound of his guitarist colleague Eric Clapton . In addition to Jack Bruce, Andy Fraser ( Free ), Trevor Bolder (with David Bowie ) and Glenn Cornick ( Jethro Tull Bourrée ) played this model; Mike Watt has been using the EB-3 live as his main instrument for several years. The variant with only one pickup, the EB-0, was used by David Knights ( Procol Harum ) and Felix Pappalardi ( Mountain ) , among others .

literature

  • Different authors: The Story of Gibson Basses, parts 1 and 2. In: Bass Professor , German-language specialist journal for bassists, issues 4/2007 and 1/2008. ISSN  1431-7648

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. a b c d MyGibsonBass8 (English)
  2. a b MyGibsonBass2 (English)
  3. FlyGuitars (English)
  4. a b c d e Dirk Groll: Cult! - Gibson EB 3 bass . Article in the magazine Guitar & Bass , edition March 2012, p. 238 ff. MM-Musik-Media-Verlag, Ulm, ISSN  0934-7674
  5. Gibson SG-Bass (English)
  6. ^ Ove Bosch: Gibson SG Reissue . Test report in: Bass Professor, German-language specialist magazine for electric bassists, issue 1/2006, p. 50 f., ISSN  1431-7648
  7. Epiphone EB-3 (English)
  8. The Cream of Jack Bruce: The EB-3 Legend's Essential CDs ( Memento from September 12, 2011 in the Internet Archive )