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Gibson Grabber/Ripper/G-3 club

#381
Two friends of mine (they were brothers) bought Rippers because I did. They had the same problems, not cutting through the mix of the band. Both had me install P pickups between the Gibson pickups. On one I put in a spare Fender P pickup I had, and in the other, a Dimarzio P pickup. Neither used the mid control on their Ripper, so I rewired it to be a volume for the P pickup. That fixed the presence problem, although the Dimarzio performed better.
 
#383
Nice chrome cover. Grabbers just sound cool. It ain't no Fender and thats the way it should be.

SnakeAnthony said:
No need for a number or anything, but here's some shots of me using/abusing my Grabber II.

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Click to expand...
 
#384
My 1975 Ripper. Fretless conversion with black abalones fret inlays. EMG JCS set wired volume, volume, tone. Custom pick guard, shape and screw holes by wd music, pickups and controles routed at home New string ferrules and knobs from Stew-Mac. Sadowsky black label flat wounds.

Before pics: by Jaymi


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After pics by lokibass


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Hope you like the improvements.
 
#387
proud to be the new owner of this 74/75? Grabber.
loving it.

anyone else have the pickup fall hard to one side or the other when standing it up?
worn out felt or something on the slider?
(is that felt or what is that? any experience replacing it?)

IMG_2122.jpg
 
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#388
Churchmans said:
proud to be the new owner of this 74/75? Grabber.
loving it.

anyone else have the pickup fall hard to one side or the other when standing it up?
worn out felt or something on the slider?
(is that felt or what is that? any experience replacing it?)
Click to expand...

I just bought a well worn 79 Grabber that had the same issue. The felt was worn and the pickup slid every time I set it down. I carefully removed the old felt from the underside of the pickguard and the plastic plate the pickup is mounted on. I replaced with some self adhesive velcro strips (the fuzzy side only) that I had at home. Worked like a charm.
 
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#391
If I recall correctly, the friction adjustment screws pull the sliding assembly up into the pickguard in order to increase the friction. If that is so, the friction screw adjustment would be expected to work even with moderate PG warpage. Only one way to find out, though! :)

As an aside, if battling PG warpage which is affecting function, I would be tempted to pull out the shop heat gun and gently melt the PG into a straighter disposition. I wouldn't get the gun near the electronics, of course.
 
#392
I'll bite.

Here's my '80 Ripper. It's actually my cat's bass since he loved to sleep on the case. Nick the cat is gone now, but it's still his bass!
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Here's my '73 Ripper, as it was off a Craigslist purchase. I called it the Smurf Ripper.
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Here it is again, with the blue paint removed and the tough-as-nails white finish underneath.
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Here's the Smurf Ripper as it stands now. Under the ugly paint it was a natural, which would (in theory) make it one of the 20 natural finish maple Rippers made in 1973.
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#395
I just picked up an old Ripper last weekend. A pure impulse buy, but really I've gassed over this bass for 10+ years. I owned a converted fretless Ripper in the 90s and always regretted selling it (I sold it for $225 and made $50 on the deal!). 10 years ago, I didn't want to buy one because I thought $400 was too much... well, got this one for $850, needs a little work, but I've already gigged on it and love it!


So... this has been perplexing me... the pickups are called "Super Humbuckers designed by Bill Lawrence"... but are they actually hum buckers individually? My tech said they read more like single coils on the meter. Plus, I'm getting what sounds like single coil hum in positions 1, 3, and 4. Strangely, the quietest setting is 2 which is just the bridge pickup. Just wondering, and surely there is someone here that knows the truth!

I'm going to have the 4-way switch modded to make position 4 the neck pickup solo... the out of phase thing... while a quaint reminder of the heady days of the 70s.... is a useless tone for me. But the front pickup alone? That's what I'm talking about.

Anyway... I'm glad I got this one off my bucket list!
 

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#396
hi Ed, the pickups are actually sidewinders, each with 2 coils. maybe a previous owner also modified it for the single coil sound. I wired mine 2v 2t with a 3 way switch. the harness was already hacked and I also wanted to solo the neck pickup. enjoy!
 

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