Replacing the pickups on a 60's Gibson EB-0
 

Ok, so before you all start shouting blasphemy hear me out.

I play in a sludge/doom band out of a ric most of the time. We Tune down to drop A#, and I need a backup bass. I've had this gibson forever but it has been relegated to not being used because it sounds like MUD.

Now I've thought about selling it... but it plays like a DREAM. What can be done that wont ruin my ability to sell it? Are there any oversized humbucker pickups that wont require drilling extra holes?

My other worry is non pickup related but I am worried about having it set up for A# and its effect on the neck.


Thanks for the help in advance guys!

It's difficult to make this sound "normal" because of the pickup positions. I assume you aren't willing to put a stingray pickup into the sweet spot.

Pickups - DiMarzio Model One, Novak FatBucker, or just coil-tap the original.

Neck - with the right gauge strings, the tension on the neck can remain similar to normal. Maybe some DR DDT strings?

Good luck finding short scale strings in a gauge heavy enough to tune down... if you find them, please let me know.

Chris Novak claims to have developed a bucker to solve this exact problem. Not sure if it's any better then a model one?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_vYiNpBAr3Q

i'll take the mudbucker off yer hands!

Does anyone know of strings that will hold up? I read some people just using 5 strings...


PM'd about the mudbucker.

a set of short scale chrome flats and a higher action would hold A#.

i love the mudbucker sound for stoner/doom, it has a real 70s twist. run it through some tubes, crank the treble a little on the amp and you sound like Felix Pappilardi.

+1 on the DiMarzio M1, from personal experience. Don't throw away the original, though.

totally the wrong instrument for what you want.

at 30" scale it's really too short for standard, much less drop-tuning, and the combination of the light mahogany neck and the mudbucker pickup position (regardless of the pickup you put there) means you'll never be happy with the sound of it.

even if you wreck the resale value by routing pickups into other positions it'll still not really get the sound; the soft, light mahogany neck + body just doesn't carry the fundamental right.

(i went through this struggle too, my old EB-O felt so awesome and looked so cool, but the sound was just not in there, even after multiple pickup butcheries. you could hold the neck against your ear and play it unplugged and tell it wasn't gonna happen.)

now had gibson made the whole thing out of maple, it might have been workable, even at the short scale. fender mustang basses for example are more usable at the same scale length, at least for standard tuning. forget about tuning them down, though.

i recommend keeping it stock and selling it for something that will actually do what you need.

Di Marzio Model 1 with push pull coil tap and DR DDT strings. Hang on to the original pickup and pot. Totally reversable mods.