EB-6 1962

EB-6 1962

An extremely rare 1962 "SG" EB-6

Most of you will be familiar with the Gibson EB-O and the EB-3. Well this is an extremely rare 1962 Gibson EB-6 bass (or to be exact a baritone) guitar!!!

Only 135 EB-6 basses were manufactured from 1960 to 1966. 67 were the single pick-up, semi-hollow body, made in 1960 & 61 (also on this website).

Only 68 "SG" shaped EB-6s were made between 1962 & 1965. Up to 12 of these were single pick-up, meaning there were approximately 56 two pick-up 'SG' shaped EB-6s made in total. This makes this particular, two pick-up, bass one of the most rare vintage Gibsons of its era.

The neck pickup of this particular bass is a patent number pickup (Gibson stopped making the PAF (Patent Applied For) in mid-1962 when the patent was granted and started using patent-number pickups). The sticker is missing from the bridge pickup. The pot codes are 13462-- dating them to mid-late 1962. Consequently these pickups are actually PAF pickups without the PAF sticker! This bass features a beautiful Brazillian Rosewood fretboard. All of the parts and hardware appear to be original (with the exception of the reftret), although the string mute is missing from above the bridge-- there are two small screw holes where it has been. (Scroll down to the foot of the page for a further description of this extremely rare baritone bass guitar).

Click on a photo to see a larger picture

The previous owner of this guitar owned it for the last 20 years and recently sent it to the Gibson Factory to have the head restored. They refinished the headstock (front and back) with a "stinger" point where the headstock meets the neck but the serial number 87667 --- which identifies it as a 1962 --- is readable.

According to Todd Money, the Gibson Restoration and Repair repair-shop manager, the reason for the headstock refin and the stinger on the back is the following: "The EB-6 had a carbon graphite headstock repair, which is the reason for the stinger." Here’s a link to a similar repair:

Link to Gibson Graphite Repair

Todd goes on to say "Apart from that, we cleaned up the electronics – retouched all the solder joints and sprayed the pots but replaced nothing – and restrung and set up the guitar." I had thought the body might have been oversprayed since it looks unusually clean for its age, but Todd assured me "We wouldn’t have done any more finish work than the headstock area. Refinishing guitars of this vintage can devalue them so we always advise against it." He added that "the guitar would have been buffed before leaving " which accounts for the unusually clean condition of the finish (although it does have some nicks and scratches as expected for a 40+ year old guitar). Lastly he says that as part of the restoration "we planed and refretted the neck.." The Bass came complete with the credit card slip to Gibson for $1800 for the work done.

See more Gibson Basses, available for sale, at www.gibsonbassstore.com