“The six-string bass was a phase that all the manufacturers went through. It was never a big seller”: Up close and personal with the 1965 Gibson EB-6D – the super-rare bass that looks like an SG

Gibson EB-6D.

“Several features make this example unique. Firstly, there’s the colour, because I’ve never seen a sunburst one before. It’s like a two-tone tobacco sunburst; I’ve had a Les Paul SG that was the same colour. It had to be custom-ordered and that’s why there’s a ‘custom’ engraving on the truss rod cover. 

“Then there’s the ebony fingerboard with genuine mother-of-pearl block markers. Every other EB-6D I’ve seen had a rosewood fingerboard with ‘mother of toilet seat’ celluloid dot markers, but this is more like a Les Paul Custom board, minus the binding.