• Mahogany body • set maple neck • rosewood fingerboard • long (34 1/2) inch scale • three-way tone switch
Model: Gibson EB-4L
Year: 1973
Serial Number: 905568
Scale: long, 34 1/2"
Body: Solid mahogany body. Approx dimensions 17" long, 13" wide, 1.37" thick. Total body length 41"
Neck: Three-piece maple set neck. Rosewood fingerboard. Dot position markers.
Frets: 20
Width at nut: 41mm
Weight: 4.41kg
This is a typical early 1973 EB-4L. This bass is a good example of Gibson's walnut finish. Like the cherry, this is a translucent finish, allowing the wood grain to show through clearly. One of 413 Walnut EB-4Ls built that year (and 443 total - see EB4L shipping totals).
Hardware is chrome-plated throughout: EB4L super-humbucker pickup, Schaller M4-S machine heads, two-point bridge with metal saddles, with cover, witch hat knobs and decal logo.
With it's new-design chunkier body, and long scale maple neck, this EB4L is heavier than earlier EB bass versions - 60s EBs were typically to the order of 3.5 kg (+0.3kg); there was naturally variation by model, and between individual instruments. None were anywhere near the 4.4kg of this bass
The controls consisted master volume and tone, topped with witch hat knobs, and three-way tone switch. Listen to the EB4Ls differing switch settings
here.
Although the EB4L pickup looks quite similar to the standard EB humbucker, it is actually of a very different
super-humbuckering design.
The EB4L scratchplate differs is identical to those fitted to similar period EB3 basses; i.e. five ply (b-w-b-w-b) - in contrast to the three-ply plate used on the EB-0
After the 1972 remodelling of the EB bass series, short scale basses were fitted with a 21 fret fingerboard, whilst, long scale examples (EB-0L, EB-3L and EB-4L) had a 20 fret fingerboard. All versions had the same dot inlays and no neck binding.
EB-4L headstock detail, with decal logo and single ply bell-style truss rod cover
Headstock reverse showing serial number and Made in U.S.A. This bass has significant weather checking on the neck, aswell as finish sections that have lifted away. Checking is typically associated with temperature changes, however the fact that there is no checking on the guitar body suggests that in this instance it may relate to some difference in the way the lacquer has adhered to the body and neck. Tuning keys are
Schaller M4-S.
The Gibson EB-4L wiring harness is really quite different to the EB0 or EB3. Have a closer look at the wiring and relevant schematic here.
