The Last of The Slab-Bodied Double-Cut EB-0s

1961 Gibson EB-0 Bass (Slab Body, Large Tuners).

This super rare and all original slab-bodied EB-0 bass weighs just 8.10 lbs. and has a solid mahogany body. One-piece mahogany neck with an amazing fat nut width of just over 1 11/16 inches, a scale length of 30 1/2 inches and a wonderful fat profile. Brazilian rosewood fretboard with 20 original jumbo frets and inlaid pearl dot position markers. Headstock with inlaid pearl "Gibson" logo and pearl crown inlay. Two-layer black over white plastic 'bell-shaped' truss-rod cover with two screws. Two-on-a-side Kluson bass tuners with large, right-angle, cloverleaf shaped metal buttons. Serial number "1 0153" stamped on the back of the headstock in black. One dual-coil "Sidewinder" bass pickup with four adjustable pole-pieces (mounted across the middle of the pickup), an output of 34.30k and a black plastic cover secured by four screws. Black plastic pickguard with six screws. Two controls (one volume, one tone) on lower treble bout. Black plastic bell-shape control knobs with metal tops. The pots are dated "134 6028" (Centralab, July 1960). Side-mounted jack socket on three-ply black over white plastic plate secured by four screws. Black plastic control panel cover on the back of the guitar with two screws. Combination "wrap-over" bar bridge/tailpiece with intonation adjustment. All hardware nickel-plated. Light fading to the body face, some light belt-buckle wear on the back (nothing through the finish) and a few small surface marks, dents, dings on the body and the neck. The only alteration being the addition of a fourth strap button on the inside of the treble horn. A spectacular and otherwise totally original example - the first of this 'rare' variant that we have ever seen. Housed in the original Gibson four-latch shaped brown softshell case with red plush lining (8.75)

According to the Gibson shipping records there were 535 EB-0s shipped in 1961 BUT the vast majority of these were the one half inch thinner SG shaped bodies. The change from the thick-body to the SG shape came in the early Spring of 1961, so it is most likely that a maximum of around 60-75 examples of the thick-body version were shipped in early 1961. The serial number of our guitar "1 0153" corresponds with an early January 1961 production date (the first serial number allocated in 1961 was "1 0100").

""A new economy-priced bass by Gibson --- that's wonderful news in the world of frets." Bass-wise, the EB-0 (a pseudo Les Paul double-cutaway bass) was introduced in 1959, and replaced the original EB-1. It utilized the same standard 30 1/2" scale with twenty frets and a rosewood fingerboard. Translucent cherry-red was the specified finish, and most that we've seen had the sharper radius edge rout. The control knobs were adjacent to a nickel bridge set down at the end of the body. The bass humbucking pickup ( by Seth Lover) as first used on the EB-2 had the dual-coil "Sidewinder" design, with poles set in the middle and a black plastic cover. "The bass pickup was one of the most difficult to design, because you wanted to get that very low response, and the average pickup wouldn't do it. It had to be a special kind of pickup. "Each coil received a whopping 12,500 turns, and all were set on their sides. This massive output restricted the highs and gave the instrument a deep and powerful tone --- especially being placed by the neck. A rather large, single-ply pickguard covered the lower portion of the body --- even though most of the playing was done on the topside! Expensive (according to the Gazette) Kluson "Waverly" -style banjo tuning pegs adorned the headstock into 1960, when the standard big-keyed nickel Klusons arrived…
During 1959, 123 were built, while 342 were shipped in 1960. One fun bass!" (Robb Lawrence. The Early Years of the Les Paul Legacy 1915-1963 (pp. 208-209).

"The first variant is characterized by a thick-body double cutaway shape with rounded horns, otherwise similar (but not strictly identical) to the contemporary Les Paul Junior/TV/ Special. The EB-0 has basically the same electronics and hardware as the violin-shaped EB-1 save for a pickup modified to a humbucking mode. This explains why the adjustable polepieces are located in the middle of the pickup cover instead of being close to the edge as on the EB-1. In late 1960 the banjo pegs were abandoned and replaced by conventional right-angle tuners with large metal buttons." (A.R. Duchossoir. Gibson Electrics - The Classic Years, p.192).

"Soon after the original EB-1 was dropped, Gibson introduced another solidbody model: the EB-0. Its double-cutaway mahogany body had the same shape as that of the recently revised Les Paul Jr. guitar, and the neck was the same one used on the EB-1 and EB-2. The pickup and other features were, unsurprisingly, the same as those found on Gibson's other basses. In 1961, the EB-0's body changed to the pointed-horn 'SG-style' shape… (Jim Roberts, American Basses, p. 74).