Early popularity of Gibson/Fender basses?

[iamthebassman]

Originally Posted by KrisH

I believe it was the EB-3, at least it looks like it from what I can see on the back of the "Love It To Death" album.

Dennis Dunaway's bass started out as an EB-O, but he added the P-bass pickup and extra controls.

[sevenyearsdown]

I think it is fair to say that Entwhistle played just about one of everything....both with pics and fingers.

[brachal]

I have a 68 EB-3. It is an amazing bass, beautifully made and with a tiny neck. You can't believe that neck is on a bass guitar. The Gibson SG reissue has a much fatter neck on it. Nothing I've ever touched is as fast or as playable as the old EB. Of course the headstock snapped off at some point, but it's been well repaired. The tone is what it is ... EB sound. The mudbucker pickup gives much better tones with flatwound strings ... it almost seems to dislike roundwounds.

My P-bass is much more versatile, can do just about any sound you ask of it. It is also durable. It's seen abuse that would have destroyed the old Gibson. On the other hand, the fretboard is so wide, it feels like trying to play an aircraft carrier if I've been using the EB for a while.

I also have a newish Gibson T-bird ... a pretty happy blending of the two guitars, but still fragile. I think the neck dive problem with this bass is very overrated. I use a 3" leather strap and don't have any problems with it.

[PhR]

Originally Posted by BillMason

I'm pretty sure Bob Daisley played a P bass almost exclusively.

"Blizzard Of Ozz" was played using Gibson EB-3.
http://www.bobdaisley.com/gear.htm

[Barkless Dog]

http://www.flyguitars.com/interviews/bobdaisley2.php

Bob Daisley For the first album I did with Ozzy when we were called The Blizzard Of Ozz. I know a lot of people refer to it as Ozzy's solo career but when we formed that band it was a band and it was called The Blizzard Of Ozz. That first album that we did I used a Gibson EB-3 on it because for those songs I'd tried various basses and to me they just didn't sound quite right. I actually brought the first one I could get, I just went out a bought an EB-3 and used that on that album. I had my Fender down there but like I say nothing sounded quite right on those songs for some reason and I had my Ampeg and I probably had an Acoustic amp cause I had an Acoustic bass amp that I'd bought from Boz Burrell from Bad Company. He'd done that first Bad Company album with it then I bought it off him after that. For a Gibson EB-3 you really need a Marshall stack you know for the best match for sound. So when I got the EB-3 to use on that album I used one of Randy's stacks cause he had a couple of these Marshall 100 Watt stacks and a couple of cabinets and a couple of heads and that so I used one head and one 4X12 mic'd for that album.

[pbagley]

As long as we're talking about our bass purchasing experiences from the '70s...

In the small Iowa town I grew up in there were just a few music stores. When I wanted to start playing bass they all pushed Fender. Didn't have the $ for a new one, so they pushed Asian knock off's of the P-bass.

My first bass was a used Kay, short scale, hollow Les Paul shape (no holes, more like a Dano). The Fenders and Clones all seemed 1) too big, and 2) dead sounding. No life. No tone. Could have been the amps, could have been shop worn flats, not sure. Ended up with an EB-0 used. Had an EB-2 for a short while, loved it. In an odd train wreck of events I had it appraised by a second store who claimed it was stolen. Refund from store #1. Never saw it again.

Didn't play bass for about 15 years. Restarted again in the early '90s, got a 60's EB2 and a 70's Guild (a name I have not seen mentioned in this thread yet) JSB2. Life was good, but I continued to try a lot of basses (in search of some tallent I guess). None of the Fender basses ever felt right. Those from the '70s sounded dead (same as in the '70s), older I could not afford and generally didn't even try (the ones I did were not impressive).

Bought and sold a bunch of basses. The EB-2 was traded in on a fretless Godin Acousticaster. Financially a really dumb move. Musicianship value and learning were on the Godin's side though.

Then in '99 I bought a 5 string G&L L-5000 on a whim, mail order. My bass. Not like any previous Fender, this one is me. It still plays 95% of my cover band gigs.

So I've still never owned a Fender branded bass. I have a 70's Peavey T-40 that sounds dead (couldn't resist this one) that fills the void I guess.

So my point? I never could connect to any Fender bass in the '70s. I'm happy there were alternatives, admittedly less popular (like me I guess).

- Paul (who is also a fan of Jack Bruce and appreciates all of the Tull bassists through about 1980)

[BillMason]

Originally Posted by PhR

"Blizzard Of Ozz" was played using Gibson EB-3.
http://www.bobdaisley.com/gear.htm

Cool! Did not know that.

[KPAX]

I remember that bass from LITD. All those guys had such long hair. I was in 6th grade and they were rad and cool. I always liked DD's Jazz tone on School's Out.

Originally Posted by iamthebassman

Dennis Dunaway's bass started out as an EB-O, but he added the P-bass pickup and extra controls.

[Barkless Dog]

looks like Leon played birds for a while.




look at the hoop to counter neck dive.

[TBird1958]

I was looking for those pics of Leon, he had some cool 'Birds!
Here's one of my faves, Mr Pete Way with his '76 'Bird in 1978.
When I got see UFO in '78 with Michael Schenker this is what he played for the whole show except one song, Cherry, which he picked his P Bass for. I remember it well 'cause when the song was done he took it off and threw it........and it landed with a crash. He finished the show with the Thunderbird and used it to push over his Marshall stack.

[GeneralElectric]

Originally Posted by Barkless Dog

Glen Cornick -


I read that Pete did play a thunderbird in UFO, but I was thinking of Golden Earring with Rinus Gerritsen. He used an EB-3 for a time and used it on the song Radar Love.

"Leon Wilkeson used a P-bass"
looks like a non reverse T bird here?

Whenever I think of Glenn Cornick, I think of him and his 62 Jazz bass with the bastard lefty P-Bass neck.

All the pictures I've got of Pete have him with that stupid mirror PG

The few times that I've seen Leon Wilkeson play he was using a blonde colored P-bass.

[jackcassruce]

I bought my first bass in 1965 . I was doing studio work in 1971 . Jack Bruce , Jack Casady and Entwhistle were the only bassists really shaking it up . They all used Gibsons . If you had the money you bought a Gibson , if you didn't you had Fender . My 1970 Les Paul bass was $585 , nothing sounded as good .

[SturmUndDrang]

Leon Wilkeson, RIP, definitely played Thunderbirds. If you look at the liner notes on the album second helping it credits him as playing a Firebird bass, not accurate but you see what they intended. He also played Fenderbirds. John Entwistle actually gave him a black one you can see in this vid.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=abDFdnknGYs

[SturmUndDrang]

Oh Barkless beat me to it.

[sven kalmar]

i believe Phil lesh,s first bass was a G. EB..
i saw squire play a presicion not too ølong ago..warm fat sound.

[GM60466]

Gibson has always had a smaller market share when it come to electric bass. They did so well with their solid body and arch top lines that it never mattered to their bottom line. There was a lot more profit margin in a L5 model than an EB1. Since the reintroduction back in 1968, Gibson has been a "Les Paul model" company. The RD and Victory models were never taken as serious as anything Fender made. That's my opinion.

[godofthunder59]

Good enough for me! I have been playing Thunderbirds since '76 Non reverse almost exclusively since '78

Originally Posted by Barkless Dog

Not only that he got it right everytime- MM & G&L

The man was a genius.

Another Chris Squire Tbird shot. From an interview somewhere I read that Chris Sqiuire said he would go out and buy what ever Entwistle was playing at the time.




Another JE shot


I find it curious that all these iconic bass players played Gibsons in some point of their careers, yet the basses are not good enough for a lot of Talkbassers?

[wvbass]

Great thread, but -1 to those guys that can't resist the urge to bash thunderbirds. I am finding that, with the strap pin on the back of the bass instead of the upper horn, the ergonomics change completely, and for the better overall, imo.

I started playing in 1980, so I just miss being one of the "old guys.". But, I don't think the Gibson/Fender relationship has changed much over the years. The cliche "Leo got it right," really does apply. Tone-wise, he seemed very concerned about pickup placement, whereas it appears to be something of an afterthought for Gibson. He seemed to favor ergonomics over looks, which was a gamble that he won on. A lot of the looks of a Fender are born of ergonomics and production decisions; luckily, players dug the look! He also made his instruments such that they could be made quickly on an assembly line. Those QC things that we like to harp on (big neck pockets, ugly routes under the pickguard, etc.) allowed Fender to produce a lot of instrument quickly and to sell them relatively cheaply. Being able to produce cheaply in quantity allowed Fender to dominate the market. The presence of Fenders everywhere made their tone the "standard.". This was done by cutting production corners in favor of quantity over quality. And by producing so many instruments, there are a lot of really great ones out there. Gibson, on the other hand, has always for the most part, produced basses in limited quantities and at higher price points, choosing instead to focus more on the guitar market. This wasn't a bad decision (a band may have 2 or 3 guitar players, but only ever 1 bass player), but it does mean they took a huge backset to Fender in the bass market.

This was all true in the 80s and still is today. I suspect it was the case in the 60's and 70's too.

Having said all that, I'm a "Fender guy" that is really enjoying his new Gibson!

[wvbass]

Originally Posted by godofthunder59

Good enough for me! I have been playing Thunderbirds since '76 Non reverse almost exclusively since '78

And nobody on this board is the least bit jealous of your collection! Seriously, you just need to post every picture you can find of your basses on stage. To me, there is a visual magic to a Gibson that Fender has never quite been able to capture. Fendes can look cool too,but it is just not the same. It is like comparing the cool factor of Clint Eastwood to anybody that...well...isn't Clint Eastwood.

[meatwad]

Interesting that "Crazy Train" was cut on an EB3. I wonder if the same could be said for "Believer" from Diary.. Sorry to go OT.