Gibson EB-1 Bass 1956 Natural

No sales tax for customers outside California.

The EB-1 bass is Gibson's first shot a tan electric, solid body bass.  The EB-1 model number didn't arrive until Gibson released the EB-2 bass in 1958.  Prior to that, this model was simply called the Gibson Electric Bass.

According to published shipping totals, Gibson made just 65 EB-1 basses in 1956, making this an extremely rare piece.

The instrument is worn but is in excellent condition.  There are no breaks, repairs, or issues.  The only change appears to be in the tuner buttons.  Two are likely old replacements. The frets are in surprisingly excellent shape.  The truss rod has room for future neck relief adjustments.  The electronics cavity is untouched, 100% original.

The bass was shipped with an endpin attachment that allowed use of the bass as an upright bass.  The existing strap button unscrews from the bass to accommodate the pin.  The pin itself is not included.  I am trying to find a local machinist to have one fabricated, a simple task for someone with a metal lathe.

The back of the neck feels like no other, with authentic wear that the Gibson Custom Shop should use as an example for their aged instruments.  

The tone from the fat "mudbucker" is tremendous, and more useable than the moniker might imply.

The original case is included.  It shows some wear, especially at the tip of the headstock area, but all the latches, hinges and the handle work perfectly.

This is how the bass was described in the 1955 Gibson catalog:

Leading combos and orchestras are adding new resonance to their rhythm sections with the Gibson Electric Bass, the perfect compliment to any musical group.

The carved top, violin-shaped body of the Electric Bass is of solid mahogany; the mahogany neck, with the famous Gibson adjustable truss rod construction, has 20 frets and is joined to the body at the 16th fret. The scale length is 30 1/2 " and offers a full range of deep resonant tones. An important factor in the outstanding performance of this instrument is the Gibson designed metal bridge, adjustable for height and string lengths.

Conveniently located tone and volume controls have easy to set, numbered, clear plastic knobs; individual Kluson nickel plated pegs have white plastic buttons; the powerful Alnico magnet pickup has brown Royalite cover.

The dark mahogany of the body and neck is accented by a double black purfling stripe on both the top and bottom of the body; the rosewood fingerboard has pearl dot position markers. Equipped with an adjustable end pin and also, an adjustable leather strap - the Electric Bass can be played in either a standing or guitar position; sized for ease in carrying and handling , The body is 19" long, 11 1/2" wide and 2" deep.

The EB single coil bass pickup was designed and built by Gibson engineers Walter Fuller and Seth Lover. According to Fuller, the coil had 250000 turns, and was so large, it had to be rotated to fit in the pickup route, explaining why the polepieces were along one edge, rather than centered (as quoted in Duchossoir's excellent Gibson Electrics: The Classic Years)

"By having them on the edge we got, you might say, the advantage of that much difference in the positioning of the coil. We [later] got more action from the polepieces in the center, but with the adjustable polepieces on the back edge of the coil like that, we got a little brighter tone than we did with them in the centre"

In an interview with Seymour Duncan, Seth lover adds:

Seth Lover: "I can remember when I was working on the first bass pickup, the non-humbucking bass pickup--Wilbur Marker came in there each time I would get one ready and he would try it out--”that’s better than the other, but not quite right,” so we would make some changes and go on - wind up another. We finally go to the point where you had to stop--you could have gone on forever and never been exactly perfect. But, now we had some very good years there. When I can begin to hear the differences I make certain tests - I can hear the differences between them, and then when they would corroborate what I could hear, then we knew we were getting

• Color: Natural
• Weight: 8lbs 10.5ozs
  
• Top: Mahogany
• Body: Mahogany
  
• Neck: Mahogany
  
• Fretboard: Brazilian Rosewood
• Inlays: Mother of pearl dots
• Frets: Original
• Fret count: 20
• Nut material: Original bone
• Nut width: 1 11/16"
• Scale: 30 1/2"
• Radius: 10"
• Neck thickness at 1st fret: 0.91"
• Neck thickness at 12th fret: 1.0"
• Action 1st String at 12th Fret: 5/64"
• Action 4th String at 12th Fret: 3/32"
• Total length: 43 11/16"
• Lower bout: 11 1/4"
• Waist: 6 5/8"
• Upper Bout: 9 1/8"
  
• Body depth/thickness: 1 3/4"
  
• String gauge: .050-.105"
  
• Neck Pickup Brand: Gibson brown Royalite-covered single coil pickup.
• Neck Pickup Output: 17.49K
• Neck Pickup Original?: Yes
  
• Pickguard: Original brown Royalite pickguard.
• Bridge: Original
• Tuners: Original note that there's two different styles of tuner buttons.
  
• Pots/Codes: Original
• Case: OHSC
• Notes: note that there's two different styles of tuner buttons.

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