Pre-Gibson Tobias Owners - It's Showtime!

[adam clinton]

Serial #1711 - first pre-Gibson Tobias I have played

Amazing - plays like butter and has an unbelievably fat, huge tone!

 

[onkel kasten]

Significantly better pic.

wow! at first sight i thought this is mine!
same woods except the two stripes in the middle
what s/n is this?

 

[kesslari]

This one is 1948. I know he built one like this in the 700 range. Is yours also fretless? Are you saying it doesn't have the purpleheart in the neck?

 

[onkel kasten]

mine is #1532, its a fretted 4 string.
I think it's wenge instead of purple hearth, will post some better pics if I find some time for taking them.

 

[kesslari]

Nice! Would love to hear it...

 

[Carlosrzz]

LOL I was about to post my Tobias made in Japan (upgraded) but I still thinking hahaha

 

[IvanMike]

I posted this one some time ago - there may be some in here not in the new thread

I'd really love to see if we could find them all (that still exist) - maybe even the ones outsourced to pedulla (about 200 or so with serial numbers that start with TB and then a space)

 

[billbuhlman]

Hey,
I've had this Eclipse for about 10 years and never posted anything...

pics are now higher res

 

[billbuhlman]

Front of headstock

 

[whoapower]

Not sure I've seen an Eclipse before. Beginning of the MTD days? Unable to see high res photos, only small thumbnails.

 

[skb5string]

Not sure I've seen an Eclipse before. Beginning of the MTD days? Unable to see high res photos, only small thumbnails.

Yup, basically a MTD 535 before Mike Settled on MTD as the offiical name I think.

 

[billbuhlman]

You are correct, this is basically a 535 - number 30 out of 50. After the Gibson buy out but before MTD.

Mike quoted from website:
" By contractual agreement, after my consulting agreement with Gibson was up, I had a 1 year non-competition term that ended in Dec.'93. During that "down" time, I moved to the Catskills in upstate NY and set up a small custom shop. I started designing new instruments and building prototypes in preparation for my new venture.

The first instruments were named Eclipse. There are 50 of them and most all of are 35" scale bolt-ons with 3 neck thrus. I finally settled on a MTD as the company name and trademark."

 

[BassBased]

Hello, I haven't seen anyone post here in quite a while, but I just came across all of these beautiful old Tobias basses. Here is my Classic, serial number in the early 930's. I bought it from Mike Porcaro, of Toto, in about 1992, and it's been in two Toto videos (I have the song names somewhere and I found one recently on Youtube). Walnut back, birdseye top, with purple heart. I think the fingerboard is pau ferro, but I'm not positive. I'm not sure what the stringers are. It's a great sounding bass and I use it for recording. I played live with it, when the weight didn't bug me as much. It was my primary bass in music school.

 

[mrbassman_de]

Where are all those pre-Gib lovers ? Again nobody posted here quite a while ...

Here are some pics of my pre-Gib Signature 6:
For Sale - Tobias Signature 6 pre-Gibson Zebrawood | TalkBass.com

 

[bucephylus]

This thread has not been active for a while. there is another "Pre-Gibson" Tobias thread where the more recent posts have been going on. Link is at the top of Page 10 of this thread.

Very nice and showy 6 that you are selling. Pretty sure it would sell in a hurry if you were in the States.

 

[Funk³]

All of these are so beautiful!

 

[Ronnie Ficarro]

I have a collection of Tobias catalogs dating from 1985 - when they were still offering the "omega" cutaway on the Signatures - to a few years after the Gibson buyout.

According to a 1991 Burbank era catalog insert, the "new" Standard featured a rosewood fingerboard, an asymmetrical neck-through made from hard rock maple with bubinga stringers, and swamp ash body wings. They had active Bart electronics with a master volume, pan, and a "Dynatone" mid boost/cut tone control. The pickups are soapbar humbuckers with individual series/parallel tap switches.

They came with black hardware, Tobias tuners, and a quick-release Wilkinson bridge with adjustable intra-string spacing. Colors were natural, clear red or blue, and solid black or white. The MFSR price for a four was $1,849, and a five was $1,949, including HSC.

The photo shows three knobs and three micro-switches. It also shows a three-piece center lamination with one light colored center stringer - probably maple - and two bubinga stringers. All three are of equal width, unlike early Tobias lamination's where the center piece was only 1/32" wide. No dot position markers are shown, but the basses depicted may have been pre-production versions.


They were manufactured "overseas" to Tobias' specs with final assembly and setup being completed at the Burbank shop.

I don't know what to make of Fealach's Tobias. It doesn't quite look like any Basic, Standard, Killer B, or Model T I'm familiar with.

Hello maybe you can help me, I'm looking acquire or for any info about this particular Tobias bass bridge? I'm in need of a 4 string Version. Do you know what company made this? Who might have old Tobias parts?

Thanks

 

[Ronnie Ficarro]

mine is #1532, its a fretted 4 string.
I think it's wenge instead of purple hearth, will post some better pics if I find some time for taking them.

Any chance this bass is for sale? Or willing to part out the bridge?

Thanks,

Ronnie

 

[Tobiasfin]

One of a kind The prototype for the "400 Series" It has been around the world with Keith Nelson, while touring with Diana Ross. Back in 1991, Keith had gone into Tobias' Burbank shop, and wanted to have a second Tobias Signature built for his Diana Ross world tour, as a backup. After realizing the build finish date was further ahead than planned, Michael said to Keith " This is the prototype used to produce the import 400 Series, why don't you take it on the road, while I finish yours"
There are a lot of interesting facts about this bass, (for example, it sports a Rosewood fret-board, an a single truss rod)and two of my favorite facts of it's Provenance is that it was played by Keith (Donna Summers, David Foster and friends...) at the 1996 Superbowl Halftime Show and at "The Queen's Jubilee" in England. Later with more

 

[dreamadream99]

My Pre-Gibson, SN#62X. 6-string Basic. Flamed Maple, Purple Heart stringers. Original drop-shoulder Bartolini pickups.
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