Well Gibson is further cutting their bass line now in the Epiphone brand. They are making a thunderbird only for this year it seems.
Epiphone | Original Bass Collection
Epiphone | Original Bass Collection
Enjoy the benefits of a premium membership!
Upgrade Account
-
TalkBass has been independent since 1998. Add your voice.
Create a free account to reply to discussions, view embedded media, and browse with fewer display ads.
Join free Log in
Want zero display ads or expanded classifieds tools? Compare plans.
Epiphone cutting back to one bass?!
- Thread starter bassplayer9512
- Start date
Naw, they'll never stop making the Jack Casady bass.
Ah I must have missed that link in their menu or my phone was glitching! But still surprised by no EB bass option.
Last edited:
My first thought was they put an EMG humbucker and a Kramer decal on a Toby.
It is pretty confusing - first, there’s no bass category anymore (you have to look under "Guitars"), and second, if you follow a link to Epiphone Bass Collection such as below, you’d think the Thunderbird disappeared:
Epiphone | Bass Collection
You only see everything under ‘The Bass Collections’ (with an -s, plural).
Beyond that, it’s hard to believe they discontinued the EB-0/3, but it looks like they did. The Embassy Pro is gone too, among others
Last edited:
And in ‘Guitars’ under ‘Inspired by Gibson’ is ‘Original Bass’, which only presents the Thunderbird Vintage Pro, but under ‘Original’ is the subcategory ‘Bass’, which shows all their other basses besides ‘Original Bass’. Lol
No Embassy is sad. Waa supposed to be a passion project of one of the employees.
Perhaps once things settle down at gibson, eppiphone will up production. I hate to see eppi cutting back, they always gave you a good bang for the buck!
From what I understand, Epiphone is its own entity, separate from Gibson almost entirely. They are not structured the same as Fender / Squire. Where Fender produces instruments using the Squier brand, Gibson licenses its designs to Epiphone to be produced over seas. I could be wrong, but that's what I've been told on the past.
I would love to see Epiphone start going for the bass models Gibson refuses to do true reissues of! They killed it with their Thunderbird and they really should only make that one!
Maybe Epiphone is rethinking their strategy of selling sub par guitars and basses. The EB0 was what? $269. You get a bolt on neck and the cheapest hardware that they can source. I did the cheap bass thing with Squier, never again.
Epiphone may be operated as a separate entity from Gibson but it is still wholly owned by Gibson. When Gibson CEO James Curleigh says jump, the management at Epiphone says "How High". Curleigh brought big changes to the Gibson line and now he's changing the Epiphone line. I expect that the EB0 and EB3 will be back as a much better instrument than they were.
Epiphone may be operated as a separate entity from Gibson but it is still wholly owned by Gibson. When Gibson CEO James Curleigh says jump, the management at Epiphone says "How High". Curleigh brought big changes to the Gibson line and now he's changing the Epiphone line. I expect that the EB0 and EB3 will be back as a much better instrument than they were.
I love my Embassy and my Casady. Shame they're going away. On the other hand, when I find a bass Inreally dig, I buy because it will soon be discontinued. Like my Starcaster.
I'm glad to see the Rumblekat still going strong. I had one a long time ago--first bass I ever bought brand new. Very fun to play, and easily one of the most attractive designs I've seen.
