1969 Gibson EB-3

• Solid mahogany body • one piece set mahogany neck • rosewood fingerboard • 30 1/2 inch scale • two humbucking pickups

A Gibson EB3 bass from the peak year of their production, built at Gibson's main plant in Kalamazoo, Michigan, USA; one of the last basses produced whilst Gibson was still under the ownership of CMI.

The 1960s EB3 was very popular with the British bands of the time. Jack Bruce, bass player with Cream had a very distinctive style which was closely associated with the short scale EB3s he played. The sixties instrument was characterised by its one piece mahogany body and neck, and comparatively small body (only slightly larger than a same-period SG guitar) and of course its sound. Peak production was from 1969-1971; around about 2000 guitars shipped each of those years. It was a still popular instrument in the early seventies (examine a 1972 model here) but sales fell rapidly during 1973-4.

The instrument pictured is quite typical for its vintage; large neck humbucker and bridge humbucker, two point bridge with mute and bridge cover and Kluson 538 'elephant ear' tuners. Typical 1969 neck joint, and type 2 cutaway*. Weight 3.7kg.

Gibson had been using the tune-o-matic two-point bridge on all EB basses for a year or so; early examples still had the more centrally located hand rest, but they were quickly replaced by the chrome bridge cover, as shown here. The late 60s EB basses had thinner necks than the early 60s basses; this one is 1 1/2" at the nut, compared to 1 3/4" of some of the earliest EB3s.

The components and their positions give a clear indication that this is a late 1960s bass. The most obvious sign is the two point bridge with bridge cover, but also the close-spaced controls and the taller narrower cover to the EB humbucker. Note the wooden thumbrest over the scratchplate. These had been fitted to EB3 basses since their inception, but this was the final year - by the time of the remodelling in late 1969 to the slotted headstock EB basses, this was gone (see a slotted headstock EB3.)

Reverse body detail - showing heel and control access cavity.

Gibson EB humbucker pickup. The cover is chrome-plated, as opposed to the nickel of the mid sixties basses. This version of this classic pickup is still very primitively mounted for the time, but just the next year, Gibson would upgrade the EB bass series and include a surround for this pickup, allowing height adjustment. Have a look at a 1971 Gibson EB3 here.

There is a volume and tone control for each pickup; the two controls on the left for the neck pickup, and the two on the right for the bridge. The varitone control acts as a pickup selector, aswell as applying the choke in position 1. The settings are:
Position 1: neck pickup with tone choke
Position 2: bridge pickup only
Position 3: both pickups
Position 4: neck pickup. Listen to some soundclips of this bass here.

The hardware shown here is typical for any EB3 bass produced from about 1968-1971: EB mini-humbucker pickup and tune-o-matic two-point bridge with mute and cover.

The bridge pickup on an EB3 is very different tonally to the neck pickup - many players find the neck a little too boomy, and the bridge a little too thin, preferring a blend of both pickups.

EB mini-humbucker pickup and tune-o-matic two-point bridge, but this time without the cover. One problem with this Gibson bridge is that any strings with significant silk windings tend to have intonation problems caused by the silk extending over the saddles. This can be a real problem, and is best solved by buying short scale strings with no silk at the ball end (I like Labella Deep talkin'). Cutting back the silk does work to some extent, but is by no means the best solution.

The heel (neck-body joint) of 1969 solid body EB basses is quite distinctive; it is rounded, and sits flush with the body itself. Earlier and later EBs were noticeably different - see the EB bass heel page for some different Gibson bass heel designs.

Serial number on the back of the headstock, above Kluson 538 tuning keys

The 1969 EB3 had an inlaid Gibson logo with centered crown inlay. This headstock has been refinished, slightly imperfectly - the crown inlay is a block of pearl with details edges painted in black. Compare this to a 1969 EBO to see how it should look. Note that the Gibson logo at this period has no dot over the letter i.

This image clearly shows the one-piece neck of this bass, and solid headstock. Sixties EBs were never built with a volute - an extra thickness of wood behind the weak neck/headstock joint area, though these became standard from 1972. Compare with a later period EB3 here.

The 1969 EB-3 had series 1 circuitry

Sound Clips

The clips below demonstrate this bass in all four varitone positions, both with direct input and through a vintage B15 amp. The choked setting (varitone position 1) is perhaps a bit too strong when amplified - the intense vibrations can rattle apart old amps, and certainly cause undesirable vibrations when digging in. When DI'd, though, the depth and roundness of tone is captured beautifully. Other settings work really well when amped.

* Gibson EB basses had subtly different cutouts small changes in the bevels as opposed to the actual size of the horns - there is no obvious way to name these differences, and no reference to them in any Gibson literature, so they have been described here simply as types 1-5. For a comparative look at the variations, see the EB bass cutaway page

Gibson EB-3 bass guitars for sale

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* bottom and top are loose =need reglueing
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