PRODUCED: 1953-58

ORIGIN: USA

TYPE: Solid violin shaped arched body, 4-string

BODY: Mahogany

NECK: Mahogany, set neck, 20 fine frets

SCALE LENGTH: 775mm (30.5-inch)

FINGERBOARD: Rosewood, pearl dot inlays

HARDWARE: Chrome bridge/tailpiece, single-saddle bridge, banjo style tuners with rear-facing knobs

PICKUPS: Single alnico magnetic pickup with brown Royalite cover

CONTROLS: Volume & tone

FEATURES: Telescopic endpin for upright playing

FINISHES: Natural brown lacquer with painted f-holes

COMMENTS: This was the first electric bass from Gibson hence the name. However it was rechristened the EB-1 after the introduction of the EB-0 in 1956. It was Gibson’s tradition of organising model numbers by their price that caused the EB-0 to undercut this designation because it was cheaper!

The EB-1 briefly resurfaced in 1970 with a few cosmetic changes but by 1972 it was gone again! With its violin shape and endpin it was definitely aimed at bridging the gap between an upright bass and a bass guitar. The earliest versions with a brown pickup cover had a huge single-coil unit inside that was actually mounted on its side. This gave it a cleaner and better-defined sound than the 1958 versions that were given a regular bass humbucker.