Pre-Gibson Tobias Owners - It's Showtime!

[XavidmanX]

BTW, where did you get that bad boy from?

 

[XavidmanX]

few more...Hope the tone isn't too dark for me.

Hope it works out for you. I think you should be OK with the tone.

 

[kesslari]

Greenbass, that's a gorgeous instrument. Enjoy her.

 

[XavidmanX]

BUMMER!!! Sorry to hear about that. That's disappointing to say the least.

 

[kesslari]

Man. I'm really sorry to hear that. That completely and utterly stinks.

 

[WordToHerb]

Mine is number 753 and was made in 88'. It's got a Walnut body, Goncalo Alves top, Flamed Birdseye Maple neck, Pau Ferro board, and Wenge laminate. From what im told it was originally Bobby Sheehan's bass from Blues Traveler.

 

[evilgus]

A question for the technically minded, or anyone that owns both a pre-Gib 5 and a 6 : Do the curved pickups in the 6-strings sound the same as the pickups in the 4 and 5-strings that have a ledge for the screws? Does anyone know if the internal construction is the same?

Cheers,

EG

 

[Angus]

Though i'm not sure about those in particular, I know that Bartolini was doing that with a lot of their pickups for a time, and they were available in all sort of configurations. Unless somebody here knows specifically, I'd just send Mike Tobias an email and share the results. He's absolutely great with email and always gives courteous, informative responses.

 

[Georges Abitbol]

Mine is number 753 and was made in 88'. It's got a Walnut body, Goncalo Alves top, Flamed Birdseye Maple neck, Pau Ferro board, and Wenge laminate. From what im told it was originally Bobby Sheehan's bass from Blues Traveler.

Stunning!

 

[s_wood]

All of this reminds me that my Holy Grail of basses is the quilted maple pre-Gibson 5 string that used to be pictured on the old Tobias strings package. What a sweet bass! I keep watching eBay for it.

 

[evilgus]

A question for the technically minded, or anyone that owns both a pre-Gib 5 and a 6 : Do the curved pickups in the 6-strings sound the same as the pickups in the 4 and 5-strings that have a ledge for the screws? Does anyone know if the internal construction is the same?

I heard back from a long-time pre-Gibson Tobias owner that the non-ramped, non-labelled, curved 6-string pickups are single-coils, the same as the ramped/stepped pickups on the fours and fives. Makes sense that the construction was consistent for same vintage basses, but I guess a wider pickup required different casing design.

P.S: Pre-Gibson Tobias purchase underway. Finally.

Cheers,

EG

 

[BassLand]

The 6 String PUs were not single coil as stated above they were all narrow spacing humbuckers 4,5, & 6

 

[mrbassman_de]

I have never seen a single coil pup in a US Tobias. I have installed a coil tap switch on a pre-Gib Classic 5 , which is possible only on Bart pickups with 4 wires (huge improvement by the way). The "stepped" 5-string pickups of the 1nnn-era (early Gibson, or pre-Nashville, or late pre-Gibson or whatever) have 4 conductors.

Later in the "real" Gibson era they wrapped the pickup coils into plastic and led only 2 wires outside so that single coil operation is disabled. Possibly they have switched to Preci-like split coil pickups, but all of the variants have been humbuckers.

Besides the coil wiring I don't hear a difference between the early and later pickups, or between the 5er and the 6er. But I don' have enough test objects to produce a significiant result ...;-)

 

[evilgus]

The 6 String PUs were not single coil as stated above they were all narrow spacing humbuckers 4,5, & 6

Thanks for the correction, Bob, good to know the real story. Maybe the older pickups just sound more like single-coils to most people, hence the mistake.

Cheers,

EG

 

[evilgus]

Would you believe I will finally be taking delivery of my first pre-Gibson Tobias in the morning, the mid 8xx blue Basic 6 fretless that was at Bass NW! Where is dat Fedex truck?!?!?

And even harder to believe, I might even have my second pre-Gib in another week or so...ooooerrrr....where will it end?!??

EG

 

[tbass12002]

It won't!

 

[greenbass]

In your opinion which one of these would be the one to go with. Both in mint condition.

1. Bubinga/ wenge/ alder Maple neck w/bubinga stringers

Tone :Smooth even and clear. #1491 vol/vol

2. Zebrawood/ Wenge/ Alder Maple neck w/ PHeart stringers

Tone:More Mids, Treb, and Growl #1337 vol/blend

 

[XavidmanX]

^^^
Both have the drop-shoulder pickups. I think zebra is the way to go for the classic Tobias look. But, the bubinga seems the way to go for the tone.

 

[Debased]

I'd go for the zebra, personally. I prefer Classics with more compression and growl to balance the warmth of the old Bart pickups.

 

[kesslari]

I had first thought Bubinga, but seeing that particular Zebra - I think I'd go with that.
Either way, what bliss!