Brethren, I am not a greedy man but I find myself at odds between two beautiful and useful basses; the Gibson EB (produced 2013 and 2014 only) and the Lakland Decade (Skyline for price parity, single coil Chi Sonics for the win). I like unique basses, but only when they sound good too. I also value tone versatility. Both the Gibson and the Lakland offer these things with their own brand of mojo. I could get into the specifics of what I like (thinner neck, etc) but instead I thought I'd open this question up to the TalkBass faithful and make it about you. So what say you? If you were making this decision for yourself, what would you pick?
I have a 2013 EB. I like it. The finish is rough (intentionally), which it seems that a lot of people didn’t care for. The pickguard was brittle and a very ugly fake tort, so I replaced mine. It’s not wholely Gibson, with ash body and maple neck, but it leans that way. Kind of the gateway Gibson for Fender players. While not huge, the neck isn’t thin either, more like a D-profile P neck. I enjoy it for what it is - a solid bass that I don’t have to baby, plays well, hot thunderous pickups. It has a lot of tones, but like any other bass, I tend to stick to just two or three. No experience with the Lakland.
I haven’t A/B’d with a Tbird directly. Gets kind of in the range, I guess. The pickups aren’t traditional Tbird pickups, though I think they share the same shape/footprint and I think they used them on the Tbird for a couple of years. They’re still using them in the current EB.
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