I thought that I would share a quick NBD post to highlight the Gollihur Ed bass. There's not too much out there on these particular basses, so I hope this helps to provide some additional information about them.
I don't play Rockabilly, so I opted for the brown bass (not the black version), a Realist Lifeline pickup (not the package pickup), Spriocore S42 strings (not the package strings) as well as the standard bag. In other words, this is more about the Ed as a regular bass, not the specific package that Gollihur sells. The changes that I made did end up reducing the overall price of the package a little. It took a little while to get the bass as the luthier that Gollihur uses in Alabama was a little backed up during the holidays, but I was out of town, so that wasn't much of an issue for me.
One of the things that made choosing the Ed a little difficult was that there weren't too many specs online about it. Based on my rough measurements, it seems like it may be slightly different from the laminated Estelle Louis.
Specs
Scale – 41"
Neck – D (when my thumb is under my middle finger and my thumb contacts the base of the neck, my index finger naturally falls on D)
Body Height – 43.5" (bottom of the bass to top of the body under the neck joint)
Weight – 21.1 lb.
Upper Bout – 19.5" (width), 8.0" (depth)
Lower Bout – 26.5" (width), 8.5" (depth)
Initial Quality Perception
Overall, great. The Ed seems really well built compared to most of the less expensive basses that I've borrowed and rented. To be clear, this is a laminated bass, so it's not fair to compare the Ed to carved or hybrid basses, but as laminated basses go, the Ed appears to be among the better ones initially. The fit and finish are very nice, and the setup was well done (the action is a little bit higher than I would normally like, but this was minor and easily remedied). The pickup was also installed correctly, which was nice.
Of course, the experience of working with Mark at Gollihur was great, which is the main reason that I chose them after looking into several different options – I've had good past experiences with Gollihur. The bass arrived by FedEx Freight (included in the price of the bass) in a well packed cardboard box.
The bass feels sturdy and plays well. The sound has the punch that you would expect from a laminate – it also has a little more bass than I would have expected (maybe the wider lower bout) given the newness of the strings. It reasonably loud, but not super loud, then again, I had been borrowing a 7/8 for a while, so that may be coloring my expectations.
Anyway, I'm happy with my purchase. Obviously, the question now will be how my Ed holds up over time, but I don't have a reason for immediate concern. Also, I didn't mention the global supply chain issues or inflation overall, but I thought that buying a bass like this will likely be more expensive when the next batch comes in. Hope this info is helpful.
