Gibson Grabber with Rosewood, Is It Real?

Gibson Grabber G-3 Black 1976 (s586)

Gibson Grabber G3 Black 1975 | Reverb

 

I've never seen one IRL and I've seen enough (pre-2000) Gibson basses to last me a few more lifetimes. Fly guitars which is an excellent resource on Gibson basses doesn't mention rosewood as an option either.

Having said that, Norlin era was a chock full of "one off" examples of stunning variety. Looking at the actual bass in person would be my suggestion if at all possible. UV light might show traces of previous repairs/mods as well, if that's available to you.

Good luck.

 

The neck is legit. Looks likes a nice specimen.

Difficult to say if the RW is original from those pix. I was thinking maybe ebony, which was common on the coloured basses, perhaps yours used to be a different colour etc but it looks too washed out to be ebony in that second pic.

 

Holy. That's a beauty! Original?

Edit: Looks like ebony on the FB...

 

Why not contact Gibson, along with the photos (especially the serial number)?

 

That's really cool. I wish there were more available.

 

“One-offs” and “prototypes” have become catchall terms used whenever anyone spots a Gibson in the wild that doesn’t confirm to the specs for that instrument. And I’m not comfortable buying into the argument that there are as many out there as some claim. Especially since Gibson won’t confirm virtually any of them are factory originals. So my feeling is that if an oddball Gibson wasn’t positively seen at a Gibson booth at a trade show; or photographed in the hands of an artist right around the time of the product’s initial release; or seen in a Gibson ad, then I wouldn’t be too quick to say it’s probably a prototype or one-off.

In this case however, it’s very odd. The serial number checks out as being in the ballpark range for that bass. And I’m inclined to think the fingerboard is unstained ebony (which is something Gibson would more likely use) rather than rosewood. So it might be all original since I‘d be very surprised if someone went through the trouble and expense of retrofitting a custom fretboard on that particular model. But who knows?

Whatever. It’s a nice bass. If it sounds and feels good, just play it and don’t worry about it.

 

They also made a few Grabbers with one piece maple necks. ( No separate fingerboard)

 

Not as well versed as the rest of you.

Did The Grabber only come with maple boards?

I've played a few with dark wood boards as I'm not a fan of maple on basses, guitars okay.

Have played several dark board Grabbers, one looked to be rosewood, the others something darker, close to black.

 

Why not contact Rob van den Broek, who wrote the Gibson Bass Book?

 

Didn't you actually work with Rob on the book with pix?