In the northeastern U.S.—my stomping grounds—girls’ field hockey is an astoundingly popular sport. Over the past five years, I’ve trucked my daughter to high schools, parks, and tournament fields all around this end of the country. I really dig watching her play, but these family excursions also offer plenty of opportunities to scope out music stores, antique shops, and flea markets. Guitars are always on my brain—it’s like a virus.
Way before my family life began, I’d often venture out on what I called “guitar excursions.” These trips had me driving many miles in search of interesting guitars and gear, and I had some truly epic adventures. Like the time I drove six hours with a hurricane on my tail to buy a Sekova Grecian. Or the time I found three old Univox Super-Fuzz pedals, still in the box, at a flea market mixed among old tractor parts.
On one of my recent field hockey trips, I came upon this Italian beauty (Photo 1) at a remote antique store that the owner would only open if you went down the street to his home and knocked on his door. Whenever I see faux wood finishes, pearloid appointments, and accordion push-buttons, I’m instantly smitten. Old Italian electric guitars are certainly not as plentiful as Japanese offerings, but there are many oddball Italian guitars that capture the flair and esthetic sense of the time. Luckily for us here in the States, Italian guitars were imported with regularity, albeit in modest numbers.
This old Lux-branded guitar has plastic “wood grain” covering a solid wood core, and it sports a garish strip of gold binding that just rules (Photo 2). The Lux’s single-coils are rather hot and responsive. Thankfully, all the push-buttons work and offer varying degrees of coolness. The sonic spectrum runs from super thin at the bridge to massively thick when all the pickups are selected. Heck, even the tremolo works well. Because it doesn’t carry the hallmarks of any particular Italian manufacturer, the origins of this Lux guitar remain a mystery.
I confess: When I stumbled across this one, I almost passed on buying it. Believe it or not, in all the hundreds of guitars I’ve come across, this Lux had the worst neck bow I’d ever seen. Seriously folks, it looked like a banana . . . like it had been tuned above pitch with heavy flatwound strings for over 50 years. That kind of bad.
Buying vintage guitars carries some risk because those that are hitting the 50-year mark and beyond are prone to quite a few similar problems. In particular, when Italian accordion makers started to dabble in electric guitars, most of the factories had only a rudimentary knowledge of truss rods. (Of course, this was a problem with guitar manufacturers all over the world in this era.)
Photo 2
This Lux’s truss rod was so under-spec’d that even if you were to completely tighten it, you’d barely affect the neck. Many a truss rod has been broken by some unsuspecting oaf trying to correct a severely bowed neck. (All you oafs can join me with a thumbs-up. We know who we are.) Luckily, I haven’t yet seen a neck that refused to respond to a heat treatment, and I have to thank my good friend and tech Scott Freilich for correcting this insane bow.
Whenever you buy an old guitar like this, you have to anticipate the need for some fretwork and neck wrangling, so it’s crucial to know a good tech to help you resurrect these beauties. But bringing them back to life is worth the investment—you just have to find someone who understands the quirks of old electric guitars. And if you’re going to dive into vintage guitars, you’re going to run into quirks! In an age where so many guitars feel generic, forgotten gems like this Lux deserve a little love and attention to get them straightened out … with just a bit of curve, like a good field hockey stick.
Watch the video demo:
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
