1978 Gibson Ripper - Neck pickup only mod

[Cadfael]

Cadfael - I don't suppose you have one of those lovely easy to understand wiring diagrams for a Gibson Grabber G3 model by any chance. That's the one with the 3 pickups and just a tone pot, volume pot and a 3 way switch.

The diagram you would like to have has been online for more than one year ...
It has the number 1.3.34 and can be found on page 104 in version 3.91 of my 417 pages "wiring compilation" ...

Here is the link: http://161589.homepagemodules.de/t2...chaltplan-Sammlung-fuer-passive-E-Baesse.html

Scroll down to the bottom. Click "Bassschaltungen391.pdf" and wait. The 417 pages have 6.35MB. You can save the file onto your harddisk when it has been loaded.

There are more than 40 other Gibson diagrams - so, you can keep on buying Gibson basses!

If the download doesn't work, send me a PM with your normal email address ...

 

[williamz0]

That one lug of the volume pot that's supposed to be grounded isn't - make sure to resolder it to the pot casing and make sure the pot casing is connected to the ground (so it ends up on the output jack).

Many thanks Stealth - I'll check that tomorrow!

 

[williamz0]

And Cadfael - thank you so much, you have been so helpful!

 

[williamz0]

I did this mod, but differently. Instead of sacrificing one of the positions on the 4-way, I added the 6-way rotary switch from the L6S guitar, which is the same as the 4-way in terms of dimensions. The original wiring was there, but everything was corroded big time, with scratchy pots and a dodgy switch, so I replaced everything. With help of the original wiring diagram from the L6S, I reverse engineered it for the L9S, and came up with this:

sounds:

Wow where did you get the tortoiseshell pickguard?

 

[Mr.Fingers]

I ordered it at Pickguardian. The very first rippers had a nitrate tortoise pickguard (which is very prone to shrinkage/warping/desintegration). Since this is a '74, it probably had this guard when it came out of the factory, but when I got it, the pickguard was gone, and the electronics were held in place by a piece of spraypainted plexiglass, trimmed to shape with a blunt axe. Mailed Tony (Pickguardian) that I needed a singleply tortoise guard, but I couldn't give him a tracing, so he made me this one, fits like a glove. Ever since then, Tony is my pickguard wizzard

Here's a (very young) Nick Movshon with his tortguard Ripper

And the modded one I handle.

 

[Gibtone]

Have a look at this:
www.ak-line.com/medium/L9-S_Ripper_Neck.pdf

1st page: This is how I see the original wiring
2nd page: What you want ...

Is there anyway to repost this, the link isn't working and I would love to mod my 75 Ripper for position 4 to be neck only

 

[Cadfael]

Here it is ...

 

[djaxup]

Thanks for this thread guys, just did the neck PU only conversion, and it is much more usable than the out of phase sound. Phat and round, screams rock when played with a pick. Very nice!

 

[detracti]

Thank you for this thread! I was staring at the stock schematic last night, and thinking that exact mod (page 2 of the first PDF). It effectively grounds out the bridge pickup in position 4.

...how does the neck pickup sound solo'd??

 

[detracti]

Thanks for this thread guys, just did the neck PU only conversion, and it is much more usable than the out of phase sound. Phat and round, screams rock when played with a pick. Very nice!

....lol.. look up James!! Oh yes, I'm doing this.

 

[djaxup]

....lol.. look up James!! Oh yes, I'm doing this.

Absolutely do it. I don't play it often with neck only, but I literally never played it out of phase.
Neck PU only with tone down to at least 50% sounds nice and pillowy. Very cool sound to support acoustic guitars.

 

[ofajen]

It's a long story with a thread of its own:

Too Funny... Ripper running on 1 1/2 pickups all these years

But I've had a Ripper for about 35 years and it had a neck only setting since I got it. In fact it was the only setting that worked properly until a couple years ago when I got the bridge pickup rewound.

Anyway, I've recorded probably a hundred bass parts with that neck only setting. Cut the mids and it can have almost an upright vibe, leave the mids up and it is musically akin to a P.

So, yeah, the neck only setting is worth having. The net effect of the wiring changes on my bass is that I have the neck only instead of parallel. Most people prefer to ditch the polarity reversed setting but I still find that one interesting.

Otto

 

[detracti]

Did this mod today. Too easy, and position 4 is my new favorite now!! Here's a picture I marked up. The information is already in this thread, but if yours looks anything like mine inside, this might save you some time figuring out which pins are which:

 

[cellkirk74]

Thanks! That picture was just what I was looking for! Great!

 

[vitalelectric]

Hey all -

I just picked up a Ripper and tried this mod, but I'm having issues I'm hoping someone could help with.

#1 only getting the neck pickup
#2 both out of phase, i think
#3 only bridge pickup
#4 both out of phase, but with a midrange bump?

The photo is spaghetti, but hopefully it's of some use in diagnosing the issue.

Thanks in advance -