Gibson EB 5 String Bass

[G On Bass]

Kinda an impulse buy as I was saving up for something else, but this caught my eye....

Specs Link Removed (from 4 string page).

I just got it unboxed. It came in a gorgeous case with white fur and a padded handle. Very nice.

It's finished in a thin, satin Nitro which some have bagged on, but I personally love it. It feels great to the touch, and the wood is not sealed and totally smooth. It's different that any other bass I've seen.

The Babicz (19mm), as expected, is great (I have 2 other basses with that bridge). The bass is super light (<8.5 pounds) and is very comfortable to play. Due to the strap button location, I was concerned about possible neck-dive tendencies, as I am super, super sensitive to that. I'm happy to report there is no neck dive at all. Not a trace. And it seems to be a 3 piece maple neck.

The neck is slim front to back, with the back pretty flat. Not baseball bat at all (I'm not a fan at all of thick necks). The bass seems very resonant and the B string seems solid and blends well with the rest of the strings.

I've not yet had a chance to play it cranked, but so far I really like what I hear from the pickups. I love being able to coil tap, but I don't care for pull-pots, so I will likely get it re-wired VVTT with coil tap switches and move the pickup jack to the body. I;m still not sure if this is going to wear flats or the Circle K's it currently has on it.

Construction overall seems very, very solid. Tight seams, perfect fret edges, secure tuners and electronics. Definitely some attention to detail going on.

So here are the customary bass-on-'sheepskin'-rug pics (all out of Polar Bear). I included some measurements as well.

 

[lfbassguy]

Very nice!! I would love to be able to try one of these.

 

[two fingers]

Report back when you really let it eat please! I dig these things more and more. They are kind of growing on me. Congrats!

 

[Immigrant]

Congratulations! It looks fantastic!

And thank you for posting such beautiful, GAS-inducing, and question-answering photos.

 

[Ben Lesser]

My roommate has the 4 string version of this bass. I've gotta say, it's a pretty cool piece of kit. Deep sound, plays well. He's having some troubles getting the neck to stay straight, but it's got an awesome sound to it (and if you like a well-worn instrument, this one wears well and quick).

Congrats!

 

[aus_bass]

Not a fan of Gibson basses generally, but I gotta say that one looks fantastic. Congrats.

 

[hdracer]

Congratulations on the new Gibby and thanks for posting the specs.
I have been wanting one from the moment I heard of them.

It's bad for me though because my left hand does not like a 1 3/4 nut.

 

[huckleberry1]

beautiful, looks like my RD ARTIST

 

[Webtroll]

Nice score, I'd love to try one sometime

 

[G On Bass]

Thanks, everyone.

Congratulations! It looks fantastic!

And thank you for posting such beautiful, GAS-inducing, and question-answering photos.

I figured I'd take pics of the measurements people always seem to ask about.

My roommate has the 4 string version of this bass. I've gotta say, it's a pretty cool piece of kit. Deep sound, plays well. He's having some troubles getting the neck to stay straight, but it's got an awesome sound to it (and if you like a well-worn instrument, this one wears well and quick).

The sound out of the pickups does seem to be pretty robust. I'm looking forward to the bass aging quickly, but not so much me...

 

[Herrick]

How big is the body compared to a Fender Jazz?

 

[G On Bass]

How big is the body compared to a Fender Jazz?

I've never owned a Fender Jazz so I don't have a basis for comparison, sorry.

 

[basspraiser]

Nice Gus!

 

[Herrick]

I've never owned a Fender Jazz so I don't have a basis for comparison, sorry.

How about a Precision?

 

[madbassplaya]

Interesting bass. Looks very cool, Gus. Think this will overtake the Bromberg?

 

[Nobody]

Oh man! Now I really want one of these....

 

[G On Bass]

Nice Gus!

Thanks!

How about a Precision?

Briefly, but awhile back and only for a short time. In general I don't notice it to be particularly large or small compared to other basses, except for being smaller than a Carvin SB5000. It fits in all the gig bags I have.

Interesting bass. Looks very cool, Gus. Think this will overtake the Bromberg?

Not a chance. They are set up for totally different sounds and situations.

 

[boynamedsuse]

Congratulations on the new Gibby and thanks for posting the specs.
I have been wanting one from the moment I heard of them.

It's bad for me though because my left hand does not like a 1 3/4 nut.

I don't think you are going to find a 5-string with a much narrower nut. The Ibanez SR 5 strings have a 1 3/4 nut.


Let me clarify that the SRs have a 16.5 mm spacing at the bridge, so the rest of the neck is thinner, but the Gibson nut per se is not bad.

 

[G On Bass]

An update.

Here's why I haven't posted a follow up on this until now:

When I got the bass from the factory, it had a broken Corian nut, rendering the A and D string unplayable. So I had a bone nut installed and a setup done immediately. To their credit, Sweetwater offered to send me a whole new bass immediately (I declined) and they had 2 blank nuts in the mail the next day.

I get it home, and there is a problem with the wiring as the volume never turned all the way off. When both pots were down, the tone knob controlled the volume. It was really stupid. But, sensing a challenge (and also having intended all along to rewire it to lose the push pull pots), I bought all new 500k Bourns pots, Orange Drops (waste of money, I know, but they look cool), a football jackplate, 2 mini toggles and some extra knobs. I had the whole bass rewired V/T V/T with mini toggles for the coil tap, and also moved the jack to the side of the nobody where it belongs.

While it was being rewired, I had them look at the frets. The sides were fine (no sprout) but there were high frets and whatnot. Being committed at this point, I had him do those also.

So now I have it back. It is a totally different beast. The coil taps are awesome and the pickups are actually usable in both settings. It's really, really resonant and very comfortable to play. I have a rehearsal tomorrow night and will be able to post more about how it really sounds in a band environment. It is very unfortunate that the bass straight from the factory required immediate repairs (-1 on you, Gibson) but the mods really seem to bring out what I think was intended with this bass.

We'll see how it goes tomorrow night, but I think that if Gibson can get its QC in order and get this bass out the door without all these issues, it can be a really, really good bass

To their credit, Sweetwater took care of me with some store credit to cover some of the cost of the repairs. Not the mods. I'll be buying from them from now on. Anyone can be good when things go well, but Sweetwater kicked a$$ for me in this situation.

Pics of mods tomorrow.

 

[darkstorm]

I dont think Ive ever seen a 5 string Gibson bass before. Glad you got a good one fretwork etc etc wise. Good to hear it doesnt neckdive. Does have longer front horn then many gibsons which I'm sure helped that. Looks like nice new bass.