My Gibson EB-1 Bass Guitar

In 1970 I heard a hard rock band called 'Mountain' which just blew me away. The band consisted of an incredible lead guitarist by the name of Leslie West. Corky Laing commanded the drums like no other. Steve Knight on keyboards added subdued textures to the loud, "in your face" mix. Finally my hero, the late Felix Pappalardi. Felix had a degree in music from the University of Michigan but unable to find a suitable employment conducting an orchestra, garnered fame as producer for the supergroup trio 'Cream'. In 1969 Felix met Leslie and formed 'Mountain'.
Felix's bassmanship and finesse on the instrument was unlike anything I had heard before. His tone was unique and sounded like a buzz saw which complemented the bombastic sounds emanating from Leslie's Les Paul Jr guitar. Felix developed his sound by playing a rather unpopular Gibson bass called the EB-1 (simply, the Electric Bass One). Rumour has it that Felix had this violin shaped short scale (32") bass modified by Gibson with some sort of electronic circuitry (or perhaps just different capacitors) which when driven by his Sunn amplifiers, gave it that unique buzz saw sound. The violin shaped Gibson EB-1 should not be confused with the violin shaped Hofner Bass played by Paul McCartney in "The Beatles". The EB-1 can also be seen in action being played by the phenomenal Jack Bruce in the 2005 'Cream' reunion DVD at Royal Albert Hall in London.

Looking far and wide I was able to locate an EB-1 in London England which a friend of mine was willing to pick up for me but I also found one in Lansing Michigan. I just had to have it so I scraped together my savings, my salary, yet being childless, I couldn't offer my first borne - I made the purchase.

I am the proud owner of a 1957 Gibson EB-1 in pristine condition with all original parts.

Just had to brag!

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EB-1 Wiring Diagram (By Request)

Gibson EB-1 Wiring Diagram

By request here is the wiring diagram of the EB-1 Bass as best as I can decipher.

Now, the control cavity of the EB-1 is rather compact and although there are few components, it is difficult to poke around in there to trace the wiring. For that reason, the wiring diagram attached should be used as a guide rather than being taken as fact. Electronics is my weakest link so I can't troubleshoot the schematics by reason & sight alone. The bass was built in 1957 and the components haven't been disturbed since that date so I don't wish to tug and move the original wiring too much.

The 2 large ceramic capacitors have values of 0.05 MF & 0.01 MF and these particular ones are rated at 400V. The pots have no value on them but Gibson used 500K for many of it's basses and I'm assuming these are the same value. Again, I'm not about to fiddle with the 'innerds' to measure the value at this time.
I checked out my Les Shatten Wiring Diagram books for an EB-1 but it wasn't included in his early editions. Perhaps he has included this instrument in more recent editions.
Les Schatten Wiring Diagram Books
Les Schatten Designs

A poor photo of the electronics cavity. (damn camera busted trying to turn the flash off!!#@%&!)

Hope this helps somewhat. If not, get back to me and I'll see if I can refine the schematics.

Jack Bruce probably played an unmodified EB-1. It is my understanding that the late Felix Pappalardi of the 60-70's band 'Mountain' had his EB-1 modified with different capacitor ratings and some other unspecified changes. Gave him that signature 'buzz saw' sound in conjunction with his Sun Amps. Check out his dedication page here.

Click on Frame to Enlarge
(Caution - Quick rendering, may not be accurate)

Poor Quality Photo of EB-1 Electronics Bay

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