"Jack Bruce"

1962 Gibson EB-3

This early 1962 EB-3 bass guitar weighs just 7.90 lbs. Ultra thin (just under 1 3/8 inches) solid mahogany body with highly contoured edges. one-piece mahogany neck with a nice, fat nut width of just over 1 11/16 inches, a short scale length of 30 1/2 inches and a wonderful thick profile. Unbound rosewood fretboard with 20 original jumbo frets and inlaid pearl dot position markers. Headstock with inlaid pearl "Gibson" logo and pearl crown inlay. Bell-shaped truss-rod cover secured by two screws. Two-on-a-side Kluson right-angle tuners with large cloverleaf metal buttons. One large silver-painted black plastic-covered four-polepiece humbucking pickup in the neck position with a huge output of 16.40k and and one smaller metal-covered four-polepiece mini-humbucker pickup in the bridge position with small rectangular label "Patent No. / 2,737,842" on the underside and silver-painted black plastic surround with an output of 7.19k. Five-layer black over white plastic pickguard secured by five screws. Original ebony finger rest on the pickguard secured by two screws. Four controls (two volume, two tone) plus four-way rotary selector switch and jack socket, all on lower treble bout. Black plastic bell-shaped knobs with metal tops. Four-way rotary switch with black metal ring with numbers 1-4, chicken-head switch tip. Combined single-saddle bar bridge/tailpiece with two adjustable intonation screws.  Complete with the adjustable mute assembly. The potentiometers are dated "134 61 45" (CTS November 1961). Inside the control cavity, in addition to the four controls and the four-way switch, is the original transformer, stamped "GA-90-1C". The serial number "75181" is stamped in blind on the back of the headstock. Minimal fading to the face of the body, the back of the neck has faded a couple of shades. There is some extremely light finish checking and a few very minor and fairly insignificant surface chips, mainly on the sides. The original frets show some light to moderate playing wear which is mainly confined to the first seven frets. There are no 'divot's in the fretboard and the truss-rod adjustment nut has not been touched. Otherwise this sixty year old 'Cream' bass guitar is in exceptionally fine (9.00). One of the early great EB-3s as used by the immortal Jack Bruce. Housed in the original Gibson five-latch, shaped black hardshell case with yellow plush lining (9.00).


"The EB-3 was originally introduced in 1961 as the successor to the thinline EB-2. Built with the ultra thin SG body-style, it was the first Gibson electric bass equipped with two pickups for added tonal versatility. The EB-3 proved a fairly enduring model and it was eventually discontinued in 1979. Between 1961 and 1965 the model did not undergo any major modification. The EB-3 is equipped with the same pickup as the EB-0 in the neck position and a 4-pole mini-humbucker in the bridge position. The 4-position rotary switch provides the usual two pickup combinations plus a baritone voicing for the front pickup" (A.R. Duchossoir, Gibson Electrics -- The Classic Years, p. 194).

"The best known player of the EB-3, [Jack] Bruce adopted Gibson's distinctive sounding bass while a member of Cream in the 1960s" (Tony Bacon and Barry Moorhouse, The Bass Book, p. 23).