An extremely rare 1960’s Stiles double pick-up electric bass guitar. I have seen a handful of these Stiles bass guitars over the years, but this is the only double pick-up version I have ever seen. These guitars were entirely hand built by (Gilbert) Lee Stiles in his Hialeah, Florida workshop. Stiles is also known for building fine furniture and grandfather clocks.
This bass guitar is made with a solid walnut body and solid mahogany neck, It is beautifully hand carved with scroll “horns” and a sexy, curvy body. The headstock also terminates in a carved scroll design. The guitar’s body, back of neck and headstock were once repainted blue over the original stained mahogany finish. The paint was stripped and she is now finished in clear gloss leaving the beauty and color of the natural walnut and mahogany show. Fortunately the fret-board was never refinished and has beautifully aged with time and has its original frets in excellent condition. The intricately inlaid fret-board is comprised of about 20 different sections of maple, walnut and mahogany composing about 140 various geometric shapes (rectangles, squares and half circles)! Truly the work of a master craftsman.
Guitar is in excellent structural condition with no cracks or repairs. Her original electronics are entirely intact, just as Lee Stiles installed them, see photo. The wiring is a work of art itself. Shielded wiring, a grounding/shielding plate above the pots and just look at those capacitors, giving a wide range of tones. Each pick-up has 4 adjusting screws. Each end can be lowered or raised. Each pick-up can be tilted forward or back and even “twisted” diagonally. You just don’t see this quality in guitars now-a-days. All electronics function as they should! See photo.
It appears that at one time a previous owner lost a bridge saddle adjusting screw, making the height impossible to adjust. (I surmise that because one of the saddle screws was replaced. It is a blackened steel as opposed to the others (same size and same height though). He probably was not able to locate a correct replacement screw so he used a makeshift bridge over passing the original saddles. It was not there when I bought the guitar, but there were 4 small screw holes in the pick guard (not into the wood beneath) that are filled with what looks to be black epoxy where the bridge must have sat, close-up photo available. Otherwise the original pick-guard is excellent overall with no cracks.
Her original Kluson tuners are still completely intact. They were cleaned and oiled and all work well with no bent shafts.
A great addition to any vintage guitar “stable” she hugs the body, balances extremely well and only weighs about 6 lbs. 9 oz.
This guitar is a work of art, a nice vintage player and a very important piece of 1960’s American guitar craftsmanship!
Comes with a new Gibson USA gig-bag.
Price is firm.
Thanks for looking.

Music & Instruments