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today's gibson basses

#41
lawsonman,

Absolutely Beautiful bass. EB basses are the best Gibson's going I think, and there are a number of vintage ones out there for pretty easy money. I hope that thing serves you well. Not sure why the obsession over the birds, but those that have them love them so there must be something to it. Just not to high on my GAS list compared to soe other stuff
 
#42
I guess I'm an exception to the rule. I've been playing since '68 and never liked Gibson basses until recently. I've had a lot of Fender's, a Hofner, a nice Rickenbacker and a Music Man. I worked at a guitar shop in the late 70's and took home a LP Studio Bass and couldn't get a good sound out of it. Tried a Tbird and a Flying V and couldn't get past the uncomfortable body shapes. The short scale EB's were just too mid-rangy for my tastes and felt weird. Recently got into a Stones cover band and the Fender sound didn't fit on most of the stuff Wyman played. Anyhow, I picked up a Epi Les Paul Special and was very impressed with the sound. Then I picked up a Gibson Money bass and it's now the one I use most.
 
#43
is it terrible to be turned off by a bass called a Gibson Money bass? i love playing, and i don't want my instrument to be thumbing its nose at the current economical crisis. :D

seriously, though...the whole idea of naming a bass "Money" is just indicative of the upper-class-snobbiness that Gibson's been building up in the last 10 years or so. ymmv, especially if you own one and it's a good bass. no offense intended.
 
#48
overdrivethree said:
yeah, i was thinking of that too.

there's just no way that's not incredibly tacky, regardless of how good the bass actually is. which is lame on Gibson's part.
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I always wondered where they got the name. I figured it had to do with the saying "That's money" when something was was really good. I dunno.

It is a very good bass. Don't exclude it from consideration due to the name. You can always change the truss rod cover if you want.
 
#49
moonshinegtrs said:
Gibson's main problem as of recent times(this is obviously just my humble opinion) has been that they haven't had anybody in the engineering/design departments that is a bass player or even remotely interested in basses.
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If what your saying is true (and I have no reason to believe that it isn't) then why does Gibson make the basses in the first place. If they don't make money on selling the product and no one is interested in making them... why sell them? I would suggest that Gibson does make money on selling basses, although not nearly as much as they make selling Les Pauls. But that is the niche that Gibson has carved for themselves. They have to compete against the Fender Juggernaut, and that isn't easy.

As an aside,I think it is a mistake (not that you made it in your informative post Moonshine) for players to compare Gibson to Fender... for any of their product lines. Gibson and Fender have different products, a different history, and different ways of doing business. Many people believe that the Fender P-Bass is a more versatile instrument than a Gibson EB-0... but I would say that it is all in the player. I am a mediocre player at best, but I feel pretty confident that I could take my EpiBird or VM Jazz into any situation and play.... as long as I have the ability and knowledge to play it.

I agree that Gibson is does not seem as focused on making basses. However, I think when you look at the big picture, they are producing some of the best instruments in world outside of a custom or boutique shop.
 
#52
moonshinegtrs said:
....the fact of the matter is that they(management) look at what is profitable and gibson basses have never done well in that department.....
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Great post! With big companies, basses are always second fiddle, even to companies like Fender and Peavey. Hell, even in the music biz, bassists are still second fiddle....

And I wholeheartedly agree with the part of your post that I quoted above. Gibson is focusing on the fact that for every wanna be bassist that buys one bass and never even plays it, there are 200 wannabe guitardist shredder God's. So even in the one hit wonders of the sales numbers, they make waaay more money in guitars. It is economics all the way.

But it occurs to me that if a guy wants a bass bad enough, there are enough custom builders that will build you a replica of a Gibson, and probably do it better than Gibson did...think Lull...and the cost to you,for your one of a kind Gibson" bass probably won't be much higher than if Gibson did it themselves!
 
#53
overdrivethree said:
is it terrible to be turned off by a bass called a Gibson Money bass? i love playing, and i don't want my instrument to be thumbing its nose at the current economical crisis. :D

seriously, though...the whole idea of naming a bass "Money" is just indicative of the upper-class-snobbiness that Gibson's been building up in the last 10 years or so. ymmv, especially if you own one and it's a good bass. no offense intended.
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the les paul one?? ugh.i didnt like they way that thing looked at all,so no,its not terrible.cause it turns me off too.
 
#54
i have to agree as well,they dont seem to be doing anything productive with their bass department at all.but i tried a thunderbird out a while back,and it was..better than i thought it would be.i know alot of people dont like it,but i thought it had a really good feel,and great tone. but thats the only current bass of theirs that i actually like. i personally think they should do some major reissuing.
 
#56
Truth be told,I bought my SG reissue on kind of a whim. I wanted something to complement my Ric.I had already had a MIA Jazz and a Musicman Sterling.Both very good Basses. I have small hands and back in the mid 60's I had always wanted a short scale Gibson but I hated the neck dive of all the ones I tried.My expectations were not really that high when I decided to buy my 07 silverburst.It was just so damn pretty I had to try it.

The build quality and sound exceeded all my expectations and I now have a hard time putting it down.IMO Gibson gets some unfair criticism about being cheaply made. It may not be a Ric but it sounds great for classic rock and it didn't cost me 2K.
 
#59
Band Dad said:
I believe that Epiphone has come out with a Grabber or Ripper reissue. Or, of not a strict reissue, a new model lookalike.

Found it: Invalid Link Removed
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yeah they took out the humbucks and put a p/j config in for the ripper,and for the grabber they just put 1 of the thunderbird pickups in it,but you cant shift it's position like the original.they discontinued both in 2006 though. but personally,i think they should reissue them again,just cause i think they'd be a nice addition to the new pro birds that are coming out.
 
#60
well...

I have 2 black birds (including a sixx), several LP basses (including a couple 5ers, active w/barts, etc), an old G3, a couple of money basses (yeah, I replaced the truss rod covers also), a red explorer, a ri sg flame burst, etc.

bottom line - I think gibson makes cool looking basses (can you tell?).

the money LPs are nice; they finally contoured the body, full 2 octave neck, sounds good thru and thru.

but, be prepared to be the dude that shows up wo/a fender. gibsons look and sound different.

bottom line - as far as adult toys go, these things are tons of fun...
 

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