Not a Gibson unfortunately, though I do own a 1968 Gibson EB-0. I bought a new Epiphone EB-3 and thought I'd briefly share my impressions after a week of owning it.
Fit and finish are fine, it looks great out of the box. As with most instruments the strings that came on it from the factory were crap so I got some Ernie Ball flats and ran a full setup on it. The truss rod needed a minor tweak and the action was just a bit high for my taste but intonation was dead on so I didn't have to mess with that.
It has a three position switch which isn't the old Gibson Varitone, but rather a pickup selector. You can have one or the other or both. Okay, cool. I've played around with it and will generally leave it in position 2 for both and just adjust the individual pickup volume knobs for the sound I want. There is an aftermarket drop in kit available (Rothstein Guitars • Prewired Gibson EB-3 Assemblies) which looks interesting but for now, I'm happy with the tones the stock controls produce.
It goes without saying, but I'll say it anyway, that the neck dive is a real thing. Turn loose with your left hand and it's going down. Whether or not that's a problem is a matter of personal preference. It doesn't bother me. The neck is slim and that helps me as I have arthritis in both hands.
The one negative I'll point out is that it had a noticeable amount of hum out of the box. Not horrible, but more than I found to be acceptable. Laying my fingers across the strings quieted it so I decided to try shielding. I took all of the pots and switches out this morning and shielded the cavity, the cover, and the pickguard with copper foil tape. That alone got rid of 90% of the hum. I could probably get rid of the rest by shielding the pickup cavities but at this point the hum is slight enough that I don't notice it any more.
I'm favorably impressed with my purchase. That may be because I'm a sucker for a nice SG but honestly I feel like this bass is a good buy for someone on a budget. It fits right in with the rest of my family.
Fit and finish are fine, it looks great out of the box. As with most instruments the strings that came on it from the factory were crap so I got some Ernie Ball flats and ran a full setup on it. The truss rod needed a minor tweak and the action was just a bit high for my taste but intonation was dead on so I didn't have to mess with that.
It has a three position switch which isn't the old Gibson Varitone, but rather a pickup selector. You can have one or the other or both. Okay, cool. I've played around with it and will generally leave it in position 2 for both and just adjust the individual pickup volume knobs for the sound I want. There is an aftermarket drop in kit available (Rothstein Guitars • Prewired Gibson EB-3 Assemblies) which looks interesting but for now, I'm happy with the tones the stock controls produce.
It goes without saying, but I'll say it anyway, that the neck dive is a real thing. Turn loose with your left hand and it's going down. Whether or not that's a problem is a matter of personal preference. It doesn't bother me. The neck is slim and that helps me as I have arthritis in both hands.
The one negative I'll point out is that it had a noticeable amount of hum out of the box. Not horrible, but more than I found to be acceptable. Laying my fingers across the strings quieted it so I decided to try shielding. I took all of the pots and switches out this morning and shielded the cavity, the cover, and the pickguard with copper foil tape. That alone got rid of 90% of the hum. I could probably get rid of the rest by shielding the pickup cavities but at this point the hum is slight enough that I don't notice it any more.
I'm favorably impressed with my purchase. That may be because I'm a sucker for a nice SG but honestly I feel like this bass is a good buy for someone on a budget. It fits right in with the rest of my family.
