Many years ago I saw the Grateful Dead and Phil was playing what I thought was at the time an Gibson SG bass, but later found out it was a Guild with a similiar shape. This was in 1970. Anybody have any experience or knowledge of this model?
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Guild SG shaped bass
- Thread starter jim nolte
- Start date
bongomania
Commercial User
+1Pennydreadful said:
I've always wanted to try one. They supposedly have a very thunderous tone. They made both long scale and short scale versions (the short scale is more commonly-seen). They were made in the USA, and have a set neck (NOT neck-through as some Ebayers claim). They mostly had the same colors as Gibson: Walnut, trans cherry, and black. There was a short semi-custom run with acorns and leaves carved into the top, which is fairly "collectable" now.
Well I gotta say in less than 5 minutes I got my answer! The knowledge on this site is pretty amazing! Thanks Yellofury. Now has any played one?
no but you can BUY one
http://cgi.ebay.com/1973-Guild-JSB-...93QQihZ012QQcategoryZ4713QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem
http://cgi.ebay.com/1973-Guild-JSB-...93QQihZ012QQcategoryZ4713QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem
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Here's another one for sale. In Australia, though.
Very nice looking bass. And interesting pickups. Look at all those controls.
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Very nice looking bass. And interesting pickups. Look at all those controls.
Link Removed
The bass you are talking about was not a Guild. Phil's semihollow Starfire was, but not the SG-shaped bass. That bass was a Gibson EBO heavily modded with a pair of Hagstrom/Guild Bisonic pickups (the model Dark Stars replicate today), an early Alembic emitter-follower preamp circuit and brass bridge and tailpiece also built by Alembic. It was painted psychedelic and several pictures of the bass you saw are here: http://basspickup.com/.
Look in the Gallery at the bottom of the landing page. The second and third rows each have pix of Phil playing the EBO. It is the bass Phil played on the Skull and Roses collection and (I think) at least part of Workingman's Dead. The bass got stolen from a gig around that time. It is my favorite of all Phil's basses.
Hey thanks for the info bassman 10096. At the time I thought it was some sort of Gibson but the pups threw me as they seemed to be the same as his Starfire. On another note I traded a 64 Jazz for a 65 Starfire only because I started seeing Jack Casady playing one, figured it must be a better bass . I was able to trade for it back and still have the Jazz. The first time I met Casady I told him that story and he gives me a thumbs up and says "good move!" He said that the only reason he would get a new bass because his last one would always get stolen beginning with his modified Jazz bass.
Both Phil and Jack played lots of short scales, the Guilds, particular mods that were the absolute state of the art at the time. But neither seems to have too much good to say about those basses now. By the way, after Phil's EBO was stolen, it turned up in a pawn shop for $5 or 600. Someone grabbed it and, as the story goes, offered it to Phil for the pittance it cost to get out of hock. My understanding is that Phil declined to pay anything to get the bass back. 
Well I can see why, I had to glue the pole pieces back into the pickup on the Starfire because they kept falling out!But you know, when you're 17 years old and your hero changes basses you have to "keep up" !
Jack's Starfire (with the Hagstrom Bisonics), particularly after the Alembic folks got hold of it (brass brdge, preamp, etc) sounded like the voice of God. I saw him one evening on what must have been the first Hot Tuna tour, playing that thing with all five fingers of his right hand. I've never heard a bass or bass player sound cooler in my life. Absolute genius.
And he is still doing it. I saw Jack and Jorma last month as acoustic Hot Tuna in Santa Cruz, Ca. at the Catalyst and he sounded as good as ever playing his Epiphone Signature through a SWR Baby Blue amp and it's all still there. He is also one of the most humble guys I've ever met, no ego, quick witted, funny , willing to talk to fellow bass players, not taking himself to seriously, just seems to be an all round nice guy considering the legend in electric bass history that he is.
Never met him personally, myself, but that's what I've heard others say. His interviews read that way. I saw him with Jorma a couple Thanksgivings ago in NYC. He was masterful and occasionally, just occasionally, really opened it up. Not the brash guy of old who couldn't wait to show his chops. Those chops were enough to get me to put my bass away for a month when I was 19. Once my ego recovered, I just wanted to learn why he was so good at getting thoughts that made sense to me into music.
At age 52, when I returned to taking lessons (from an old salt like me, fortunately), my teacher paid me a rare compliment by asking, "You really listened to a lot of Casady, didn't you?".
At age 52, when I returned to taking lessons (from an old salt like me, fortunately), my teacher paid me a rare compliment by asking, "You really listened to a lot of Casady, didn't you?".
