I quite like the look of it as well, I just didn't love the cavity it was sitting in and making a surround was more work than just banging the old cover back on. Making wooden pickups is something I'm quite keen on trying more of, I should start having a go at winding my own too, that could make for some unique sounds. Thanks.
The original Gibson "Mudbuckers" were really good. I once borrowed an old Gibson EB2 and it sounded fantastic---to me anyway, but I am very much old school. Modern treble-y basses do nothing for me.
I saw Felix Pappalardi playing the Gibson model of this the 4 times Mountain visited Detroit. Had 3 Sunn 2000s (?) stacks as backup w/ 6 cabs 2 x 15 ea...
I'm with you on the ebo type pickup. But plenty really like them . It's I guess what works for the user . I think your hard work improved it . If nothing else it was a great video , it's always good to see you tinkering and experimenting . Peace and love brother ✌ 💚
You articulated criticisms I didn't have the words for when I had one as my only bass. For me it just wasn't inspirational to use. I was seduced thinking it might be like a 60s Gibson I had in the 80s. Nope! Thanks for the fun videos!
Indeed. When I buy a second hand bass I love to see dents and dirt and wear, I love to see that it's been played a heap. That's a sure sign that it's a good instrument because somebody wanted to use it and stuck with it. When you see a bass that's 40+ years old and hasn't a scratch on it then you have to ask why nobody wanted to play it. Cheers.
Part of my plans for when the weather warms up is to take all my favorite elements from all these basses I've got, and scratch build the ultimate bass. At this stage it's a neck-through viola bass, Rick scale with dual P pickups. Potentially a 5 string. Watch this space😉
The whole reason for buying an EB-1 is the "mudbucker growl". It isn't SUPPOSED to be a smooth sounding bass. Good enough for John Paul Jones and Felix Pappalardi... good enough for me. To each his own though. I'll keep the mudbucker and if I had to I would deepen the pick up cavity. A Gibson EB-1 is going to cost you $8 - $10 K for one that isn't trashed out. The Eppy is STILL a fairly rare instrument. They simply didn't make many of these and I almost cried when you started shaving away. Well... like I said... to each his own.
I took an Epiphone EB-0 and made an EB-3 out of it b😊y adding a mini-humbucker at the bridge. The neck Mudbucker was horrible so I bought a DiMarzio Model One DP120 and the problems were solved. The Model One is a very easy way to fix these Gibson/Epiphone basses.
Epiphone "Mudbuckers" from the 90's to some recent years are all clones of the crappy late 70's "Low-Z" pickups, that were essentially "Mudbuckers" but with a very low impedance that made them sound like a shitty MusicMan or Jazz Bass single coil, instead of a true mudbucker, the later a sound very muddy, but with some adjustments on the capacitors and wires can do sound very upright-like, also another similar sounding pickups are the Guild "Sludgebucker" and the Fender Wide Range Humbucker, that are even better than the Gibson ones.
OEM pup is only about 4.5K ohms or so. I replaced that with an 11K ohms pup and added a 6 position varitone switch using stock knobs. Different animal together.
My '71(?) first reissue Gibson EB1 was a one trick pony, but it was an interesting trick! Think Felix Pappalardi in Mountain. It moaned and groaned and grunted and was nearly incapable of a clean tone with the Standel amp I had at the time. I could do Mountain and early Grand Funk Railroad songs and that was mostly it. Back in the late 80's I borrowed one from a friend to do Mississippi Queen and through my SVT and 8X10 cab, it didn't have the same overdrive, but had so much lows that the notes were indistinguishable from one another!! I still think it would be great to own another one, just for sentimental reasons and maybe with the rig..... Brontosaurus grunts!!!!
Mel Schacher (Grand Funk) had one of these Gibson Humbuckers installed in his Jazz Bass, so did Barry Oakley Allman Brothers Band). They wanted that unique "mudbucker growl".
i.. am actually one of the guys that love that chorus effect on the open string. damn id wish i could exchange my squier now that i am watching this video.
I remember I had to borrow a friend's Epiphone EB 0 for a gig when one of the wires in my P bass broke. No matter how I adjusted my amp EQ I just couldn't cut through the mix at all; as soon as the drummer came in all that muddy low end was instantly swallowed up.
I'm pretty sure I'd have superglue stabilized that neck pocket. But also TBX tone pot will help the mudbucker out if you put the capacitor mod instead of the 82k shunt resistor. A Piezo Saddle bridge might be the only real solution.. Superglue stabilization of the wood after drilling. My Epiphone Junior and Special II experiences have cycled between soft wood and forward leaning posts. All fixable for cheap.. But Peavey plywood has never failed.
Nice video here, thanks. It’s Amazing to see all the work it takes to make this thing be what it should have been when it was first built. Have you ever seen a bass that is this shape but also has a big carved-like-a-violin headstock? Pretty cool I thought
Sound fantastic! Feel like the taste of solid Rickenbacker bass sound is added a little. It's not an ancient Gibson bass sound, but it seems to be versatie.
I had no idea what an ugly mess was waiting under that pickup cover. Something tells me two coils don't do their best work when they're sharing pole pieces.
Thanks, yes everything is fine, gearing up for the next run of videos where I teach myself to wind pickups and we can all learn from the many many mistakes I'm sure to make🤣 In the meantime I've been spring cleaning and finishing off a few other projects, but definately hoping to drop a short run of videos before the end of the year. Cheers👍
I was first aware of these seen in my guitar maintenance book. Thought they were not as nice as the Hofner 500/1 which copied the Gibson EB version. Still, like your one very much. Love bass guitars in general, love that thumpy rubbery sound as opposed to the metal sound.
Sounds muffled with the original pickup, the replacement sounds a little bit better, but I guess it's the position and soft body as you already pointed out.
I kinda wonder if they were designing it and someone said "But there's no top end", and someone replied "Don't worry, the string rattle will cut through the mix". Cheers.
I would've thought the pickup position being right over the harmonics would've been the reason for the chorus effect, weird! Great video, bass sounds alright, I do love the colour and shape though
I did a bad job of explaining it in the video but it's like this: When you play a harmonic you are stopping the string at a certain spot to divide the wavelength into a whole number. A strong enough magnet can actually hold the string enough to bring out the harmonics at that point, and having it at the 24th fret node certainly contributes. Where it gets really weird is the sheer width of the magnetic aperture - virtually any note you play on the fretboard will have a whole number division somewhere in the range of the pickup and it'll do what it was designed to do, ie, make people rush out to buy a Fender to play instead🤣
hello friend. I bought a brand new epi eb0 . I think it's great, but the G string is muted. I turned the screw on the pickup pole but it didn't change. It's all tuned up, unplugged it sounds great. any suggestion?
I would simply replace the pickup. What's happening is the magnets are too strong, and the smaller mass of the G string is being overcome by the magnetic pull. On my one the magnets were directly underneath the pickup cover, so turning the screw did nothing, replacing the pickup entirely fixed everything. Dimarzio make a direct replacement for the Epiphone mudbucker, nobody ever regretted the change. Hope that helps, Thanks.
the pickup only will suck to those that dont like the pickup how ever changing your amp or speaker can also solve alot of your problems should you really not be cool with whats there how ever the pick up in this case is not the problem so much as its the place that epiphone placed it then again they placed it for a reason that perhaps you might not like but others would be fine with so boils down really to preference ,
In my humble opinion the cavity for the pickup was just not deep enough. This happens, when designs are copied but original magnets are not available, I bet, they were weaker. Actually I like Mudbuckers, the sound is really specific. Besides that: What a mess about this instrument, so many issues with that thing! But you made a playable instrument out of it! Bridge and body - yeah. But a nice project!
Thats cool as,I like it..I have one of them pickups on an old SG Style Teisco bass and the bridge pickup has 4 round posts and 4 rectangle posts ... So yeah its a bit rough but I'll do something it pretty soon...
Yes, I've seen those, they're a completely different design underneath. Just to be clear, my criticisms are specifically aimed at late 1990's Epiphone mudbuckers, they're the only ones I've encountered that I've truly hated, and there's a ton of different designs out there. I think the Teisco ones were made in Japan by Maxon, they can be a little hit and miss but get a good Maxon pickup and your set. Thanks
New season starts filming next week, if all goes according to plan (🤣) the videos will start coming out in a week or two, hopefully stretching through to New Years unless I run out of time/energy/ideas/cash. Cheers.
@@fanbladeinstruments I'm glad to see you're alive! I was thinking about how you were but I typically tend to assume the worst and wondered if the NZ winter was too cold this year. 😂
I love mudbuckers .. I’ve got a 65 EB3 and 62 EB0 and nothing beats that sound I’ve been trying to find a similar pickup with all that thick mud . But everyone try’s to make them clear with actual top end . Pointless Get a proper mudbucker .
Indeed, I should clarify the pickups I'm being critical of are specifically late 1990's Epiphone mudbuckers, they're the ones I have the most experience with and every last one has been a giant disappointment. I'd love to get a look at some of those early Gibson ones to see how the designs have changed over the years. Thanks.
@@fanbladeinstruments My 60s EB-0 had a great grinding high end (played on a maxed out Ampeg V4). Stunned at how much those two pieces of gear cost now.
Jack Bruce Used a Gibson EB-1 during Cream's 2005 reunion performances. That bass indeed had a tone going for it which was very Upright sounding. images.equipboard.com/uploads/source/image/115263/big_660E2E74-A0C4-4BCF-95B1-116FD33F530B.jpeg Of course the Gibson EB-1 is a totally different animal from the Epiphone, the shape alone is different.
love the look of the wood pickup cover, could make for an interesting bass with light wood and darker wood pickup covers
I quite like the look of it as well, I just didn't love the cavity it was sitting in and making a surround was more work than just banging the old cover back on. Making wooden pickups is something I'm quite keen on trying more of, I should start having a go at winding my own too, that could make for some unique sounds. Thanks.
I bought one but previous owner replaced the pickup with a dimarzio black instead of the kool looking chrome.
Greatly enjoyed your previous EB0 video, so discovering you'd made this new companion piece was a welcome surprise. Thanks for sharing your project!
I can't believe how smooth that bass sounded in the end! It was so soft and pleasing.
Good recovery of a bass that had been tossed aside. I do love the red finish, it looks great. Well done!
The original Gibson "Mudbuckers" were really good. I once borrowed an old Gibson EB2 and it sounded fantastic---to me anyway, but I am very much old school. Modern treble-y basses do nothing for me.
Genius solution - I think it sounds good. Great jam too.
I saw Felix Pappalardi playing the Gibson model of this the 4 times Mountain visited Detroit. Had 3 Sunn 2000s (?) stacks as backup w/ 6 cabs 2 x 15 ea...
Suck?! That bass sounds absolutely gorgeous to me.
I'm with you on the ebo type pickup. But plenty really like them . It's I guess what works for the user .
I think your hard work improved it . If nothing else it was a great video , it's always good to see you tinkering and experimenting .
Peace and love brother ✌ 💚
Amazing transformation, it sounds great. I remember when Jack Bruce played an EB1. Cheers from Utah.
You articulated criticisms I didn't have the words for when I had one as my only bass. For me it just wasn't inspirational to use. I was seduced thinking it might be like a 60s Gibson I had in the 80s. Nope!
Thanks for the fun videos!
Indeed. When I buy a second hand bass I love to see dents and dirt and wear, I love to see that it's been played a heap. That's a sure sign that it's a good instrument because somebody wanted to use it and stuck with it. When you see a bass that's 40+ years old and hasn't a scratch on it then you have to ask why nobody wanted to play it. Cheers.
@@fanbladeinstruments That's 'food for thought' indeed.
I’m half expecting a follow up video where you build a new body for the neck and hardware :) the new pickup sounds great!
Part of my plans for when the weather warms up is to take all my favorite elements from all these basses I've got, and scratch build the ultimate bass. At this stage it's a neck-through viola bass, Rick scale with dual P pickups. Potentially a 5 string. Watch this space😉
The whole reason for buying an EB-1 is the "mudbucker growl". It isn't SUPPOSED to be a smooth sounding bass. Good enough for John Paul Jones and Felix Pappalardi... good enough for me. To each his own though. I'll keep the mudbucker and if I had to I would deepen the pick up cavity. A Gibson EB-1 is going to cost you $8 - $10 K for one that isn't trashed out. The Eppy is STILL a fairly rare instrument. They simply didn't make many of these and I almost cried when you started shaving away. Well... like I said... to each his own.
I remember when these were available in the AMS catalogue back in the 90s and they were dirt cheap. I should have bought one.
I took an Epiphone EB-0 and made an EB-3 out of it b😊y adding a mini-humbucker at the bridge. The neck Mudbucker was horrible so I bought a DiMarzio Model One DP120 and the problems were solved. The Model One is a very easy way to fix these Gibson/Epiphone basses.
Epiphone "Mudbuckers" from the 90's to some recent years are all clones of the crappy late 70's "Low-Z" pickups, that were essentially "Mudbuckers" but with a very low impedance that made them sound like a shitty MusicMan or Jazz Bass single coil, instead of a true mudbucker, the later a sound very muddy, but with some adjustments on the capacitors and wires can do sound very upright-like, also another similar sounding pickups are the Guild "Sludgebucker" and the Fender Wide Range Humbucker, that are even better than the Gibson ones.
OEM pup is only about 4.5K ohms or so. I replaced that with an 11K ohms pup and added a 6 position varitone switch using stock knobs. Different animal together.
My '71(?) first reissue Gibson EB1 was a one trick pony, but it was an interesting trick! Think Felix Pappalardi in Mountain. It moaned and groaned and grunted and was nearly incapable of a clean tone with the Standel amp I had at the time. I could do Mountain and early Grand Funk Railroad songs and that was mostly it. Back in the late 80's I borrowed one from a friend to do Mississippi Queen and through my SVT and 8X10 cab, it didn't have the same overdrive, but had so much lows that the notes were indistinguishable from one another!! I still think it would be great to own another one, just for sentimental reasons and maybe with the rig..... Brontosaurus grunts!!!!
Mel Schacher (Grand Funk) had one of these Gibson Humbuckers installed in his Jazz Bass, so did Barry Oakley Allman Brothers Band). They wanted that unique "mudbucker growl".
i.. am actually one of the guys that love that chorus effect on the open string. damn id wish i could exchange my squier now that i am watching this video.
I remember I had to borrow a friend's Epiphone EB 0 for a gig when one of the wires in my P bass broke. No matter how I adjusted my amp EQ I just couldn't cut through the mix at all; as soon as the drummer came in all that muddy low end was instantly swallowed up.
Kia Ora, fellow kiwi! Love your videos
Came for the bass, stayed for the little wooden pickup build
I love the way the mudbucker sounds, personally
Nice job. Sounds a little bit like an early P bass, maybe to be expected with that type of pickup.
Actually sounded good at the end of all that, would suit a defret I think.
I'm pretty sure I'd have superglue stabilized that neck pocket. But also TBX tone pot will help the mudbucker out if you put the capacitor mod instead of the 82k shunt resistor.
A Piezo Saddle bridge might be the only real solution.. Superglue stabilization of the wood after drilling.
My Epiphone Junior and Special II experiences have cycled between soft wood and forward leaning posts. All fixable for cheap.. But Peavey plywood has never failed.
Nice video here, thanks.
It’s Amazing to see all the work it takes to make this thing be what it should have been when it was first built.
Have you ever seen a bass that is this shape but also has a big carved-like-a-violin headstock? Pretty cool I thought
Sound fantastic! Feel like the taste of solid Rickenbacker bass sound is added a little.
It's not an ancient Gibson bass sound, but it seems to be versatie.
Very creative. Thanks for sharing!
You said it’s 6.8° Celsius which is 44° in that garage? Omg that’s way too cold, man.
I had no idea what an ugly mess was waiting under that pickup cover. Something tells me two coils don't do their best work when they're sharing pole pieces.
Hey pal, missing new videos from you. Everything OK?
Thanks, yes everything is fine, gearing up for the next run of videos where I teach myself to wind pickups and we can all learn from the many many mistakes I'm sure to make🤣
In the meantime I've been spring cleaning and finishing off a few other projects, but definately hoping to drop a short run of videos before the end of the year. Cheers👍
Ask Felix Pappalardi; he killed with one of these. Also, Chas Chandler and The Yardbirds, not to mention Jack Bruce! I love my EB-3.
DiMarzio makes a nice replacement pick up for Gibson / Epi.
Really enjoyed the video.
I was first aware of these seen in my guitar maintenance book. Thought they were not as nice as the Hofner 500/1 which copied the Gibson EB version. Still, like your one very much. Love bass guitars in general, love that thumpy rubbery sound as opposed to the metal sound.
I quite like how mellow it is on the lowest notes, but it's not exactly versatile. Hopefully someone loves it and plays it!
Love the look of that bass ( would love to own an original EB1) Did the bass come with a Hipshot bridge originally ?
The original Gibson one I saw in a store for $7,000 . It would be a total waste of money.
Hi! You are a clever legend
Hiya dude, hope you're doing well.
Sounds muffled with the original pickup, the replacement sounds a little bit better, but I guess it's the position and soft body as you already pointed out.
I kinda wonder if they were designing it and someone said "But there's no top end", and someone replied "Don't worry, the string rattle will cut through the mix". Cheers.
I would've thought the pickup position being right over the harmonics would've been the reason for the chorus effect, weird!
Great video, bass sounds alright, I do love the colour and shape though
I did a bad job of explaining it in the video but it's like this: When you play a harmonic you are stopping the string at a certain spot to divide the wavelength into a whole number. A strong enough magnet can actually hold the string enough to bring out the harmonics at that point, and having it at the 24th fret node certainly contributes. Where it gets really weird is the sheer width of the magnetic aperture - virtually any note you play on the fretboard will have a whole number division somewhere in the range of the pickup and it'll do what it was designed to do, ie, make people rush out to buy a Fender to play instead🤣
hello friend. I bought a brand new epi eb0 . I think it's great, but the G string is muted. I turned the screw on the pickup pole but it didn't change. It's all tuned up, unplugged it sounds great. any suggestion?
I would simply replace the pickup. What's happening is the magnets are too strong, and the smaller mass of the G string is being overcome by the magnetic pull. On my one the magnets were directly underneath the pickup cover, so turning the screw did nothing, replacing the pickup entirely fixed everything. Dimarzio make a direct replacement for the Epiphone mudbucker, nobody ever regretted the change. Hope that helps, Thanks.
nice sound though with the band
Mine was also HEAVY…. 😞
Very impressive "work-around" with the pickup (and educational), but please be kind to your dad and provide him with a more stable bass! :))
the pickup only will suck to those that dont like the pickup how ever changing your amp or speaker can also solve alot of your problems should you really not be cool with whats there how ever the pick up in this case is not the problem so much as its the place that epiphone placed it then again they placed it for a reason that perhaps you might not like but others would be fine with so boils down really to preference ,
I'll take any mudbuckers you don't want off your hands! Great video and love the workaround to make this thing sound good
EB-0s sound amazing if they’re not the ONLY pickup in the bass…
In my humble opinion the cavity for the pickup was just not deep enough. This happens, when designs are copied but original magnets are not available, I bet, they were weaker. Actually I like Mudbuckers, the sound is really specific. Besides that: What a mess about this instrument, so many issues with that thing! But you made a playable instrument out of it! Bridge and body - yeah. But a nice project!
Thats cool as,I like it..I have one of them pickups on an old SG Style Teisco bass and the bridge pickup has 4 round posts and 4 rectangle posts ...
So yeah its a bit rough but I'll do something it pretty soon...
Yes, I've seen those, they're a completely different design underneath. Just to be clear, my criticisms are specifically aimed at late 1990's Epiphone mudbuckers, they're the only ones I've encountered that I've truly hated, and there's a ton of different designs out there. I think the Teisco ones were made in Japan by Maxon, they can be a little hit and miss but get a good Maxon pickup and your set. Thanks
@@fanbladeinstruments cheers
I think Mudbucker is pretty cool but it needs to be accompanied with a J-pickup on the bridge
introduction video is awesome 😄👍
What’s happened to Fanblade? Hope all is well; sure would like to see anew video.
New season starts filming next week, if all goes according to plan (🤣) the videos will start coming out in a week or two, hopefully stretching through to New Years unless I run out of time/energy/ideas/cash. Cheers.
@@fanbladeinstruments I'm glad to see you're alive! I was thinking about how you were but I typically tend to assume the worst and wondered if the NZ winter was too cold this year. 😂
I think you may have actually sold me on the mudbucker
sounds fine
Interested in selling it?
This is NOT meant to be played upright my guy
Hey
I love mudbuckers ..
I’ve got a 65 EB3 and 62 EB0 and nothing beats that sound
I’ve been trying to find a similar pickup with all that thick mud . But everyone try’s to make them clear with actual top end . Pointless
Get a proper mudbucker .
Indeed, I should clarify the pickups I'm being critical of are specifically late 1990's Epiphone mudbuckers, they're the ones I have the most experience with and every last one has been a giant disappointment. I'd love to get a look at some of those early Gibson ones to see how the designs have changed over the years. Thanks.
@@fanbladeinstruments My 60s EB-0 had a great grinding high end (played on a maxed out Ampeg V4). Stunned at how much those two pieces of gear cost now.
Jack Bruce Used a Gibson EB-1 during Cream's 2005 reunion performances. That bass indeed had a tone going for it which was very Upright sounding.
images.equipboard.com/uploads/source/image/115263/big_660E2E74-A0C4-4BCF-95B1-116FD33F530B.jpeg
Of course the Gibson EB-1 is a totally different animal from the Epiphone, the shape alone is different.