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Gibson Grabber/Ripper/G-3 club

Is it too late to join? Current owner of an All original metallic teal G1 grabber with an ebony fretboard.
Former owner of an ebony ripper and wine red grabber.
 

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Is it too late to join? Current owner of an All original metallic teal G1 grabber with an ebony fretboard.
Former owner of an ebony ripper and wine red grabber.
That's a superb colour! Original... wow! Makes my wine red seem rather pedestrian :woot:

3 nice basses there. What's the Kramer weigh? I remember playing one in store in the late 70s. It weren't lightweight then!
 
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That's a superb colour! Original... wow! Makes my wine red seem rather pedestrian :woot:

3 nice basses there. What's the Kramer weigh? I remember playing one in store in the late 70s. It weren't lightweight then!
it weighs a ton but definitely has its own sound. It’s currently my main bass. I got lucky with the grabber. I got it from it’s original owner who bought it new in 82. Did a lot of research on this spec and it’s the rarest spec of them all.
 
I believe the first ones made were the straight headstocks. I'd wanted one ever since seeing the photo of Gene in the Kiss Alive booklet.

Great Album, i've got it & Alive II on vinyl (been collecting for the best part of two years, record player/stereo was my Pops, who had started recollecting but gave me his collection start). I've got a Grabber bass copy by Maya. Friend found it for me at a now closed music shop here in Montreal, for 375$ with original case. Couldn't pass up the deal & it's a great player. In the works of making a new bone nut for it, replacing the worn down plastic one it has. Really dead sounding even with new strings. But what a growl
 
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Can anyone help me? I just bought a Ripper and the pickups suck, don't sound anything like ones I've played before. I need an estimate for fixing them (or possibly the whole assembly) so the seller can give me a partial refund. The problem is stores near me say they won't touch "super humbuckers". Not sure why, but I don't really know much about pickups. The seller will just give me $250 if I don't know what I need or can't provide an estimate. Does that make sense? Who can fix these pickups?
 
Maybe you get a refund equal to the price of replacing them with Seymour Duncan’s Ripper pickups. I have a Ripper with those pickups in it, and a couple with the original pickups. The Duncans are pretty close in sound to the original ones, though maybe a tad brighter.

You also might want to have a good tech check the bass out. It’s more likely that someone screwed up the wiring than it is the pickups are bad. Because the coils in Ripper pickups are potted in wax, usually when they go they completely quit working.

My tech here in Delaware, Dana Sutcliffe at Dana Sound research, is amazing. He has repaired Ripper pickups for me before.
Delaware Master Luthier Guitar Repair – Master Luthier, Instrument & Electronics Repair, Custom Instruments

Good luck!
 
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Actually, on the Rippers with the one ply tort guard, under certain climate conditions, the pickguards tendet to desinterate if these were stored longer, they gased out and reacted in some way with the pickup wire.

Isn't there someone near you making pickups? Do you have a meter check the impedance?

Searcy String Works: Gibson Ripper Bass Rebuild

These are actual designed like small Mudbuckers with very less induction, making the Ripper in all settings but serial a little thinner because of the low output. But there is a knob at the amp for that. Try if it helps to increas gain & volume on your amp. I ilsothink you need to get used to the controls, You can do quite a lot with the midcontrol.