LeftyBassist.com

I posted pics of this guitar back in 2008. I've had it since around 1995. I've played it maybe 20 times. Anyone have any ideas of what it's worth? How do I look up the year of manufacture? I bought the guitar from RT66 Guitars in CA back in the day.

I remember when you posted pix. I don't see them in the old thread anymore however.

There should be a serial number indicated on the label inside the F-hole that corresponds to the same # stamped on the back of the headstock. From there, there are plenty of online sources for collecting and dating Gibson instruments.

Check here first:
http://www.provide.net/~cfh/gibson.html#serial

This guy seems to collect and sell Eb2s as well as other rare Gibson basses. You might want to get in touch with him to get some estimate on value. He also shows the approximate production quantities per year, though this would obviously apply to right handed basses. But if his numbers are accurate, he's indicating less than 3000 EB2s made between 66/67, with '67 being the most successful year of production:

http://www.gibsonbassstore.com/index.html

I can't put an estimate on it personally, but if you judge the going price for righties via ebay or other retailers and consider that a lefty was probably a custom order, I think you're looking at only a handful of left handed EB2s made in that time period and could price it accordingly. Keep in mind, however, that if you're planning on selling it that the market for a lefty is significantly smaller, so while it may be much rarer than a righty you may not necessarily be able to successfully command more for it.

Thanks for the links, I should pull the info off the sticker and decode it. I have never bothered.

I don't need to sell it, and it's cool to have a bass that is kind of rare, but I also feel bad I just wonder if someone out there would play it more.

I'll pull the sticker info and take new pics of the guitar and rehost them.

PJ, thanks. I have talked to

http://www.gibsonbassstore.com/index.html

in email and will be sending him the serial number info to see what he finds. I'll let you guys know.

John in Chicago

Took the code off the internal sticker, and will email it to the guy.

Took some new pics:

Notes:

-It has a Gibson case
-Have owned it since around 1994, purchased from RT66 Guitars in CA
-That pickguard I have was made for me by Pete Moreno, but it's wrong. Bass only has one pickup. Not sure if Pete Moreno is still around (MI guy).
-Guitar has holes drilled on each side of neck for pickguard, makes me think the guitar lived as a righty for a while.

A couple of interesting things I notice:

1. The serial number label is affixed on the right side of the guitar, thus if you're playing lefty it's visible through the upper F-hole and upside down. This is unusual, as many other hollow body basses and guitars from around this time do show the label affixed on the proper side for a lefty. Even lefty Gibson ES335s and other lefty guitars I've seen have the "correct" label positioning/orientation on the left side. (See my '68 Guild Starfire pix for an example below). I suspect that the body was right handed at one time and was either converted to lefty or not fully routed for lefty at the plant. It may have been old stock sitting around awaiting a neck.

http://picasaweb.google.com/pjmuck/1968GuildStarfireIBass#5390841189836661922

2. The body finish and neck do not appear to match in finish in the photos. Neck looks to be in a walnut finish and the body appears to be cherry. Again, this would indicate to me that either the body was a righty and converted/refinished thereafter and was married to a neck later, or even the neck perhaps is non-original. If the body had originally been routed for righty pots/jack, I'd suspect you'd be able to see them through the cherry finish though. Also note that Gibson did not offer the EB2 in a walnut finish until late 1968. (Which may not be a bad thing, considering they only made 12 walnut EB2s in TOTAL. So you may have a rare neck there).

I never bothered to look for the sticker before. So this time I went to look for it, and it was loose in the body. Bass has been sitting in the case for a long time, I only took it out two years ago to take the pics I posted last time. I took it out to look at it but may have put it back on the wrong side.

I always wondered about the neck. I could have the bass looked over by Chicago Music Exchange, they are local to me, and they were at one time selling a lefty Fender Bass for big money so I'd assume they are familiar with lefty stuff.

The body itself has never had holes for the hardware added, just the pick guard. I had a buddy who played a EB2 copy lefty style 10 years ago, he had to flipped over...

I dimly recall that when I bought mine, they had another one maybe and it was more money. I've asked Jimmy @ Southpaw and he said he's sold a few over the years but hadn't seen one for a long time. He offered to buy mine back in 2008.

I feel guilty sometimes that it sits so much.

Hey PJ you got me all curious, so I went down and looked at it again.

Notes:
-The neck has right-handed note markers, you know, those little dots that you can see while playing on the side of the neck. I added them on the side with White-Out hehe I know it will come off pretty easy. The neck also have lacquer? cracking too like the body.
-I can't tell if the neck is not original, I think I'll call Jimmy @ Southpaw tomorrow and ask him what he's seen over the years. I have bought one guitar from him over the years so he should be cool.
-The body has 2 hole drilled on each side for the pick guard setup. The so there is a hole on each side like I showed above, and then one on each side of the body. The ones on the side... The correct lefthand side hole looks more correct. The righty hole looks newer.

Hi PJ, here is what that guy said.

Looks like the shop I bough this guitar from has a website... Looks like the owner might be a lefty, check out some of the guitars on this page:

http://www.route66guitars.com/Gallery/gallery.html

My EB-2 Cherry has a mahogany(finish) neck, looks just like the photos.

Cool! Thanks for sharing.

Ah yes, Route 66 Guitars: The place where lefties go to drool. He's had (has?) some insanely rare instruments (that 1960 Jazz is unbelievable!), and I see pix of another lefty EB2 up there (sunburst). He used to be much more active in retail a while ago, then semi-retired before starting up again. I'm not sure he continues to acquire and/or sell new stuff, but I do remember when he was selling Joey Long's lefty Ampeg AEB shown there. He doesn't have it anymore.

Scott (RT66 Guitars) and I traded a few emails last night. I never knew he was a lefty.

As a FWIW I had remember he was selling a 1960 EB2 lefty at the same time he was selling the one I bought, he thinks he sold it to Norman's Rare Guitars.

So RT66 is back in business?

Not per se, it sounds like he can scout instruments for folks but isn't doing full blown retail right now. His email addy is on his page, he's responsive if you have questions.