MartinTalk.com

  The EB-18 was the first electric bass the Martin company produced in 1979. Previously they had only produced acoustic bass guitars.

The general features of the EB-18 are:

*
o Scale length 34″.
o Brass nut,
o Badass bridge,
o Single DiMarzio humbucking pickup,
o Through piece solid construction of hard maple and walnut (body wings are glued on to central core), rosewood fretboard.
o Schaller BM series open tuning heads M/C heads with a gear ratio of 1:20. Some M/C heads have C.F. Martin stamped on them but look very similar to Schaller heads.
o Four figure serial number printed on the back (where the ‘neck’ enters the ‘body’).
o The headstock has the C.F. Martin logo printed on the front. The name C.F.Martin and Co. is printed on the back.

Pickup

The pickup is a DiMarzio DP120 (model 1) dual pole type with a multicore screened lead. This contains red, white, black and green wires as well as an uninsulated ground wire.

Controls

The EB-18 is provided with a single volume control, one tone control, and a switch for altering the pickup wiring. The switch alters the tone from a bright to a more bassy sound by cutting one pickup coil out of the circuit.

The tone control is comprised of a 0.1- microfarad capacitor in series with the variable resistor that is adjusted by the control knob. This network is placed directly from the red pickup lead to ground. The volume control is a simple potentiometer wired between the red pickup lead and ground with the wiper being fed to the output jack.

The control compartment is covered on the rear surface of the body by a polished brass plate. The interior of the compartment is coated with a light colored conductive paint to act as a screen against unwanted pickup such as mains hum.

Flight case

The EB-18 was supplied with a quality hard flight case. The EB-18 body fits into the shaped recess and the case takes account of the oddly shaped ‘lizard’-looking head and large tuning lugs. There is a pair of compartments inside for cables and other items. The inside is lined with a soft, burnt orange color, fur-like material. The case is closed with four toggle latches and has a centrally placed carrying handle.
Martin EB18 Headstock showing Martin machine heads
Martin EB18 Headstock showing Martin machine heads

Popularity

The EB-18 was not all that popular among bass players. The next model, the EB 28, was more popular.

See also: E 18 series guitars