Phil's EB3

[Rusty the Scoob]

Anybody have good pictures of this bass? The best I've found so far is this:



http://www.hammoneng.com/largeimage12.htm

[tigerstrat]

Anybody have good pictures of this bass? The best I've found so far is this:



http://www.hammoneng.com/largeimage12.htm

I figured out why your pic didn't post... you posted the page it was on (the .htm), but not the image location(the .jpg) (right click, and select 'Copy Image Location').

That's one of the best shots of the handpainted body I've seen. This one doesn't show the bass nearly as well, but its a great pic. Love the Fillmore East softball team shirts:

[zezozeceglutz]

Notice that the Hagstrom Bisonics have what appears to be aluminum foil over them in an attempt to shield against hum and that the Gibson bar bridge was replaced with their later intonatable version and a tailpiece. It also had simple preamps installed directly on the pickups to keep the high-impedance portion of the signal path as short as possible to prevent signal degradation. It's likely that the tone controls were replaced with active low pass filters by this point but not a whole lot's known about this bass. The electronics certainly weren't as sophisticated as the Godfather's state variable filters.

You can see in the black and white shots that the bass was already using a 5 (or more) pin cable to carry power for the preamps and, probably (knowing Alembic), a stereo signal.

[tigerstrat]

Edwin??? Sweet pic, regardless. TY, Zezo! Would love to browse the collection that came from.

I have a large B&W poster from circa 70 which features the EB0 prominently. I'll have to scan at least part of it and hit this thread again.

[zezozeceglutz]

That first one is from the recording of David Crosby's album in late-'70 early-'71. I found it on corbis.com and there are a few more from the session (not showing the bass much) if you just search "Phil Lesh." I've spent way too much time cruising corbis for old stage and equipment shots. There are some good shots of Crosby's Alembicized 12 string as well.

[Capt Rosebuddy]

WOW!

those are great photos! I always thought of Phil as a "picker" cool to see him using the digits didn't know he ever did that; then again never saw such great photo evidence. Is that shot from the Fillmore east taken during the April '71 run?

[playingdead]

He busted out this one recently

[willmusic]

Wow! Jack Casady Epi sig bass! I played one of those the other day and they're fun. Simple, but fun.

[tigerstrat]

WOW!

those are great photos! I always thought of Phil as a "picker" cool to see him using the digits didn't know he ever did that; then again never saw such great photo evidence. Is that shot from the Fillmore east taken during the April '71 run?

The Fillmore pic is Feb. 1970 (note Garcia's early 60's Strat and Weir's 345--- April 71 had JG w/the Turner SG neck thing or some say the flame Les Paul, and Weir on a black Les Paul). In his bio, Phil talks about alternating flatpicking vs fingerstyle a lot during his first few years playing bass, but settling on flatpicking (hooray!)in the early 70s. I suspect he might have used fingers a bit more in the studio vs the stage.

[BuddhaG]

oh man, the boys look like they are trippin or smokin on some great weed in that fillmore east photo. phil is so intensely having a great time and bob is zoned in to what he is doing and jerry is all ears.

is this a modified fender bass?

[Rusty the Scoob]

Nope, it's a lightly modified (by Dead standards) Gibson bass.

http://www.guitarcenter.com/Gibson-SG-R ... 1149479.gc

Thanks for the pics, guys, keep em coming! I notice an extra knob by the tailpiece on that awesome Fillmore pic - I wonder what that knob did? and the one where he's smoking a butt really shows the colors and details of the paintjob.

[tigerstrat]

4/26/70 The Farm, Poynette, WI

[willmusic]

He busted out this one recently

I was referring to this one.

[Rusty the Scoob]

I was referring to this one.

Yep, and I was replying to BuddaG asking if the EB0 was a modified Fender. Or maybe he was asking if the Epi Casady Sig was a modified Fender, in which case I gave him the wrong answer.

That's cool that he picked one up.... I bet he'd sound great on it! Of course he still has the original Godfather so I guess I'd personally rather play that than a bass I could get at any Guitar Center.

Thanks a bunch, TS, that pic really helps!

Anyone have specific info on the bridge? The tailpiece looks handmade but the bridge itself doesn't... someone above called it one of their later intonatable models but I haven't found any similar Gibson bridges online.

[zezozeceglutz]

More info:



"Gibson two-point bridge. Introduced in around 1967, the two point bridge was Gibsons first attempt at a bass bridge that allowed separate intonation of each string. The bridge attches to its posts by means of two hex screws. When posts or hex screws are worn, the bridge can tip forward to some extent, which can cause problems with action, and intonation. This is common in basses with no under-bridge mute. Notice also that the silk wraps at the ball end of the string don't always stop before the bridge saddle, avoided, by removing some of the wraps with a razor blade. Most versions had the nylon saddles pictured here, though around late 71, early 72 some of these bridges were equipped with chrome plated metal saddles."

(http://www.flyguitars.com/gibson/bass/parts/bridge/)