Epiphone ET-280 Bass

Vintage 1971 ET-280 Bass
20 Frets
Solid Ash or Something Body
Volume Tone and Three-Way Selector Switch
Original Single-Coil Pickups Replaced with Artec Mini-Humbuckers
Passive Electronics
Ash ? Body and Maple Neck
Translucent Red Burst Finish
Jazz Offset Waist Body Style
Two-Strings per Saddle Standard Type Bridge
Japanese Enclosed Tuners Two-Per Side
30.5" Scale Chunky Neck

I Love it for Open-Stage Playing where I won't bring My more Expensive Vintage Basses. It is as Solid as a Tank !

Rich / Full / Big Bottom Sound in the Neck Humbucker Position, a More Midrange Sound in the Blended Neck and Bridge Position, and more Trebly in the Bridge Only Position

Surprisingly Good Sound with the Artec Mini-Humbuckers considering they are supposed to be both Bridge Pickups. They are 8.2 K each.

Original Single-Coil Pickups were Extremely Noisy and Not Working Properly so I decided to Replace them with Pickups that would Drop Right In.

Fopr a 38 Year-Old Bass it is Beat but Sweet !

Built like a Tiger Tank.

It will be My Main Jam Bass.

Playing since 1969.

I Love the Toughness and Chunky Sound. It also is a Short-Scale Bass with a Big Body and Chunky Neck and has the Feel of a Full-Scale Bass such as a Fender Precision.

I also Own a Vintage 1961 Hofner 182/E1 Solid Body Bass and a Vintage 1973 Hofner 500/1 Beatle Bass and a Vintage 1975 Hofner 189 or possibly 1890 Acoustic Guitar.

I also have a Hartke Kickback 10 Bass Amp and a Fender BXR25 Bass Practice Amp.

OK, this bass isint loaded down with electronics and thats why I like it. It is by far the lightest bass I've ever played. It has two single coil passive pickups and a switch that allows you to select between the two. This allows you to achieve a variety of sounds without lugging around a preamp.

I've been playing loud, fast, choppy (mostly punk) music for almost 10 years. This guitar is perfect for it. Its lightweight, and has a 3/4 scale length which makes it very easy to play fast on.

The setup was 100% undeniably crappy when I bought this guitar off e-bay. Whoever owned it before me was not a bass player and had no idea how to set up the guitar. After I replaced the bridge and tuners though, it works great.

For such a lightweight bass the et-280 is suprisingly sturdy. The neck is a bit thicker than my Ibanez but is still fast and easy to play. The chrome plated steel pickup and bridge covers make almost impossible to dammage the "guts". Extremely giggable!

I have never dealt with the company as far as service and support is concerned. The guitar was purchased used and had no warranty.

This is a great guitar for a 35 year-old Ep. It is built solid but with minimal extra weight. This becomes noticible after playing it for a 2 hr gig. The tone's great with the two pickups and the selector switch allows you to change it up without batteries...I hate replacing batteries!

P.S. If anybody has original pickups that still work, lemme know.

This guitar is from the late 60's early 70's. I believe it was made at the beginning of the switch to the Japanese actory. The guitar looks absolutely stunning with it's Red/Translucent Red burst finish. It has a very comfortable Short Scale neck (Great for those of you who are more native to standard guitar playing).

Not much to say about this guitar.....EXCEPT IT'S INCREDIBLE TONE! The neck pickup is very warm and jazzy, yet it's bridge pickup has that 60's surf twang.

Like I said the finish is absolutely stunning. The guitar does apear that it has seen better days, but the nicks and scratches only add to it's character. The guitar is surprising "solid" after all these years. Not many other adjustments needed other then the action and new strings.

I've relied on this baby plenty of times at shows. She's never let me down yet. Definitely more reliable than I am ;)

I havn't checked with Epiphone on this one, but i've had great experience with them previously. I'll have to give them a bias rating of 5, as i've pleasantly dealt with them before on other products.

I've been playing for roughly 10 years, and have owned over 50 axes in my day. Out of all of those, this is one of the two bass' i've still kept. I would have to say that I would be devistated if this bass was stolen, it's extremely rare and pretty much couldn't be replaced even if I had the cash in hand. If you ever spot one of these elusive beauties, snag it while you have the chance.

I bought my bass in the summer of '71 for the princely sum of $77.00. It was brand-new in the music store (Sam Ash, Huntington NY) and the reason I bought it was because I liked the color. It had an ebony fingerboard and big frets. The stock bridge was kind of dead until I started using roundwounds on the bass.

In my younger years I played a very busy weaving style imspired by guys like Jack Bruce and Jack Casady. Later I took up the "Slap and Tap" style favored by guys like Stanley Clarke. The short scale of the neck. It was a very, very noisy bass at high volumes and sometimes even fed back until I had the pickups rewound. The sound tended to be very muddy and I used the bridge pickup exclusively before I had it altered.

The bass I have must have been a factory second because there was a big old hair laminated into the finish on the back side. Which probably explained why I got it so cheap. The setup out of the factory was pretty high and the neck was kind of thick. I later had the bass set up differently and had the neck shaved a bit.

For all my previous complaints, this bass has been through the wars! This bass took me through high school, college and 100 bands. It was my "Work horse" gig bass for many years. I still play it but after so much abuse over 30 - plus years, it enjoys a venerable retirement as a studio bass. It was a very dependable instrument in its day but is a little fragile now and rarely goes to gigs anymore. Although that is not the fault of the manufacturer! It took what I dished out for many years.

Not applicable.

I have had a lot of instruments over the years, new and vintage. I owned one of the first Pedulla basses in the Seventies. My Workhorse bass now is a '69 Fender Jazz. I have been playing for over 30 years and have been in a lot of different bands.

The thing that's really, really great about the bass is the short neck. Guitar players and bass players with a busy style will really love this bass. It's got one of the shortest necks I've ever seen.

In all fairness, I have made a lot of modifications to my instrument over the years. Mine plays great - the pickups have been rewound, the electronics gutted, the bridge moved, the neck shaved, the frets filed. I came across a stock version a couple of years ago and it was a very mediocre instrument. The neck's kinda clunky, the sound muddy. It gets three points just because it's been so durable.

Made in the early 70's in Japan. Short (30.5) inch scale length. Solid, offset body which looks to be made of mahogany. Transparent red finish. Two pickups with funky looking chrome covers. Very retro looking. One volume, one tone control, heavy duty pickup selector toggle. The neck is a meaty, three piece hardwood, probably maple...the short scale feels great. Two-to-a side tuners on a classic Epiphone/Gibson headstock.

The pickups on this thing are incredibly microphonic. You can sing into them and they pick up your voice! I don't know that that's a good thing for live use, but it makes for a fantastic recording tone. This thing sounds huge. It's a very unique sound due to the short string length and the deep tone. It nails that classic, early Yes/Genesis tone. The sound is noisy, almost acoustic, but man, is it fat!

Setup? Who knows. This thing is almost 30 years old. It has one small ding on the back side, but overall, it's in really great shape. It's strung up with medium short scale strings and it plays effortlessly. All the electronics work fine on it, no crackly pots or switches. One of the string bezels is missing on the G string tuner, but that doesn't affect playability.

It has lasted for 25+ years...I think it held up well. Tuners, strap buttons, knobs, etc. are all original. I don't know that I would use it for gigging, but I think it would survive without a problem. It stays in tune well.

This instrument has long outlived it's warranty. Epiphone probably doesn't even remember that they made this instrument! Their company has changed owners probably as many times as this bass has...

I saw this bass in a pawn shop and thought it looked pretty uncommon. I knew it was old, but was surprised at what great shape it was in. While I mulled over getting it at the original price of $129, the store marked it down and my son conspired with my wife and she bought it for me for Christmas. I was going to use it for in-home recording of acoustic music, just to have some bass accompaniment for some songs. Since I got it, I play it every day. It sounds great and has a totally funky vibe. If you see one, grab it. It seems they're rare, but not particularly collectible. I've seen them around $250-300 and those were not in as good shape as mine. Hey, what more can you ask for? It's good, cheap fun!