- Fretless
- Y
1973 Gibson EB-3 Walnut Nitro Finish converted to fretless with ebony fingerboard.
Very unique bass (good luck finding anything like this) that has all of the lovely dark tones of the typical late 60's early 70's EB's with the added brightness of the fretless ebony neck. This thing has a monster tone and honestly just rocks...
Quote from the person I bought the bass from:
"I had the fingerboard planed and worked on by the luthier who does my upright basses, to improve its playability. The ebony fingerboard is 2/16" in depth, and was added on top of old RW fingerboard after removing frets (a pro did this; and the dot-markers are still there, on the side of the neck). In '73, Gibson also switched from mahogany to a 3-piece maple neck, which this has-- notice the nice figuring. Also, it has the early 70's neck "volute"... overall, the neck is very sturdy and plays great. Serial 968260 dates it to ’70 * ’73, but this has '73 features, and original pots cannot be read under solder to confirm."
Important Note: the bass does NOT have side dots in the typical fretless position but has the original dots from when fretted.
The bass is in great shape with some wear for the age but nothing other than some knicks, some wear near the mudbucker (see photos) and pick guard swirling.
All the parts seem original except maybe the pick guard. (The tuners are v nickel Gibson-branded Schaller BM's, dating it to 1973 forward, and bridge is a 3-point bridge, which means 1973, also has the original "witch-hat" knobs for each PU.)
The bridge cover is missing.
All PU configurations work great. A little popping on occasion when turning the rotary knob to switch the PU configuration.
The bridge def is raised up pretty high cause of the fretless conversion, but it plays great and is very fluid.
The more I write about this bass the more I realize how much I love it, but bought another fretless (Ibanez Artist series mid 70s) so dont really have a need for this anymore.
Weights: Just under 9 lbs
Has TI Flats on it now...not in the images.
If your into fretless short scales (30.5") AND Gibson's then this is the bass for you =).
Looking for cash or trade...willing to put some cash towards something more expensive too in trade deal.
Trade interests:
- Short scale 4 strings
- Serek
- Ovation Magnum
- Cali76 TX-L
Open to other basses and gear too so please don't hesitate to reach out.
Price includes CONUS shipping.
Very unique bass (good luck finding anything like this) that has all of the lovely dark tones of the typical late 60's early 70's EB's with the added brightness of the fretless ebony neck. This thing has a monster tone and honestly just rocks...
Quote from the person I bought the bass from:
"I had the fingerboard planed and worked on by the luthier who does my upright basses, to improve its playability. The ebony fingerboard is 2/16" in depth, and was added on top of old RW fingerboard after removing frets (a pro did this; and the dot-markers are still there, on the side of the neck). In '73, Gibson also switched from mahogany to a 3-piece maple neck, which this has-- notice the nice figuring. Also, it has the early 70's neck "volute"... overall, the neck is very sturdy and plays great. Serial 968260 dates it to ’70 * ’73, but this has '73 features, and original pots cannot be read under solder to confirm."
Important Note: the bass does NOT have side dots in the typical fretless position but has the original dots from when fretted.
The bass is in great shape with some wear for the age but nothing other than some knicks, some wear near the mudbucker (see photos) and pick guard swirling.
All the parts seem original except maybe the pick guard. (The tuners are v nickel Gibson-branded Schaller BM's, dating it to 1973 forward, and bridge is a 3-point bridge, which means 1973, also has the original "witch-hat" knobs for each PU.)
The bridge cover is missing.
All PU configurations work great. A little popping on occasion when turning the rotary knob to switch the PU configuration.
The bridge def is raised up pretty high cause of the fretless conversion, but it plays great and is very fluid.
The more I write about this bass the more I realize how much I love it, but bought another fretless (Ibanez Artist series mid 70s) so dont really have a need for this anymore.
Weights: Just under 9 lbs
Has TI Flats on it now...not in the images.
If your into fretless short scales (30.5") AND Gibson's then this is the bass for you =).
Looking for cash or trade...willing to put some cash towards something more expensive too in trade deal.
Trade interests:
- Short scale 4 strings
- Serek
- Ovation Magnum
- Cali76 TX-L
Open to other basses and gear too so please don't hesitate to reach out.
Price includes CONUS shipping.
