Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

I knew they made some electric instruments at one time but this is the first I have seen one being played, and a fretless one at that!



Note the Roland GK-2 pickup mounted to the bass.

The tone is pretty interesting (in an acoustic/standup sort of way) but there are a couple spots on the neck that just drive me up the wall.

That's an EB-18. I have a fretted one. Nice sounding basses with a Babe Ruth-sized baseball bat of a neck.

I played a fretted one in a Memphis store some years ago,but didn't find it very compelling. (probably the fat neck)

Did Martin actually make these electric instruments, or contract out?

Made by Martin in good ol' Nazareth.

Oh, I'm getting old! These and the matching solid body guitars (with frets, of course) were advertised in Guitar Player magazine when they were new -- in the late '70's.

teb wrote:The tone is pretty interesting (in an acoustic/standup sort of way) but there are a couple spots on the neck that just drive me up the wall.

Sounds to me like the action is a smidge too low, or the fingerboard a bit unlevel, around the 5-10th frets of the upper two strings. But a little bit of that fingerboard buzz is what gives fretless its character, or so some folks say.

Here's what Wikipedia has to say: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C._F._Mart ... pany#EB_18