1971 Gibson SB-400 bass

Strings suitable for the SB400 D'Addario ECB81 XL Chromes Flatwound Bass Strings (D'addario Chromes Stainless Steel Flatwound - Soft) D'Addario EXL160 Regular Gauge Nickel Wound Electric Bass Strings (D'Addario Bass Nickel Wound Long Scale - Regular) Rotosound RS77EL Jazz Bass Strings (Rotosound - Bass Strings - RS77EL - Jazz Bass) Thomastik-Infeld JF344 Jazz Flatwound Long Scale 4-String Bass Strings (Thomastik-Infeld JF344 Jazz Flatwound Long Scale 4-String Bass Strings) Fender 9050L Stainless Flatwound Bass Strings (Fender - Stainless Bass Flatwound - Long Scale - 34 - Light ) Rotosound RS66LD Bass Strings Long Scale Strings (RotoSound Swing Bass RS66LD - Stainless Steel) Rotosound RS66LB Bass Strings (RotoSound RS66LB Swing Bass - Stainless Steel) D'Addario EXL170 Nickel Wound Bright Round Wound Electric Bass Strings (D'Addario Bass Strings Nickel Wound - Soft) Rotosound RS77LD Jazz Bass Strings (Rotosound - Bass Strings - RS77LD - Jazz Bass) Rotosound RS66LC Bass Strings Long Scale (RotoSound RS66LC Swing Bass - Stainless Steel)

Specifics of this bass
Serial number	954032
Neck	Two-piece maple, C-shape
Headstock angle	7o
Width at nut	42.5mm (approx 1 11/16")
Depth at nut	25.8mm (approx 1")
Width at 12th fret	56.6mm (approx 2 1/4")
Depth at 12th fret	27.4mm (approx 1 5/64")
Weight	3.82kg

The Gibson SB 300 and 400 were a pretty short-lived phenomenon. The vast majority of these Kalamazoo-made basses were produced in 1971, with a few more in '72 and '73, but by late '72 they were no longer listed in price lists, in favour of two new bass models, the SB350 and SB450 - see SB shipping totals.

They never made it into any Gibson catalogue, although they did appear in this 1971 publicity sheet, also advertising the SG200 guitar.

The June 1971 price for either SB model was $289.50, compared to $350 for the EB0/EB0L and $410 for the EB3/EB3L.

Hardware and components

The bass pictured is completely original except for the bridge saddles. They were particularly poor-wearing on this multiplex bridge, which is one of the reasons few of these basses still have them fitted. Other features are completely standard for this model: pickups are Gibson single-coils (no difference between neck and bridge, also used on the SG 200, SG250 and ES-320 guitars), and the tuning keys are Schaller M-4.

The volume and tone control potentiometers (part CBA 811 3701) in this bass are both the same; 250k and dated from mid 1966. These pots were also used in 1960s Kalamazoo KG guitars. The manufacturer code is 'BD'. It is unusual to find Gibson instruments at the begining of their production run with pot codes so much older than the instrument. But then, almost all Gibson-used pots of this period were made by CTS or Centralab. These pots are stock however, and many early SB-300 and SB-400 basses were fitted with these pots.

Despite being SG-shaped, and finished in walnut or cherry, these basses were very different to the EB basses available in 1971. In fact the body shape and colour about the only thing these basses have in common. SB: Alder body, a two-pice maple neck, small angle (7^o) headstock angle and single coil pickups EBs: mahogany body, three-piece mahogany neck, 13^o headstock angle and humbuckers. The difference can certainly be heard. Compare the soundclips below with soundclips of a 1971 EB3L