Buying an Epiphone EB-3?

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Unsprung

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A Froogle search turned up 4 online sources, that carry the long scale (34") Epiphone EB-3 bass: guitarbargins.com; boxymusic.com; music123.com; shop-nation.com. Which one of these 4 would be the best, as far as possibly ordering the EB-3 bass? Or should I take the time to drive the 2 hours, up to Carmel, IN, and see about buying one from Reno's Music (they are big on selling Epiphones)?

I nearly scored an early, slotted neck Gibson EB-3 about 10 years ago, but had it on lay-away and about 1/2-way through, an unexpected financial difficulty forced me to give up the lay-away. Just as well, though, as would've got stolen, along with my Epiphone Texan and Kamen Montana 12-string, during a break-in sometime over Thanksgiving weekend of '98.

Now that I know there's an Epiphone EB-3 other than their 30" scale Elitist model, I really want to go after an EB-3 again...even if it's not a Gibson this time.

Matt
 
It's the feel...

too bad nobody makes replacement pickups for them, because unless you're in a Cream cover band, they really do sound awful. I actually prefer the EBO, being a fan of short scale and all. But they really do feel good, unlike any other bass. Hrrrmph years ago, I was actually on my way to buy an EB-3 that a guy found for me when I accidentally stopped in somewhere else and found my Mustang. Boy, was that other guy pissed, and for good reason. Lucky break for me, though. Not only was it way cheaper, I never would have discovered Mustangs.

Unsprung, where are you located? I'm sure you've got other options.
 
AGCurry said:
Why do you want an EB-3? Are you fond of mud?

I'll need that mud, for some of the things I'm wanting to do. Once I get an EB-3, I'll have a fairly good sound choice between that and my Squier Affinity P-bass, which also has a 34" scale. I'm not necessarily trying to emulate Jack Bruce, but I can play Cream's "Sunshine of Your Love," so that's probably as close to imitating Bruce's sound as I'll get, unless of course I play other Cream songs.

I truly fell in love with the EB-3 sound, when I tried out that Gibson before putting it on lay-away. Since I probably won't find an affordable Gibson EB-3, any time soon, I figure an Epiphone EB-3 will be a reasonable substitute.

Matt
 
Cardioidpotent said:
What part of our fair state are you in?

Connersville (or as folks from yer neck of the woods like to call it...Connertucky).

Matt
 
That sucks

music store-wise. Nothing in Richmond, huh? If you want, I'll check around here for you, so you don't have to make a trip for nothing. GC and Sam Ash might have one, GC being the best bet. IRC also has another store south of Indy. If they have something there, they can send it to their Castleton store. They're pretty cool people.

I know I'm not telling you anything you don't already know, but you really need to get off the couch and get out of Dodge (or Connersville, as the case may be). Ain't nothin' gonna fall in yer lap, boy. Sorry, I had a southern Indiana moment there.

And almost any small town in this state is also known by it's name + the suffix 'tucky'. The assumption being we all fell off the turnip truck on it's way to Chicago from Kentucky.
 
Cardioidpotent said:
And almost any small town in this state is also known by it's name + the suffix 'tucky'. The assumption being we all fell off the turnip truck on it's way to Chicago from Kentucky.

A past co-worker, who was born and raised in Kentucky, told me that "Indiana was settled by Kentuckians whose wagons broke down, as they were trying to move to Michigan." Works for me. :p I usually explain to people, about the Hoosier accent, that "it's as close to a southern accent as ya can get, without actually being in the south," and "the closer ya get to Kentucky, the thicker the accent gets."

As far as music stores available to me, we have DJ's Music here in Connersville, and The Music Pantry in Richmond. From what I've seen, DJ's tends to be more Johnson oriented (is where I bought my Johnson JG-622-E acoustic/electric bass), and The Music Pantry tends to be more Ibanez oriented (is where I bought my Ibanez AG75). Doubtful that either even sell Gibson/Epiphone, unless they're on the used rack.

Thanks for reminding me about IRC! No real need to do any checking for me, however, as I can either call around myself, or visit IRC, GC & SA the next chance I have to get up to Indy. Sometimes my job hunting sends me to Indy, so at least I do have an excuse, now and then, to make the trek...nobody said I can't do anything else, other than putting in a job application. :)

Matt
 
I don't know - not all mud. I used a '74 EB3 for a few years when I first started playing clubs with original bands - If you set it up with the bridge PU pretty high compared to the neck, crank the treble on the bass amp, crank the amp until happy..... It sounded pretty good to me.

The real ones were massively neck-heavy, which sucked.

ultimately it went on it's way to help pay for the G&L L-1000 that I played for the next 20 years. A much better bass.
 
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