'54 Gibson EB / Gibson Thunderbirds
FlyGuitars Your first Gibson bass was a 1950s Gibson EB?
Dave Kiswiney What a great little bass that started me, that got me going. I found that in a music store in the back room with the broken headstock. The owner had taken it in. In Port Huron, Michigan that's where I was going to school. and he said it's useless you can have it for scrap so... ten bucks.. and I took it . We glued it, and screwed it together, put a metal plate on the front and back of the headstock and clamped it. Oh it was great, and I played it for a long, long time.

FlyGuitars Did it have all it's parts?
Dave Kiswiney Yeah it had everything: it had the pickguard; it didn't have the peg to play it upright, didn't have that; never did find that.. we looked but.. I played that for a long time and then I ‘Frankensteined’ it. Somebody gave me an old Fender bass. Jack Scott - do you remember Jack Scott? Well he sang songs like Burning Bridges Behind Me, What in the World's Come Over You?. I recorded with him and I used that Gibson bass in the studio, and he said you've got to have a Fender. So he brings me a Fender bass that he had.. it was like a '58.. it was white, Precision. He gave it to me and I used it on his sessions and I gave it back to him, and he said I can't pay you for the sessions, but keep the bass. So I kept the bass but, you know, I liked it, but I still liked that Gibson.. but I like the sound of the Fender.. so you know - this is terrible - I Frankensteined that little Gibson bass. Tore those pickups out of that Fender and carved a hole in the EB and plopped the Precision bass pickups in there and off I went. It was awesome. Absolutely amazing.
FlyGuitars Did you record with the EB? Did it make it to record?
Dave Kiswiney Yes I did. I made records with Michael Quatro, Suzi's brother. In Collaboration with the Gods, it's on that album. We did all that Rachmaninoff's Prelude in C# minor. It was kind of cool stuff really. He was playing a Mellotron and some synthesizer, Moogs and things like that. It was that kind of glam symphonic rock stuff. But yes that's the bass I used on that. With those Precision pickups that I still have out of that '58. I've still got the pickups. In fact I did the same thing to the Ripper that I used. I gouged it out and put those pick-ups in that Ripper. I'll get to that.
FlyGuitars Later, when you were a Gibson endorsing artist they restored it for you?
They threw the headstock away that had the serial number on it, it was ink. I said god you've got to find the parts.. the only thing they could find was the bridge.. and the one that's on there is a new version.. I have the original bridge, that's it. I don't have the pickguard, I don't have the tuners. I couldn't believe it. That was 1979 they did that. You know, just threw it in the trash. They could have used the parts. They were doing me a favour and updating it. They had already come out with a reissue in '68 of that bass. My son has the EB, the '54; I gave it to him for his 40th birthday
Dave Kiswiney I never owned an EB3 - I wish I had. I have an EB0 which is a '68.. its brand new I've got it in the original case, a friend of mine was hoarding it.. and I finally talked him out of it.. it's got an open headstock
Gibson Thunderbird
Dave Kiswiney I used that Gibson (EB) bass until I bought a Thunderbird. I took the frets out of the Thunderbird - ruined it. But the Easy Rider and Concrete and Clay, those are probably that Thunderbird and the EB.
I remember pulling the frets out of it... I wanted to play a fretless and I ruined the bass, and I took it to a guitar shop, they took the frets out of it then they filled it and all that but it was never the same. I thought I was something more than I really actually was. I needed the frets and the intonation to play what I was playing.
I had another T-Bird for a minute that I Grabbed from Hewittts Music where I worked and traded it for an SB over at Mt. Clemens Music. I wish I still had that. That was my second attempt at a fretless bass. It's actually better to have a bass that's built to be fretless than to try and make one fretless, I found that out, at least with a Thunderbird. I traded it off for an SB350 or SB400 Gibson, long scale. it was always Gibsons. I just liked the Gibsons.
I got another Thunderbird from Gibson when they were moving out of Kalamazoo they had one that had a bgn: you know what a b g n was right? And I bought it for $200. It had two pickups in it, and it was a great bass. I didn't see anything wrong with it. I don't know why they made it a bargain, but I bought that and an acoustic guitar.
I recorded a lot of stuff that you probably never heard, like Barry T Goldberg (Sorry I Missed You), I recorded that with the Thunderbird in Ann Arbor Michigan. I used that Thunderbird like crazy on that. I ended up (selling that to) Thunderbird to Chase Chitty who is playing for Derek St Holmes in Atlanta. He had to have it: he said man I'll give you 500 Bucks - I was like ok! You know it was just a guitar, it was what we did, we bought, traded, sold, you know, and you only needed one. I wish I'd have kept it. I'd still like to get one from Gibson.
Thanks to Dave Kiswiney for taking the time to be interviewed, and for supplying images
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