1968 Gibson EB-2N (second version) Natural

"The 'Sixties' Bass"
A Super Rare Custom Ordered Blond EB-2
1968 Gibson EB-2N (second version)
This super-rare 'blond beauty' hollowbody thinline bass weighs just 8.90 lbs. It features a 16 inch wide and 1 3/4 inch deep double-bound laminated maple body (a la ES-335) with some light birds-eye figuring on the back. One-piece mahogany neck with a nice narrow nut width of 1 1/2 inches, a 'short' bass scale length of 30 1/2 inches and a very comfortable medium to thick profile. Rosewood fretboard with 20 original jumbo frets and inlaid pearl dot position markers. Dark brown faced headstock with inlaid pearl "Gibson" logo and pearl crown inlay. Black over white plastic bell-shaped truss-rod cover secured by two screws and with "Custom" engraved in white. Two-on-a-side Kluson right-angle tuners with large cloverleaf metal buttons. Five layer black over white plastic pickguard secured by one side-bracket and one screw. One very strong "patent number" humbucking pickup with chrome cover and an output of 15.75k. Two controls (one volume, one tone) plus push-button bass boost, all on lower treble bout. Black plastic ribbed-side conical-shape "Witch Hat" knobs. Combined bridge/tailpiece with four individually adjustable nylon saddles & chrome bridge cover secured by two screws. All hardware chrome-plated. The serial number "907908" is stamped on the back of the headstock. There is just the bare minimum (hardly noticeable) of fine finish checking on the body. the original frets and fretboard show very little signs of wear - this bass has hardly ever been played… As is quite common, the original mute assembly was removed long ago because it prohibits the lowering of the bridge/tailpiece assembly. Overall this fine fifty-two year old blond bass is in exceptionally fine (9.00) condition. Housed in the original Gibson five-latch, shaped black hardshell case with light orange plush lining (9.00).

According to Larry Meiners Gibson Shipment Totals 1937-1979 there were just 90 natural EB-2s shipped between 1959 and 1961. There was a hiatus in production from 1962-1963. There are no records of any other 'natural' EB-2's between 1964 and it's discontinuation in 1970. The present guitar was most certainly a custom order and has the word "Custom" on the truss-rod cover.

André Duchossoir's The Guitar Identification Book gives the '903000'-'920899' serial number range as being shipped in 1968.
John Entwistle had a ca. 1961 'natural' EB-2 (Bass Culture. The John Entwistle Bass Collection, p. 159).
Geddy Lee has a 'natural' 1959 EB-2 (Geddy Lee's Big Beautiful Book of Bass, p. 160/162).

"Gibson's second electric bass model established a pattern that would hold true for almost all of the company's basses from that date forward. The EB-2 of 1958 was a 'partner' to a similar guitar model -- in this case, the semi-hollow ES-335. The EB-2 was, in effect, an electric bass neck (complete with banjo-style tuners) glued onto the double-cutaway, 'thinline' body of the ES-335. The earliest model had a single-coil pickup with a brown-plastic cover, but this was soon replaced by a large humbucker with a black-plastic cover... A pushbutton 'baritone' (i.e., bass-cut) control was added in 1959, and conventional right-angle tuners replaced the banjo tuners in 1960... The original EB-2 was dropped in 1961 and reintroduced, with a metal pickup cover, in 1964. A double-pickup version, the EB-2D, joined the line in 1966... Both models were discontinued in 1972. Although not commercially successful, Gibson's short-scale, semi-hollow basses -- and such similar models as the Epiphone Rivoli and Guild Starfire Bass -- were popular with many '60s rock bands because they were easy to play and offered different tonal possibilities than Fender basses" (Jim Roberts, American Basses, pp. 73-74). (#2191)