Vintage Gibson Hollow Body Electric Guitars

Text by Peter Stuart Kohman
Information published by Alan Greenwood and Gil Hembree

Vintage Guitar is marking 25 many years of publication with per year filled with features. This month, utilizing data created for certified Vintage Guitar Price Guide 2011, we carry on the celebration with a listing of the 25 most valuable basses.

1. 1960-’62 Fender Jazz Bass
($25, 000 to $38, 000 in custom-color finish)
The holiest of Fender Bass grails is a “stack knob” custom-color Jazz. The “J-Bass” proved industry could support elegant, pricier bass guitars; a good duco-finish Jazz was a hot-rod four-string nonpareil. By the mid ’60s, they were bought comparatively often – not very in 1960! Definitely collectible because the ’70s, a custom-color Jazz Bass however tops record today. Sunburst designs from the period fetch $16, 000 to $21, 000.

2. 1970s Zemaitis “Heart Hole” Bass
($24, 000 to $29, 000)

England’s Tony Zemaitis hand-made his electric guitars for many years, but built hardly any basses, mainly for U.K. stone stars like Ronnie Lane and Greg Lake. With only four extant, this model is the ultimate four-string in the Velvet Goldmine.

3. 1963-’65 Gibson Thunderbird IV
($20, 000 to $23, 000 in custom-color finish)

Probably Gibson’s greatest bass, the two-pickup, “reverse-body” Thunderbird IV, having its neck-through design, integrates style and purpose like few others. With a production run painfully brief at under 2 yrs, it might be bought in just about any of 10 showy colors and is the ultimate Gibson four-string (sunburst models from same duration decide on , 000 to , 000).

4. 1958-’60 Fender Precision Bass
(, 000 to 23, 000, custom color)

Originally available in any color – provided it was blond(!) – by the early ’60s, the Fender Precision could be had in a rainbow of finishes. The Precision ruled the ’50s, and a late-’50s (maple throat, anodized pickguard) model will rule numerous collector’s wallets, especially if maybe not in the then-standard sunburst (which go after , 000 to , 000; ’51 to ’60 models offer for whenever , 000). Any pre-CBS P-Bass will observe – the rarer the colour, the greater the dollar!

5. 1961-1964 Fender Bass VI
($10, 500 to $14, 500, custom shade)

Leo Fender’s reply to a cheap-but-practical Danelectro ended up being this super-elaborate three-pickup/30″-scale twang device – with vibrato! The $329 Fender VI had been “bass-ically” an overgrown guitar, and ended up being a winner with studio players, though few other people could manage one. Jack Bruce started their profession on a sunburst design; today, collectors crave fancy custom-color examples while sunburst models fetch $5, 500 to $7, 000.

6. 1963-’65 Gibson Thunderbird II “reverse human body”
(ten dollars, 500 to $13, 000, custom shade)

Gibson’s very first long-scale competitor toward Fender Precision, the single-pickup Thunderbird II had been built-in bigger figures compared to IV… but that is perhaps not saying a lot. Any such thing besides brown sunburst (which opt for $6, 000 to $10, 500) ended up being a custom purchase, therefore few occur – even fewer without the common headstock fracture!

7. 1970-’75 Rickenbacker Model 4005 L “Lightshow”
($11, 000 to $12, 000)

With only some built, this psychedelically-minded hollow Rickenbacker with internal coloured lights pulsing to the music qualifies as the company’s ultimate four-string rareness. One went to a lady team in vegas, one went along to John Entwistle. Find one, and Rick enthusiasts will discover you!

8. 1965-’66 Gibson Thunderbird IV
(, 000 to , 000, custom color)

The 2nd generation Thunderbird, launched in the summer of ’65, switched to a “non-reverse” human anatomy (with more-prominent upper horn) and abandoned the neck-through design. Without since well-liked by enthusiasts, these T-birds tend to be also less common versus first series – the two-pickup IV specifically. Any finish besides sunburst (which offer for , 000 to , 000) is seriously uncommon.

9. 1968-’69 Rickenbacker Model 4005
(, 000 to , 000 8-string)

In 1965, Rose-Morris inquired whether Rickenbacker might develop a hollowbody bass. The business complied, nevertheless the uncomfortable four-string 4005 never caught on. Simply to drive collectors crazy, Rick also attempted 6- and 8-string variations in barely a lot more than model figures. Rarely seen, even more hardly ever heard, but a major Rickenbacker collectible. The standard 4005 of this era goes for $5, 000 to $6, 500, whilst 6-string version is true of $6, 500 to $7, 500.

10. ’70s Alembic Personalized Store Dragon Doubleneck
($8, 000 to $9, 000)

Nothing says ’70s badass like a doubleneck bass; becoming a hand-made Alembic is icing in the cake! For sheer flash, absolutely nothing beats this imposing beast – and absolutely nothing could match its hi-fi sound options, often.

11. 1965-’66 Gibson Thunderbird II
($6, 000 to $9, 000, custom color)

The “non-reverse” single-pickup Thunderbird II had been produced in bigger figures compared to the IV, it is nevertheless unusual (and has never been correctly reissued). Add a custom color (sunburst designs offer for , 500 to , 200) and a never-broken headstock, and you have a Gibson bass that’ll set minds rushing. Ask Glenn Cornick!

12. 1958-’59 Rickenbacker Model 4000
(, 200 to , 900)

Rickenbacker’s first bass, in addition to first long-scale challenger to Fender’s Precision. With a neck-through design and a horseshoe pickup, the 4000 seemed great therefore the cresting-wave body ended up being fashionable and practical. It took Rickenbacker time for you crack the bass marketplace (making for low production), nevertheless ubiquitous ’70s Rick 4001/4002/4003 models are this one’s children.

13. 1962-’64 Gibson EB-6
($7, 500 to $8, 000)
Gibson’s second attempt at a 6-string bass, it is really an overgrown SG. With six huge Kluson tuners and two P.A.F. pickups, this is one roaring beast of twang, however with only 66 shipped faded to obscurity rapidly. Additionally costly like Fender’s VI, Gibson somehow omitted the whammy club!

14. 1968 Fender Telecaster Bass
($6, 500 to $8, 000 Blue Floral and Pink Paisley)

The ’60s struck CBS/Fender in a huge means in ’68, with the hippier-than-thou Telecasters with flowery and paisley wallpaper put on the slab systems under huge clearcoat. The basses (especially the blue) are rarer compared to guitars and is mostly of the CBS-era four-strings with hefty collector appeal. For comparison, a blond version from ’68 brings $3, 500 to $4, 000.

15. 1960-’61 Gibson EB-6
($6, 500 to $7, 000)

Gibson’s first Danelectro-inspired “baritone electric guitar” was a single-pickup ES-335 fitted with a bass bridge. Much more expensive than Nathan Daniel’s $135 Masonite package, instead less versatile sounding, it passed away a fast death and so is still another really rare Gibson.

16. 1961-’65 Rickenbacker Model 4001
($5, 500 to $6, 900)

a deluxe improvement the Model 4000, the fancy two-pickup 4001 would in the course of time become Rick’s signature bass. During the early ’60s, it had been a very costly obscurity until U.K. players like Paul McCartney, Pete Quaife, Roger Waters, and eventually, Chris Squire, made the export-model 4001S (with dot throat and unbound human body) a bass symbol, leading to size acceptance.

17. 1953-’58 Gibson Electrical Bass (EB-1)
($5, 300 to $6, 400)

With Gibson’s first electric bass, Ted McCarty’s disdain for Fender manifested itself in an extremely various design. With an excellent mahogany violin-shaped human body, huge, boomy pickup, as well as a stand-up end pin, they certainly were designed to create the big, hot upright thump, but louder. In ’58, the model had been rebranded EB-1, and collectors often make reference to the whole run by that name.