Fender Jazz bass and Gibson EBO

Glenn Cornick was one of the most well known Gibson users of the late sixties and early seventies. He was Jethro Tull's bass player from its inception in 1968 until 1970, recording three albums This Was, Stand Up and Benefit. In this time he played four Gibson bass guitars, a 1959 EB0, a 1969 EB3, an EB2, and reverse bodied Thunderbird.

His next band was Wild Turkey, in which he played the reverse and two non-reverse Thunderbirds. Glenn was kind enough to answer some questions for FlyGuitars.com.

FlyGuitars Your earliest live work (most notably the Stones Rock and Roll Circus) is characterised by the reverse necked Fender Jazz bass. What was the story behind that interesting bass?

Glenn Cornick The reverse neck fender was a 62 Jazz Bass and I hated the neck so I exchanged necks with someone with a Precision except it happened to be a left handed Precision. That was in late 66 I think. In the end the frets were so thrashed that it was almost unplayable. No one at that time did refretting. That's when I bought the EBO.

FlyGuitars ..and that was your first Gibson bass?

Glenn Cornick Yes, it was a 1959 EB0 which I bought on our first tour in Chicago. Was never able to use it on stage because it was far too bassy but used it on Stand Up on Nothing is Easy. It had a wonderful neck and I loved it but it wasn't practical.