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Fly Guitars Interview: Dave Kiswiney - part 2: 1954 Gibson EB, Gibson Thunderbirds

Introduction | '54 Gibson EB / Thunderbirds | Gibson Ripper | Gibson Victory / Explorer | Heritage, Fender, Gibson and Peavey


'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.

Dave using the the 1954 Gibson EB bass, serial number 4 1999, with '58 Precision pickup
Dave using the the 1954 Gibson EB bass, serial number 4 1999, with '58 Precision pickup

FlyGuitars Did it have all it's parts?

The restored Gibson EB with Dimarzio model 1 pickup
The restored Gibson EB with Dimarzio model 1 pickup

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 playing his early 1960s Gibson Thunderbird II bass
Early 1960s Gibson Thunderbird II bass

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

More FlyGuitars interviews

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