Gibson bass with Casady body?

[stevieg]

Apparently Gibson made a Les Paul Signature guitar and bass. Casady found one in a New York pawn shop and was sold. It was a hollow body with a long neck, something he had long been looking for. The Starfire was a short neck. He approached Gibson about reissuing them. Jack found the price prohibitively high.
They discussed it and a suggestion was made to issue it as an Epiphone. Since it would be made in Korea the cost would be lower.

Casady wanted to design the pickup and specify the electronics. Further, since he was a bit dubious about instruments made in Korea, he was able to add to the agreement a clause that allowed him to go to any shop that carried the now-titled Jack Casady Bass, take one off the rack and play it at a show. If the quality was not as specified, he could call the entire deal off.

I bought one, with some trepidation, not sure what I would get from Korea.

Happily what I saw in the case was a simply gorgeous gold top Jack Casady Signature that looked like a twin of the Gibson model I had seen pictures of Casady with. On close examination I could find nothing wrong. The set-up required some minor tweaking. The electronics and finish were flawless and the neck is sheet joy.

Since Jack is still using them apparently the Korea Gibson factory rose to the occasion.

Oddly, a couple years later, I was auditioning for a band whose guitarist had a Les Paul Signature guitar. Exactly like my bass except it had two pick-ups and additional controls. It is the only one I have ever seen.

stevieg

 

[eli]

Apparently Gibson made a Les Paul Signature guitar and bass. Casady found one in a New York pawn shop and was sold. It was a hollow body with a long neck, something he had long been looking for. The Starfire was a short neck. He approached Gibson about reissuing them. Jack found the price prohibitively high.
They discussed it and a suggestion was made to issue it as an Epiphone. Since it would be made in Korea the cost would be lower.

Casady wanted to design the pickup and specify the electronics. Further, since he was a bit dubious about instruments made in Korea, he was able to add to the agreement a clause that allowed him to go to any shop that carried the now-titled Jack Casady Bass, take one off the rack and play it at a show. If the quality was not as specified, he could call the entire deal off.

I bought one, with some trepidation, not sure what I would get from Korea.

Happily what I saw in the case was a simply gorgeous gold top Jack Casady Signature that looked like a twin of the Gibson model I had seen pictures of Casady with. On close examination I could find nothing wrong. The set-up required some minor tweaking. The electronics and finish were flawless and the neck is sheet joy.

Since Jack is still using them apparently the Korea Gibson factory rose to the occasion.

Oddly, a couple years later, I was auditioning for a band whose guitarist had a Les Paul Signature guitar. Exactly like my bass except it had two pick-ups and additional controls. It is the only one I have ever seen.

stevieg

Do you have a pic of Casady with the Gibson bass he found in the pawn shop? Was it double cutaway like the current Epiphone Casady model?

And the guitarist at the band audition -- was his guitar a double-cutaway too?

 

[stevieg]

Do you have a pic of Casady with the Gibson bass he found in the pawn shop? Was it double cutaway like the current Epiphone Casady model?

And the guitarist at the band audition -- was his guitar a double-cutaway too?

Yes, the Gibson Les Paul Signature bass is on the cover of the DVD, "The Electric Bass of Jack Casady". It's an instructional DVD.

The guitarist's Les Paul Signature guitar is identical to the bass, it also had a gold top finish. The main difference is that the guitar has two pickups and correspondingly additional controls.

 

[HaphAsSard]

And the guitarist at the band audition -- was his guitar a double-cutaway too?

The guitarist's Les Paul Signature guitar is identical to the bass, it also had a gold top finish. The main difference is that the guitar has two pickups and correspondingly additional controls.

Wow, new to me. Some links about this odd beast:
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1y2-vvtiTCQ
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^ "Finish options were Gold Top (around 1400 Gold Top Les Paul Signatures were made - walnut was used for the back and sides on Gold-tops) or Tobacco Sunburst (a much rarer finish option with less than 100 made)."
Invalid Link Removed

 

[stevieg]

Wow, new to me. Some links about this odd beast:
_PLxtS9cdSo
1y2-vvtiTCQ
Invalid Link Removed
^ "Finish options were Gold Top (around 1400 Gold Top Les Paul Signatures were made - walnut was used for the back and sides on Gold-tops) or Tobacco Sunburst (a much rarer finish option with less than 100 made)."
Invalid Link Removed

Hello HaphAsSard,

It came as a surprise to me as well. I knew a guitar version existed. I had never seen one and was most surprised to see one at an audition.

S

 

[stevieg]

By the way, I assume you know that the bass pickup is low impedance, hence the varitone switch that varies the output signal by lowering or raising the response signature. Apparently this is not available with high impedance pickups.

I also have a 1967 Guild Starfire and, not to compare myself to Casady, also find that the short scale neck takes some getting used to every time I play it. I also have a Gibson T-bird and an RD Artist which have long necks. I am used to those which is why adjusting to a short scale always take a few minutes to adjust the reach of my fingering hand.
Incidentally, the story is that Jack accidentally dropped his Starfire on a backstage concrete floor where ii sustained considerable damage, as you can imagine. He had it repaired though he claimed it was never the same.
That's why you may see picture of him playing some truly odd looking instruments. For example on the cover of Hot Tuna's "Hopkorv" he playing a truly weird looking combination of a large Flying-V body, likely made for him with a long scale Guild neck.

Attached is a photo I found of Jack with Hot Tuna in 1996. It's a bit hard to see though this is his Gibson Les Paul Signature. Note the difference in the Varitone switch froim the Epis''s Also the Epiphone "E" is not al visible on the pick guard. On the 2005 photo, the logo on the pick guard is visible if you look hard enough, though "Epiphone" on the headstock is very clear.

Be well,
steph

 

[mellowgerman]

View attachment 3516349 View attachment 3516350
That's why you may see picture of him playing some truly odd looking instruments. For example on the cover of Hot Tuna's "Hopkorv" he playing a truly weird looking combination of a large Flying-V body, likely made for him with a long scale Guild neck.

That was actually a short scale Guild neck from an early Jetstar bass. It was built for him by Glen Quan, of BadAss bridge fame. The body was indeed custom-made. The bridge originally used on it as well as the pickups the Bisonic pickups were Hagstrom parts used by Guild in the 60's. Apparently he wasn't crazy about that particular bass and I have to assume it was mostly a comfort issue? Looks clumsy as all heck, but those pickups always sound killer!

 

[B-Mac]

Well, JC was based on Les Paul Signature Bass, which was a weird animal in its own right and sold poorly when originally introduced.

I've seen Midtowns under $1K regardless of what various optimists on Reverb and elsewhere ask for theirs. Like so many other Gibby basses, it never caught on and is unlikely to do so in the near future IMO.

If you ever see an equal horn length midtown with a gib ohsc for less than $1k pahleez send me a link. I’d really appreciate it.

 

[ajkula66]

If you ever see an equal horn length midtown with a gib ohsc for less than $1k pahleez send me a link. I’d really appreciate it.

That, good sir, was written a while ago. The lockdowns brought the prices of musical instruments up which is not something that I would've predicted. I don't believe that I've seen anything under $1K for a while now. If and when I do...your way a PM with the link goes.

 

[stevieg]

Do you have a pic of Casady with the Gibson bass he found in the pawn shop? Was it double cutaway like the current Epiphone Casady model?

And the guitarist at the band audition -- was his guitar a double-cutaway too?

ajkul66,

The cover of the Jack Casady instruction VHS or DVD is a photo of Jack with the Gibson Les Paul Signature.

S