Putting this 1962 Gibson EB-3 up for sale. Prefer to keep this local to Southern California, but I can ship, that cost would have to be calculated.
I'll be straight, she's no case queen. When I received the bass, there was a pre-existing headstock repair. It's not particularly pretty, but it's stable. The front veneer is all original, but is scarred right through the middle. Additionally, at some point in its life, someone put some sort of...belt buckle clip system of something on the back, and thus it does have some screw holes in the back. Finally, a wire was clipped from the choke so as to remove it from the circuit. Wire is still in place, and can be resoldered.
With that said, let's get to the good stuff. The finish is the classic beautiful Gibson cherry Red, and while it does feature the typical nitro crazing for its age, overall for a 58 year old bass the finish has stood up well. There are chips and dings, but nothing ridiculous. All hardware and electronics are original (barring the snipped wire mentioned above, and some of the screws on the neck pickup cover). The mute has been removed, but I have that in a case and it can be added back on. The crooked tuner shown in the below photos has also been fixed. This is a '62, which features the Bakelite neck pickup cover, painted silver, prior to them moving to a metal pickup cover. The bridge pickup surround is also painted silver, as per the first few years of production. The neck pickup is that big, classic, woofy mudbucker we all know and some love. Is it a versatile sound? No, but where it fits, nothing else can come close to filling its sonic footprint.
The bridge pickup is snappy and articulate. This one is a bit microphonic, not super unusual given its age. I have left it as is, but if a buyer wanted I could remove it from the bass and wax pot it before selling (a very easy process I've had to do with a number of old pickups). The neck is one of the most comfortable bass necks I've ever played, full, but not overly chunky, and perfectly worn in. Also of note on this bass is the factory original Stinger on the headstock's reverse. These appeared on some guitars in the 40s and 50s, most notably the Super 400 and L-5, and on some models in the early 60s. They only appear very rarely on solid body instruments from what I've been able to tell. The common thought is they were used to cover up what was deemed to be an aesthetic or visual defect in the wood, not any underlying damage from the factory. You can tell this is factory as the serial number is stamped into the painted reverse. If there was a defect, well, it's possible this lead to weak wood and the eventual break, but it could also be that it's just another victim of a typical Gibson headstock break.
While under my ownership (since 2016), it's seen very little play time. I've only used it live maybe 3 or 4 times, just to cover some Cream and Free songs. A friend of mine and fellow TB'er used it to record an album and did a short tour with it, and most recently I used it in a shoot for my band's first music video (there's some good full body shots of the bass after 4:51):
And here's some photos from when I purchased it.
I'll be straight, she's no case queen. When I received the bass, there was a pre-existing headstock repair. It's not particularly pretty, but it's stable. The front veneer is all original, but is scarred right through the middle. Additionally, at some point in its life, someone put some sort of...belt buckle clip system of something on the back, and thus it does have some screw holes in the back. Finally, a wire was clipped from the choke so as to remove it from the circuit. Wire is still in place, and can be resoldered.
With that said, let's get to the good stuff. The finish is the classic beautiful Gibson cherry Red, and while it does feature the typical nitro crazing for its age, overall for a 58 year old bass the finish has stood up well. There are chips and dings, but nothing ridiculous. All hardware and electronics are original (barring the snipped wire mentioned above, and some of the screws on the neck pickup cover). The mute has been removed, but I have that in a case and it can be added back on. The crooked tuner shown in the below photos has also been fixed. This is a '62, which features the Bakelite neck pickup cover, painted silver, prior to them moving to a metal pickup cover. The bridge pickup surround is also painted silver, as per the first few years of production. The neck pickup is that big, classic, woofy mudbucker we all know and some love. Is it a versatile sound? No, but where it fits, nothing else can come close to filling its sonic footprint.
The bridge pickup is snappy and articulate. This one is a bit microphonic, not super unusual given its age. I have left it as is, but if a buyer wanted I could remove it from the bass and wax pot it before selling (a very easy process I've had to do with a number of old pickups). The neck is one of the most comfortable bass necks I've ever played, full, but not overly chunky, and perfectly worn in. Also of note on this bass is the factory original Stinger on the headstock's reverse. These appeared on some guitars in the 40s and 50s, most notably the Super 400 and L-5, and on some models in the early 60s. They only appear very rarely on solid body instruments from what I've been able to tell. The common thought is they were used to cover up what was deemed to be an aesthetic or visual defect in the wood, not any underlying damage from the factory. You can tell this is factory as the serial number is stamped into the painted reverse. If there was a defect, well, it's possible this lead to weak wood and the eventual break, but it could also be that it's just another victim of a typical Gibson headstock break.
While under my ownership (since 2016), it's seen very little play time. I've only used it live maybe 3 or 4 times, just to cover some Cream and Free songs. A friend of mine and fellow TB'er used it to record an album and did a short tour with it, and most recently I used it in a shoot for my band's first music video (there's some good full body shots of the bass after 4:51):
And here's some photos from when I purchased it.
