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The rented building was not climate controlled and abrupt changes in temperature and humidity had caused the finish on the “Epi” basses to check or crack. On FebruArbanas brought bad news from the bass production line. I think they had gotten rid of it before we got a hold of it.” Ward Arbanas was put in charge of the Epiphone division, and he was first optimistic about bass production, suggesting in a memo dated Decemthat they should add a line of cello’s (Gibson’s own prewar cello forms were apparently still intact). The Epi equipment, they didn’t have anything in what you would call real good equipment. According to John Huis, “We built very few basses. Bass production was supposed to be easy with no new models to develop. The fall of 1957 came and went with no new basses.
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There was no room at the Gibson plant in Kalamazoo so Gibson rented a building less then 12 blocks away.
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In May of 1957, Gibson announced it's planned to have basses available in the very near future. Upright basses were the reason Gibson bought Epiphone, but it turned out to be no easy task to manufacture these fine basses.
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