Author Topic: Getting a 70's era Phil Lesh tone from an F-1X (Read 854 times)

rusty_the_scoob · « **Reply #30 on:** July 07, 2010, 10:02:48 AM »

I've been obsessed with the details of this bass for well over a year and I have to respectfully disagree - I think the earlier EB0 and the later EB3 were not the same bass.

In those early years Phil went through basses like Bobby went through guitars in the 70's and 80's, and he rarely keeps his basses once he's bored with them.

In order to make a 60's EB0 match the details of the bass in the pics above they would have had to:

1. Swap the 3-ply pickguard for a 5 ply one.

2. Rout for the 2nd pickup in exactly the right location - the Hagstrom/DarkStar is wider but after much debate and study with my dad, determining the scale of the pics using the distances between the frets as a known distance and comparing it to measurements from currently-produced EB3s, the distance between the Hagstrom and bridge matches the distance between the Gibson mini-humbucker and bridge. The far edge of the pickup rout on a current Gibson and on Phil's EB-whatever are both 28 1/4 from the nut.

3. Drill three holes for the two additional knobs and the Varitone switch in exactly the right places for 1969-70 EB3 specs.

4. Possibly replace the bridge - I don't have SFTS in front of me but the main tray of the bridge on Phil's is exactly right for a 1969 bass. Gibson changed their bass bridge designs extremely often in the 60's - probably because they were all bad designs!

I especially can't imagine them bothering to do 1 and 3. I think they'd have left the 3 ply pickguard on it and drilled the extra knob holes wherever they felt like it.

This website has awesome details about historical Gibson basses: http://www.flyguitars.com/gibson/bass/ it's been my main resource for getting the historically accurate restoration-type details right.

kilowatt · « **Reply #31 on:** July 07, 2010, 01:55:53 PM »

Guys,
There is a 1966 EB-3 for sale on e-bay right now. Sale ends in about an hour, but I know some people here might be interested.

Regards,
Pete

edwin · « **Reply #32 on:** July 07, 2010, 02:36:32 PM »

Looks like a good deal for a fixer upper. I'd bid, but for the Series I on the way.

pasewark · « **Reply #33 on:** July 07, 2010, 03:28:01 PM »

Looks like there is a giant crack through the bottom 3rd of the body. I think I'll pass.

pasewark · « **Reply #34 on:** July 08, 2010, 07:37:15 PM »

I'm interested in learning more about Alembic Blasters for a Bass Application if anyone would like to impart their knowledge.

Thanks!

mike1762 · « **Reply #35 on:** July 09, 2010, 02:51:02 AM »

I put a Blaster in my Tele Bass when I was in the process of transforming it from a Vintage instrument into a worthless pile of crap (very successfully I might add). The only thing I noticed was that the output was a bit hotter. I have never made a modification to a guitar that I didn't later regret!!!

benson_murrensun · « **Reply #36 on:** July 09, 2010, 10:45:30 AM »

The Blaster makes my Strat XII sound clearer, which is a big benefit to a 12-string.

sonicus · « **Reply #37 on:** July 10, 2010, 12:17:36 AM »

The Birth of the Active Bass Pickup_________?http://books.google.com/books?id=5lBKzcs746oC&pg=PA19&lpg=PA19&dq=alembic+blaster&source=bl&ots=uHuAHCl0OR&sig=yXFX0fBcb5cpiYihiPB3RVRG_Xc&hl=en&ei=jhw4TIvxLcb_lgfZ25nVBw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=9&ved=0CDkQ6AEwCDgK#v=onepage&q=alembic%20blaster&f=false

And there you have it friends ! Bookworm Power ! With a capital B

pace · « **Reply #38 on:** July 10, 2010, 08:46:13 PM »

I dunno about replacing the bridge on mine..... It still has the slider-switch with the foam mutes..... If only Jamerson played a Gibson?!?

pasewark · « **Reply #39 on:** July 14, 2010, 12:14:43 PM »

So what do we know about the Phils Gibson? Looking at pictures I can see an alembic bridge, Hagstrom pups and a fat Alembic cable for sound and to power the electronics. As far as the electronics on this bass, the two Hagstroms with an RCA CA3018 for each? Anything else? Any neck work?

rusty_the_scoob · « **Reply #40 on:** July 16, 2010, 02:25:23 PM »

Yep, with one correction: it's a stock Gibson two-point bridge with an added brass (I think) tailpiece. Functionally it's similar to a true Alembic bridge in that it rides on two posts that adjust via threaded inserts into the body, but it had nylon saddles, probably killing some sustain.

The neck appears to be unmodified as far as I can tell, but they did swap on Gotoh GB7 tuners or very similar ones. The Family Dog DVD has some good shots of the back of the headstock confirming this IIRC. I think they replaced the fretboard of the Starfire that became the Godfather with ebony (at the very least they changed it to the oval inlays) but the Gibson stayed with the round dots - that is why I believe it stayed factory.

The wiring besides the CA3018 (another correction: Ron Wickersham said it was a CA3036) buffers is unclear. The Varitone and output jack were both replaced with extra knobs to give it a total of six - one of these started out with the same function as the Vartione per Ron but was probably later changed to a master volume. Ron also stated that the buffers were soldered right to the terminals on the Hagstroms - they have good terminals for doing this unlike nearly every other pickup ever made. The fat Alembic cable carried the outputs of each pickup and powered the buffers.

rusty_the_scoob · « **Reply #41 on:** July 16, 2010, 02:36:02 PM »

Not a bad start for somebody: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=200496867738

David Houck · « **Reply #42 on:** July 16, 2010, 06:50:54 PM »

Cool article Wolf!

sonicus · « **Reply #43 on:** July 16, 2010, 07:07:04 PM »

Thanks Dave .

After having found that article By Ron Wickersham on line I did a search to buy that publication on ebay. It was delivered today.

artswork99 · « **Reply #44 on:** July 16, 2010, 08:02:26 PM »

That article was great and the preceeding 3 pages by Susan and Mica were very cool too. Thanks Wolf!