Forging one’s unique musical path isn’t a cakewalk. This month we asked an artist with an unmistakable voice—Melissa Etheridge—to join us in giving pointers about finding and staying true to your own vision.
Melissa Etheridge — Guest Picker
What advice would you give to young players trying to find their voice?
Make sure you’re doing what you love. If you’re just doing what you think others are gonna like, it’ll get old fast. So play what you love, and then be open. Listen to other music and to what people tell you: Look at them and see the reaction. Are they enjoying what you’re playing? It’s a group effort, this music is to be shared. If you can combine the love and someone else feeling that, that’s where you start to have success.
My current obsession is: I started playing 12-string when I was 14 because this kid at church camp had one and it just sounded so beautiful. I was so happy with it and I still am.
Andy Ellis — Senior Editor
What advice would you give to young players trying to find their voice?
Forget about being a guitarist. Become a musical explorer, travel far and wide in search of sounds and styles. You'll encounter rhythms, techniques, and timbres that will amaze and delight you. Using your guitar as a “sonic camera,” document and study these discoveries, and then share them. It’s a personal odyssey, so your audio travelogue will be unique.
My current obsession is: Palm levers on a lap-steel guitar. There’s a Duesenberg Multibender or Bigsby Palm Pedal system in my future, I can feel it.
Joe Gore — Senior Editor
What advice would you give to young players trying to find their voice?
1. Make a list of five guitar skills you’re really good at. Don’t be modest.
2. Rank the skills according to how common they are. (1 = unique, 5 = everyone does it.)
3. Consider how your playing would sound if you did #1 and #2 twice as often and #4 and #5 half as often.
My current obsession is: The epic early Ellington on this season’s Boardwalk Empire. If there were any justice, the face of America’s greatest composer would grace the dollar bill.
Tessa Jeffers — Managing Editor
What advice would you give to young players trying to find their voice?
Don’t overthink it. If whatever you’re doing in music is from the heart, it’ll happen naturally so keep doing what you’re drawn to because that’s the reason for the season. People respond to authenticity.
My current obsession is: Alt-J’s This Is All Yours. I’m in love with what they do: A majestic rock band that sounds like chillaxed Chemical Brothers compositions performed by Beaker the Muppet.
Jason Shadrick — Associate Editor
What advice would you give to young players trying to find their voice?
It’s not about the gear. Forget about what the latest gizmo or gadget is and focus on connecting with the instrument. Once you get that going the gear becomes secondary—as it should be.
My current obsession is:
Bruce Hornsby’s band circa 2000. His live album, Here Comes The Noise Makers, is absolute proof that a piano can rawk.
Gibson originally launched the EB-6 model with the intention of serving consumers looking for a “tic-tac” bass sound.
The Gibson EB-6 was announced in 1959 and came into the world in 1960, not with a dual-horn body but with that of an elegant ES-335. They looked stately, with a thin, semi-hollow body, f-holes, and a sunburst finish. Our pick for this Vintage Vault column is one such first-year model, in about as original condition as you’re able to find today. “Why?” you may be asking. Well, read on....
When the EB-6 was introduced, the Bass VI was still a glimmer in Leo Fender’s eye. The real competition were the Danelectro 6-string basses that seemed to have popped up out of nowhere and were suddenly being used on lots of hit records by the likes of Elvis, Patsy Cline, and other household names. Danos like the UB-2 (introduced in ’56), the Longhorn 4623 (’58), and the Shorthorn 3612 (’58) were the earliest attempts any company made at a 6-string bass in this style: not quite a standard electric bass, not quite a guitar, nor, for that matter, quite like a baritone guitar.
The only change this vintage EB-6 features is a replacement set of Kluson tuners.
Photo by Ken Lapworth
Gibson, Fender, and others during this era would in fact call these basses “baritone guitars,” to add to our confusion today. But these vintage “baritones” were all tuned one octave below a standard guitar, with scale lengths around 30", while most modern baritones are tuned B-to-B or A-to-A and have scale lengths between 26" and 30".)
At the time, those Danelectros were instrumental to what was called the “tic-tac” bass sound of Nashville records produced by Chet Atkins, or the “click-bass” tones made out west by producer Lee Hazlewood. Gibson wanted something for this market, and the EB-6 was born.
“When the EB-6 was introduced, the Bass VI was still a glimmer in Leo Fender’s eye.”
The 30.5" scale 1960 EB-6 has a single humbucking pickup, a volume knob, a tone knob, and a small, push-button “Tone Selector Switch” that engages a treble circuit for an instant tic-tac sound. (Without engaging that switch, you get a bass-heavy tone so deep that cowboy chords will sound like a muddy mess.)
The EB-6, for better or for worse, did not unseat the Danelectros, and a November 1959 price list from Gibson hints at why: The EB-6 retailed for $340, compared to Dano price tags that ranged from $85 to $150. Only a few dozen EB-6 basses were shipped in 1960, and only 67 total are known to have been built before Gibson changed the shape to the SG style in 1962.
Most players who come across an EB-6 today think it was a response to the Fender Bass VI, but the former actually beat the latter to the market by a full year.
Photo by Ken Lapworth
It’s sad that so few were built. Sure, it was a high-end model made to achieve the novelty tic-tac sound of cheaper instruments, but in its full-voiced glory, the EB-6 has a huge potential of tones. It would sound great in our contemporary guitar era where more players are exploring baritone ranges, and where so many people got back into the Bass VI after seeing the Beatles play one in the 2021 documentary, Get Back.
It’s sadder, still, how many original-era EB-6s have been parted out in the decades since. Remember earlier when I wrote that our Vintage Vaultpick was about as original as you could find? That’s because the model’s single humbucker is a PAF, its Kluson tuners are double-line, and its knobs are identical to those on Les Paul ’Bursts. So as people repaired broken ’Bursts, converted other LPs to ’Bursts, or otherwise sought to give other Gibsons a “Golden Era” sound and look ... they often stripped these forgotten EB-6 basses for parts.
This original EB-6 is up for sale now from Reverb seller Emerald City Guitars for a $16,950 asking price at the time of writing. The only thing that isn’t original about it is a replacement set of Kluson tuners, not because its originals were stolen but just to help preserve them. (They will be included in the case.)
With so few surviving 335-style EB-6 basses, Reverb doesn’t have a ton of sales data to compare prices to. Ten years ago, a lucky buyer found a nearly original 1960 EB-6 for about $7,000. But Emerald City’s $16,950 asking price is closer to more recent examples and asking prices.
Sources: Prices on Gibson Instruments, November 1, 1959, Tony Bacon’s “Danelectro’s UB-2 and the Early Days of 6-String Basses” Reverb News article, Gruhn’s Guide to Vintage Guitars, Tom Wheeler’s American Guitars: An Illustrated History, Reverb listings and Price Guide sales data.
Originally released in the 1980s, the Victory has long been a cult favorite among guitarists for its distinctive double cutaway design and excellent upper-fret access. These new models feature flexible electronics, enhanced body contours, improved weight and balance, and an Explorer headstock shape.
A Cult Classic Made Modern
The new Victory features refined body contours, improved weight and balance, and an updated headstock shape based on the popular Gibson Explorer.
Effortless Playing
With a fast-playing SlimTaper neck profile and ebony fretboard with a compound radius, the Victory delivers low action without fret buzz everywhere on the fretboard.
Flexible Electronics
The two 80s Tribute humbucker pickups are wired to push/pull master volume and tone controls for coil splitting and inner/outer coil selection when the coils are split.
For more information, please visit gibson.com.
Gibson Victory Figured Top Electric Guitar - Iguana Burst
