NBD: 1999 Epiphone Japan EB-3, with a surprise under the bonnet.

[MrFingers]

Since a long time I've been latently lusting after a proper EB-3 bass: shortscale, set-neck, 4-way rotary switch. With the emphasis on latently. The prices on Gibsons have exploded the last 2 years, with even playergrade late 1960's EB-0's fetching 4-figure sums, and since I'm a rather picky person, I wanted an EB-3 with the pre 1965 specifications (deep-set heel, wide control spacing), which would further bloat the price. I was aware of the Japanese versions of those (Greco, Burny, Orville, Epiphone), but those seldom if ever appear outside of Japan, and if they do, top-money gets asked for them.

So I let that idea of owning an EB-3 for what it was. Then I started browsing eBay in search for a deal, and there I saw Japanese Epiphone listed with a very short & poor description, but also at a rather low price (just a smidge more as a regular Epiphone EB-3 would cost in the local musicstore), located in Kyoto. Four people were advertising that bass so I had my suspicions it might have been a scam, as one person had a low price, and the others were asking nearly double of it. So I asked the cheapest seller how that was possible, and he said that it's a central pool of instruments, and each independent seller can ask their own asking price, and the instruments are also sold locally. His ratings were absolutely perfect, with almost everyone saying his packing & protection was superb. It would need to be, because it's an all mahogany instrument with a Gibson neck (1 piece mahogany, 17° tilted headstock, big hole for the trussrod), and no case included.

So after pondering on it for some weeks (hoping Epiphone would announce something for Winter-NAMM, which they didn't), I noticed 2 Sundays ago he offered a 5% discount, so I thought to myself: "you know what, fck it, I'll bite. His ratings are good, I'm paying via Paypal, so I do have decent protection,...". So pressed the BIN-button, paid and then wholeheartedly expected to receive a message stating "yeah, it sold locally, I'm sorry"... But that message never came... instead I received a thank you for the payment, and a promise the item would ship on Thursday via FedEx. Could it be that that bass didn't get sold for more than 2 years, at that low of a price?

On Thursday morning I received an SMS that FedEx received my package, and it was scheduled to arrive on Monday... Then a delay in Memphis, so it would be Tuesday, but on Tuesday no-one is home here, so I had to postpone to Wednesday... And on Wednesday, a white van stopped and delivered me a sturdy cardboard box (all hail FedEx' method of pre-paying customs & duties, so it clears fast). In it was a layer of bubble plastic, a layer of newspapers, another layer of bubble plastic, a gigbag (got that for free), and inside that a shape that reminded me of an instrument, in a layer of bubble plastic & foam... I peeled away the protective layers, and there it was, undamaged.

A quick test on the amplifier learned me the bridge pickup was cutting out, unless I pressed on it, meaning that a wire was shorting somewhere, but the pickup itself wasn't dead. So I opened up the patient, and saw an exposed wire touching the baseplate of the pickup. Insulated it, and it worked again like it should...

But then I noticed someone had been tampering with the wiring. The bridge pickup is the original GOTOH PAF-bucker with plastic-coated coax cable, but the neck pickup had been changed out for "something with a really old braided cable"... So I removed the cover of the neck pickup, and I was greeted there by something that was distinctly not a GOTOH-version of the sidewinder pickup. It was old, dusty, had a wooden spacer between the coils and measured 30k Ohm... Yep, that is a vintage Gibson mudbucker.

So now I have a proper EB-3, with a really chunky 1960's neck, and the one thing the Japanese versions are considered "inferior" for (the weak neck pickup) already been replaced by a vintage Gibson unit.

Ordered a set of shortscale flatwounds, will then further dial in and adjust. These roundwounds aren't doing it for me.

Since I'm not MaggieO, here is a badly aligned and lighted picture.



TL: DR. Wanted an EB-3, didn't want to spend Gibson-money. Found one on eBay for cheap with a poor description, and located in Japan. Gathered my courage and bought it anyway, wasn't scammed and received a bass that was modified and equipped with a vintage Gibson mudbucker.

[windmill]

Nice work

Which is your "usable"setting on the variotone ?

[MrFingers]

It's not really a varitone (as found on the 345/355), but more a rotary switch. Positions 2, 3 & 4 (bridge, neck choked + bridge, neck choked) all have roughly the same output, and thus can be used together without any adjusting of (pre) amp gain. Position 1 is the raw & unfiltered neck pickup, which really blasts through anything, with an output that's easily double of the other positions.

[burpgun]

That's a great looking bass. I owned one of the recent Gibson versions that did not have the pickup selector thing your EB-3 has. I found flats were a better fit for that bass. My experience was frustrating: It was a well built bass that felt great to play, it just sounded hollow and lack in presence. Gibson said it had Thunderbird pickups in it so I don't know if that's different than your Epiphone. The only workable sound I could get out of it was a Jack Bruce-like sound with some overdrive. I ended up selling it but have always wondered if I should have kept it and tried to mess around with the pickups.

[MrFingers]

I owned a 2005 Gibson SG-Bass a few years ago (gloss finish, but dot inlays and silkscreen logo). It looked the part, but was absolutely anaemic and lifeless in terms of sound. This Epiphone is better at that sound than the Gibson with the TB+ regular humbuckers was. The TB+ humbuckers are just regular humbuckers with vertical coils and blade magnets in the middle, the polepieces you see are dummy ones, they don't serve an actual purpose. The rotary switch and choke coil also do a lot in shaping the sound. One can mod the SG-bass to have a proper EB-3 wiring with some minimal routing.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YEWfxxwrPMs

[MechaBulletBill]

that owns! i need to get flats on my old tokai P copy. what brand you going for? cna't always get labellas over here it seems

[MrFingers]

I'm a LaBella man for life (have the Jamerson set on my P, and a thinner one on my J), but now I'm giving the cheap Höfner HCT1133B strings a go. I had a set of Pyramid Gold flatwound strings that I left on an EB2 that I sold years ago, and now I regret that, hard!

[burpgun]

I owned a 2005 Gibson SG-Bass a few years ago (gloss finish, but dot inlays and silkscreen logo). It looked the part, but was absolutely anaemic and lifeless in terms of sound. This Epiphone is better at that sound than the Gibson with the TB+ regular humbuckers was. The TB+ humbuckers are just regular humbuckers with vertical coils and blade magnets in the middle, the polepieces you see are dummy ones, they don't serve an actual purpose. The rotary switch and choke coil also do a lot in shaping the sound. One can mod the SG-bass to have a proper EB-3 wiring with some minimal routing.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YEWfxxwrPMs

My SG was one of the "faded" 120 anniversary ones, I was glad to flip it for about the same price as I got it for. And you describe the sound correctly: It was just lifeless. I've got a bunch of basses and the thing that bugged me the most was I had a Squier Jaguar shortie, and even stock it sounded better than the SG, at like a quarter of the price. I'd even contemplated some Mike Watt style surgery on the bass and trying to figure out a way to get a P style pickup installed in it, because again, I love the feel of the bass. Your post makes me think I might want to keep my eye out for one of these Japanese EBs and upgrade the pickups. That said, I just got an Epiphone Jack Casady, and once I get it back from the shop (it came with a terrible set up, thanks China!) I'm going to mess around with it for a while. It's also got a rotary switch that increases the pickup volume. Not super useful except that you can leave your pedals and amps at a fixed setting and get your desired amount of distortion right off the bass.

[MrFingers]

That rotary switch on the Casady is an impedance switch (switches the impedance of the pickup from 50 to 250 to 500 Ohm), and by that it chances the frequence response of the low-impedance pickup (normal pickups are high-impedance, that's also why the JC Bass comes with 2.5k potmeters instead of 250k pots, otherwise the pickup would get smothered to death by the resistance of the potmeters).

[burpgun]

That rotary switch on the Casady is an impedance switch (switches the impedance of the pickup from 50 to 250 to 500 Ohm), and by that it chances the frequence response of the low-impedance pickup (normal pickups are high-impedance, that's also why the JC Bass comes with 2.5k potmeters instead of 250k pots, otherwise the pickup would get smothered to death by the resistance of the potmeters).

I haven't really spent much time with it but I don't think I'll be using the rotary switch that much. I've also learned the value of low output pickups when you use a lot of pedals, as I do. Have also read on some forums it's point of failure that can be hard to fix, so I'm leaning toward set it and forget it.

[MuscleDad420]

Nice score!! Now you just need to replace those Gotoh tuners with some Hipshot ultralite tuners with the elephant ear keys.

[MrFingers]

Yes, I've been eyeing those Hipshop HB1 short versions. Still, want to find some locally so I can see for myself if it works. Those Grover "Shamrock" tuners Gibson uses on the SG are just hideous: way too big!



But the current tuners (Gotoh) are doing a great job. Also not too heavy, so they mitigate the neckdive a bit.

[Maggieo]

Love it.