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Gibson Grabber/Ripper/G-3 club

#101
Add me to the club, I bought Mr_Goodbomb's Red Grabber.

IMG_20110223_124715.jpg


It's definitely not a factory finish- the bass is a '75, and they didn't offer candy apple red until later.
 
#111
beebassdude said:
grabber guys, i will donate a kidney if someone would sell me a friggin bridge cover for an 81 grabber. ive never had so much trouble locating a part before.

for the love of all thats holy, SOMEBODY has to have one!!
Click to expand...

I don't know if you'd settle for this, but I know there was I guy on eBay who was fashioning Grabber bridge covers. not original, but looks pretty good on my parts grabber!
 
#112
After playing and loving a fretless Ripper a while ago, I finally was able to find a fretless old Gibson in good condition. So here I am at last.

I know fretless necks were offered for Rippers, but I am pretty sure that Grabbers were only offered with fretted necks. So the only way to play a bare Grabber is to defret it. This 1974 Grabber all original except a very nice defret done by a luthier with talent. This is one of the nicest defrets I have ever seen. The luthier added a gold swirling pattern to highlight the inlaid markers. The neck is smooth top and bottom.

The Grabber feels and sounds great. Nice weight for its size at 8.3 pounds, has impressive unplugged volume for a solid body bass, and most surprising, I can get noticeable tone variation by sliding that pickup.

Here’s some eye candy.

74.grabber.front.jpg

74.grabber.back.jpg

74.grabber.body.jpg

74.grabber.head.jpg

74.grabber.marker.jpg
 
#118
I had a beautiful red wine colored Grabber. I'm pretty sure it was a '75.

It was stolen from me in Williamsburg, VA on my first tour in either '01 or '02. At least the thieves we played with that night were kind enough to leave my Rickenbacker behind. Their bassist already had a Rick and, if I remember correctly, a Thunderbird and vintage SVT stack so my Grabber must of made a very nice addition to his collection.

I still wish I could get that bass back. With the Grabber, all the frets and strings seemed to be right where I expected them to be, unlike trying to play the extreme tapered neck on every Fender I've crossed paths with.
 
#119
Hey guys.

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[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]

Just got a Gibson Grabber through, but the bridge is a bit damaged. What aftermarket bridges have you used on your grabbers? Anything that will line up with the current string thru bridge? Also, the seller was a bit economical with the truth about the condition of the bass. It needs a refret and the maple wear looks worse in real life (So maple will be sanded back) Probably gonna go for a nice hard gloss finish on the neck as well. New scratchplate is in the post!

Cheers in advance!

Rob.
 
#120
Is discussion of the Epiphone Ripper allowed here?

I once owned a '76 Ripper but sold it long ago.

Since 2007 I've owned 2 of the Epiphone Rippers (still have one of them) and I quite like them.

HOWEVER, I realize they are verrry unlike the original Ripper. Aside from the body shape, there's really not much they have in common. The Epis are bolt on (like the old Grabbers) and have P/J pickups.

I saw one guy on another forum refer to these Epiphone Rippers as Gripp3rs.

The reason I ask is that while I have more basses than I need (three here and one SX in storage in New York state) and have been considering selling the Epi Ripper off and on, I regret selling my Gibby Ripper and the earlier Epi Ripper I had.

So I am thinking of keeping this Epi Ripper and maybe playing around with some mods. Mine is black on black (maple fingerboard.)

I had been thinking about refinishing it, possible to a creamy vintage off-white color and possibly having a reddish tortoise pickguard made for it.

I thought of getting those SD Ripper pickups (if they still make them) but they were quite expensive. A set of those would cost a lot more than my Ripper did, so I've also considered making mine a single pickup bass and slapping a Dark Star in it or something.

I have even given serious thought to having it defretted. I don't currently own a fretless.

Hmmm. Decisions. Keep it as is, sell it, or keep it and modify the heck out of it.

If you guys don't want Epi discussion on this thread, I'm happy to oblige.
 

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