Gibson EB-2

The Gibson EB-2 is an electric bass guitar model produced by the Gibson Guitar Corporation from 1958 to 1972, with a hiatus from 1962 to 1963. When production ceased in 1972, a total of 8017 instruments has been built, with 2102 of them being EB-2D's.[1] Willie Moseley, in Vintage Guitar, referred to the bass guitar as possibly "Gibson's biggest bass invention"; the instrument, however, was not a great commercial success, and the Rivoli, the sister model made by Epiphone, may have been used more than the original Gibson.[2]

EB-2
ManufacturerGibson
Period1958–1961, 1964–1972
Construction
Body typesemi-hollow
Neck jointglued-in
Scale30.5"
Woods
BodyLaminated maple top, back & sides
NeckMahogany
FretboardBrazilian rosewood
Hardware
BridgeFixed
Pickup(s)One sidewinder (Single Coil in original 1958 model and later, a humbucking pickup), 2 for the EB-2D
Colors available
Natural, sunburst, and later cherry

Description

Introduced in 1958, the EB-2 was the bass guitar equivalent of the popular Gibson ES-335. It featured a 335-style semi-hollow body, a short 30.5" scale neck and one large "Sidewinder" humbucking pickup in the neck position. The electronics consisted of a single volume and tone knob. The EB-2N had natural finish, the EB-2 sunburst. The next year a "Baritone switch" was added, which enhanced or cut the bass frequencies, and later a string mute was added to the bridge.[2] By 1961 the original banjo-style tuners (with the pegs pointing backwards) were replaced by regular tuners, and by 1965 cherry was a color option also.[3]

In 1966, the EB-2D was introduced, which added a mini-humbucker pickup in the bridge position (like the EB-3). Electronics included separate volume and tone controls and a 3-way switch to select the pickups, besides the "baritone" switch.[2][1]

Variants

In 2012 Gibson came out with a "Midtown Standard" bass, a semi-hollow bass loosely based on the EB-2D. Although cosmetically very alike, it supports a long-scale 34" neck, a solid mahogany body with routed tonechambers and a flat maple top, which is considerably smaller than the original 335-shape (somewhere between an ES-335 and a Les Paul shape) and different electronics.[4]

References
  1. "Gibson EB-2 & EB-2D". Retrieved 26 July 2012.
  2. Moseley, Willie G. (January 2012). "The Gibson EB-2: Kalamazoo Biggest Bass Innovation?". Vintage Guitar. p. 60.
  3. Rogers, Dave (March 2011). "Vintage Vault: 1967 Gibson EB-2 With 1967 Sunn 200s". Vintage Vault. Retrieved 26 July 2012.
  4. "Gibson Midtown Standard Bass". Retrieved 23 September 2012.
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