EPIPHONE BASS GUITARS

Although Gibson had produced the EB electric bass in 1953, it was only a half-hearted attempt at gaining a share of this market. Gibson CEO, Ted McCarty, prefered the upright bass - and this obviously showed in the design of the EB. He'd long admired Epiphones upright basses, and when Epiphone came up for sale in 1958, he jumped at the chance to get hold of the Epiphone upright basses. Epiphone upright basses, the B4 and B5, were produced at the Gibson Kalamazoo plant from 1959-1964.

When Gibson launched it's solid-body EB0 bass, it was perhaps surprised to see it sell so well. The first Epiphone solid-body bass, the Newport came out in 1961, and was effectively an EB0 with a different body-shape; the same woods, construction, electrics and hardware. > more about the Newport

In '61, Epiphone also put out a seni-acoustic bass, the Rivoli. Other than slight variations to the headstock shape, this was identical to the 1961 EB2

The final CMI-era Epiphone bass is the Embassy Deluxe. Once again this bass takes it's features from a Gibson, in this case the Gibson Thunderbird.