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The official "Show your basses" thread part 19!
- Thread starter smperry
- Start date
- Jun 29, 2006
- 5,148
- 3,217
- Disclosures
- President, CEO, CFO, CIO, Chief Engineer, Technician, Janitor - Reiner Amplification
Might as well show my new addition here, too: Martin Keith Elfin Plus!
The rest of the fam: just to show how the new bass is well outside the box for me.
Ken, what a cool bass this is! Listening back to the clips from this past weekend, I really like that MM pickup!
mark beem
Wait, how does this song start again??
My latest; Ibanez SR1405 in Deep Ocean Blue.
Chef
In Memoriam
I made the green bass with the help of the late Philly luthier Dale Bluebond. I believe the Pilot is from the late or mid 80s
Been working on this off and on for years, keeping it mostly to myself, and now it's finally done!
I wanted a clone of Phil Lesh's custom modded and painted EB3:
Five and a half years ago I found a genuine 1969 EB0 on ebay. It's identical to an EB3 except they gave the EB3 an extra pickup and two or three extra knobs. (both basses share the exact body dimensions of an SG, they are tiny by bass standards!) The 1969 EB0 was the most common of the Gibson EB-series basses and this example was enough of a basket case that I didn't have to feel too bad about modifying it to suit my needs instead of giving it a proper restoration back to its original condition. Whatever this bass's previous story is, it's lost to the world now.
Logos completely destroyed on the headstock:
That was the first order of business for me. I sent it to Cliff at Shark Inlay and he did a fantastic job! After some debate we decided to do something a little more interesting than the stock "crown" logo in the center of the headstock, and I'm glad we did. Cliff's work is stunning! http://sharkinlay.com/headstocks.htm
Then the bass was off to my dad, who did a full refinish and modified the bass to EB3 specs.
He started with the back of the headstock, filled in the tuner mounting holes since we'd be using the same Gotoh GB7 tuners that Phil had added to his:
And added a mahogany veneer and even restamped the original serial number into it! It was tough to read after how thoroughly the bass had been sanded, but a few rubbings revealed most of the digits clearly enough to indicate it's a legit 1969.
Next came grain filling and an absolutely perfect (and stunning!) cherry finish.
My mom has always been a great painter, so I knew she'd do a great job of recreating Bob Thomas's (most likely) original custom paint job. It came out even better than I expected!
It really came alive when my dad added the clearcoat and built the pickguard from scratch. (you can't buy them anywhere it seems!)
I tracked down a vintage bridge that was missing the incredibly narrow saddles, having been unable to find or build a suitable replacement. From there it needed a tailpiece, it was a horrible design when stock, nicknamed the "evertilt", since it would easily pitch forward under string tension. I had Jordan Giangreco (a fantastic keyboard player! Plays with The Breakfast and Viral Sound and Legion of Jerry and sometimes the Garcia Project and nails everything he does.) build some saddles for it and the tailpiece and it came out great! From there my friend Ben Sloan finished up the final assembly and setup, and wired it up passively. It's not quite the setup Phil had with emitter-followers added and all that custom stuff... maybe someday that can happen. For now I'm pretty happy with it as it sits.
I wanted a clone of Phil Lesh's custom modded and painted EB3:
Five and a half years ago I found a genuine 1969 EB0 on ebay. It's identical to an EB3 except they gave the EB3 an extra pickup and two or three extra knobs. (both basses share the exact body dimensions of an SG, they are tiny by bass standards!) The 1969 EB0 was the most common of the Gibson EB-series basses and this example was enough of a basket case that I didn't have to feel too bad about modifying it to suit my needs instead of giving it a proper restoration back to its original condition. Whatever this bass's previous story is, it's lost to the world now.
Logos completely destroyed on the headstock:
That was the first order of business for me. I sent it to Cliff at Shark Inlay and he did a fantastic job! After some debate we decided to do something a little more interesting than the stock "crown" logo in the center of the headstock, and I'm glad we did. Cliff's work is stunning! http://sharkinlay.com/headstocks.htm
Then the bass was off to my dad, who did a full refinish and modified the bass to EB3 specs.
He started with the back of the headstock, filled in the tuner mounting holes since we'd be using the same Gotoh GB7 tuners that Phil had added to his:
And added a mahogany veneer and even restamped the original serial number into it! It was tough to read after how thoroughly the bass had been sanded, but a few rubbings revealed most of the digits clearly enough to indicate it's a legit 1969.
Next came grain filling and an absolutely perfect (and stunning!) cherry finish.
My mom has always been a great painter, so I knew she'd do a great job of recreating Bob Thomas's (most likely) original custom paint job. It came out even better than I expected!
It really came alive when my dad added the clearcoat and built the pickguard from scratch. (you can't buy them anywhere it seems!)
I tracked down a vintage bridge that was missing the incredibly narrow saddles, having been unable to find or build a suitable replacement. From there it needed a tailpiece, it was a horrible design when stock, nicknamed the "evertilt", since it would easily pitch forward under string tension. I had Jordan Giangreco (a fantastic keyboard player! Plays with The Breakfast and Viral Sound and Legion of Jerry and sometimes the Garcia Project and nails everything he does.) build some saddles for it and the tailpiece and it came out great! From there my friend Ben Sloan finished up the final assembly and setup, and wired it up passively. It's not quite the setup Phil had with emitter-followers added and all that custom stuff... maybe someday that can happen. For now I'm pretty happy with it as it sits.
Completed shots:
Next to an SG for comparison. I found a slightly roomy electric guitar case for it and it fits!
I left the truss rod cover off to match Phil's bass for now although it might look nicer if I added it.
To see any pics that got cut off due to screen size, they're all hosted here: http://imgur.com/a/ndszn
Not sure if it's ok to start my own thread in the general forum or not... it was a pretty big project, I have around 10 custom or customized basses but this one is pretty special.
Next to an SG for comparison. I found a slightly roomy electric guitar case for it and it fits!
I left the truss rod cover off to match Phil's bass for now although it might look nicer if I added it.
To see any pics that got cut off due to screen size, they're all hosted here: http://imgur.com/a/ndszn
Not sure if it's ok to start my own thread in the general forum or not... it was a pretty big project, I have around 10 custom or customized basses but this one is pretty special.
Last edited:
EdwardofHuncote
I Still Dream of Jeannie
- Aug 21, 2013
- 6,654
- 2
- 16,427
- Disclosures
- I privately own and operate a local musical instument repair shop.
mark beem
Wait, how does this song start again??
Nice job.Completed shots:
Next to an SG for comparison. I found a slightly roomy electric guitar case for it and it fits!
I left the truss rod cover off to match Phil's bass for now although it might look nicer if I added it.
To see any pics that got cut off due to screen size, they're all hosted here: http://imgur.com/a/ndszn
Not sure if it's ok to start my own thread in the general forum or not... it was a pretty big project, I have around 10 custom or customized basses but this one is pretty special.
Are those Curtis Novak pickups?
If you want to show us more of your stuff start a thread in luthiers.
