About the Guitar:
This violin shaped "Electric Bass" was Gibsons first electric bass and was first produced in 1953 as a response to the Fender Precision Bass. Only an average of 91 EBs were produced each year untill 1958 when, with the launch of the hollow-body EB-2 the EB was renamed the EB-1.
The violin shaped body was carved out of solid mahogony and fitted with a large, brown, pickup at the base of the neck, with the poles situated along the lower, bridge, end. The head was fitted with banjo-style tuners, as were all basses in the 1950's, and the end of the body was fitted with a socket to take a screw-in telescopic end-pin which allowed the bass to be played as an upright.
Production ceased at the end of 1958, with a total 546 produced, making this an extremely rare model.
In 1970 Gibson re-issued the model. Between 1970 and 1972 they produced 473 re-issues with a metal covered Humbucker, the then prevalent intonable bridge and conventional right-angle tuners.
The most famous player of an EB-1 was Felix Pappalardi, the Producer of the Cream and later the Bassist for Mountain, who played a 1970's re-issue. Jack Bruce also played an EB-1 in memory of Felix, during the Cream reunion at the Albert Hall in 2005.
This bass was owned and used by Felix Pappalardi. It was not his main bass he used with Mountain. He kept this one in his NY appartment. After he passed away it went back to his family.
