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Why didn't Gibson and Epi basses catch on?

#23
I'm pretty much a Fender guy, but I did have a 70's gibson EB-3L some years ago,and I loved the way it played AND sounded, wasn't clunky feeling or muddy sounding at all to me. The only thing about it I didn't like was a bad dead spot on my G string. If I could get another like it without that dead spot, I would love it.
 
#24
I was more a gibson rather then fender fan back in the 70's. Liked the pup voicing of the gibsons better along with the playability compared to fender precision neck (too bulky for me) and the looks of them. Their weak point to me however ended being their pup voicings worked better with fingers rather then pick to me. So as other mfg came out with their versions of soapbar pup basses. Which where at least as playable as gibsons and fender J necks. I switched over to them.

Jack bruce was one of the early gibson bass players who became famous. So the ebo and ebo2 bass voices was the main one peeps thought of when concidering gibson basses. TB was other most know. Greg lake helped advertise the ripper or grabber by playing one for a time.

In the end I think fender became more popular out of those two brands. Due to pup voicing working better for more peeps. As opposed to the relatively muddy ebo bass voices. The other main problem with gibsons pups was after market replacements where not much available. Whereas with fender pup type basses, dimarzio and seymour made em. Neither made bridge pup replacements for ebo2 basses not Tbirds or grabbers/rippers. Gibson pup shapes didnt get adopted by other mfg useing soapbar pups for their basses. So when one concidered basses and possible pup upgrades for personal sound tweaks. Gibson lost out.

Their was also some build issues with gibsons concerning necks. They used an overly short neck tenon for the Sg's etc and overly steep rearward neck tilt resulting in broken neck syndrome. Tb's also developed a reputation for broken headstocks. This a result of their horrid balance on strap. Which brings up the other problem with gibson basses. The msot famous ones neck dived liked crazy. Not a good thing when wanting to popularize your basses.

So in short, Id say gibsons didnt catch on so well in mass for basses due to: Other mfg started doing better humbucker pups in soapbar shape. And gibson basses loved to play ostrich (diving their heads into the dirt).
 
#25
Fender really did there home work and they honed it in over time. If something worked good they made it better. There is a huge reason why overpriced Lakland's, Sadowsky's, KDS, Moonbass, ect have all copied Fenders. Even the cheap knockoff Fenders play good, compared to some run of the mill Gibson's or Epiphone.

However I do own '71 Epiphone EA-260 that I love. Neck could be better...
 
#28
TheMinutemen said:
+1, and for some reason, I am kind of glad that they didnt.

SDC11012.jpg
[/IMG]
Click to expand...

Is that a Lane Poor pickup sitting in the middle of that EB-O?

Sweet!
 
#29
In the '70's, I grew up in a small rural town that was dominated by Gibson guitars in local bands, and Gibson basses. I played trombone (and a bit of guitar and bass) in some of those bands. Cutting to the chase, the Gibsons seemed to play like guitars - often short scale, a nice feel, and huge sustain off the pickups with a fat but somewhat muddy sound (and yes, that bridge pickup on the EB-3 didn't really help all that much.) This worked well for many people at the time, but I think the main reason for differential popularity is that the Fenders generally have decay characteristics that work with drums far, far better than the sustain off of those Gibsons.

I really think its that simple. The Gibsons are cool for playing what amount to third guitar parts, but the Fenders have more of a drum-like punch and really help to create genuine groove.

Here's the kicker - show me a funk bassist that used/uses a Gibson.
 
#30
Gibson basses "didn't catch on"?? That's news to me. And, no doubt, news to the tens of thousands of people that play them. Of course they "caught on". Gibson has been making basses for decades.




This, though, is true -

kenfxj said:
Too often they just took a guitar body and put a longer neck on it.
Click to expand...

Gibson is a guitar company that never really understood how to make a superior bass. Because their basses are little more than their guitar models with longer necks, they cost more than they should. And despite all their experience in the science of guitar making, they somehow never made a great bass pickup.
 
#31
I always wanted to dig the EB (SG style basses) because I was always a huge SG fan but no matter what I plugged it into, how I tried to play it, just didn't do it for me. Tbirds are alright, but a P/J/Ray will do it more for me every time.
 
#32
Hmm.. I love my les Paul bass.. The neck is sublime, it's not particularly heavy, build quality is fantastic, has a great ebony board, beautiful nitro finish and cost me $1500 brand new just 2 months ago (still available here).

And the response I alway get is 'holy ****.. Is that a.. Les Paul bass?!! Wow never seen one, that's cool!'

Every time!
And mud is not how I'd describe the tone, hot and grindy more like it.
 
#33
Hi.

Why was T-Ford, or any Ford in 20's & 30's, so succesful? Because the others makes didn't catch on?

Why was Harley so succesful in the same era on the motorcycle field? Because Henderson, Indian, Ace etc. didn't catch on?

The list is really endless covering every commodity imaginable, but the common demeanors are the volume of the production and the all mighty price.

The sales that were the result of the great volume and the low price came mainly from adapting new, simpler and more cost effective manufacturing methods, not from the product itself being any more better than the competition. It was just more affordable.

In my opinion anyway.

Regards
Sam
 
#34
My late '60s Gibson model semi-hollow body EB2Db. Since the early '70s it has been my main and currently my only bass. When I got it, it played smoother and had faster action than any of my previous Fenders and sounded more like a double bass to me. Recently let some young guitarist try it out during a visit to a local music store. They really enjoyed it.

I think the short scale basses, which many of the Gibsons from that era are, have been given short-shrift. The short scale strings were harder to find in many areas of the country. The internet can overcome that. Fender also had better marketing. It certainly did not hurt to have CBS behind them for awhile.
 
#35
I see Gibson and Epiphone basses fairly frequently when I go see live bands. Sure, maybe not as much as I see basses from the countless product lines/price levels of Fenders and Squiers. But surely enough to know that Gibson/Epiphone basses definitely caught on.
 
#37
I think the only ACTUAL bass that Gibson do is the Thunderbird.
It looks right, plays nice, sounds nice. Its pretty versatile in terms of techniques to, whilst the gibson SG, hollowbodys etc have a big mudbucker in the way of slap, and the little "afterthought" pickup doesn't look that good either!
I beleive Gibson don't really care about bassists (maybe they're all snobby guitarists!) as all the guitars are designed to be guitars, but all the basses are just those guitars with longer necks. I own one of the guitars myself! :P
There is the ripper, but trying one in my local music shop, I found out that I didn't like them that much :)
^^^similar posts!^^^
 
#39
As a bass player one of my jobs is rattling windows. Take a Gibson EB3 and you can do that job like no others. Take that short scale with low action and you can not get a faster bass. Muddy??? The P bass guys call that warm. The EB series just takes that warmth a couple steps farther. In the late 60's and early 70's I used to get great tones for rock, progressive, funk, blues, jazz etc. When I listened to my bluegrass recording I went whoa "that thing sound like an upright". In the mid 80's I needed money so I sold my Ric 4001 and kept the Gibson. Only thing my EB3 don't do well is slap. Oh and neck dive can be a problem. Now days my EB3 is retired (worth to much). I randomly play a Carvin, Jazz, and Lakland (there are more tone choices). There will always be a huge place in my heart for that old EB3. Just some of my experiences.

YMMV
 

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