Gibson Reissuing The Gibson G3!

[andysleigh]

i seriously doubt that the pickups will sound anything like the original Bill Lawrence designed pickups..

makes me think of the RD reissue with the jazz bass pickups.. lol..

it's just a shame that Gibson doesn't get it..

you can buy NOS pups that were used in g3's, s1's and rd's on flebay for 25 bucks for 2. if you ever wanted to change them over

as for the jazz pups in the rd.
theres a legit reason they did that


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the grabber 3 looks pretty cool.
but somthing not quite right.
big pickups. with big pole pieces.

as said, i doubt it would sound like the original, with different pickups and in different places.

 

[Dave W]

I was just able to check out a new G3 at one of my local shops. It's pretty frickin' awesome!

They had the burst model hanging on the wall, so I asked to play it. The neck felt great, with a nice satin finish on the whole bass. I did some fingerstyle playing first, then I broke out a pick. I found it to sound nice and full, with a good amount of bite. Definitely not thin sounding in any of the positions. I'm not good at describing tone, but I will saw it was aggressive sounding and growly when I really dug in with the pick. The neck was a little on the chunkier side, more like a P bass only a little thicker front to back.

I'm really in the market for a jazz right now, but this thing might have me changing my mind. It was pretty sweet.

 

[RoughNightOut]

Major problem in need of urgent advice from anybody who has purchased the Gibson Grabber G3 Tribute. Last week American Musical Supply had an amazing 4 hour flash sale, and I grabbed this bass new in satin black for $749! Needless to say this has been the longest weekend waiting for the bass to arrive. It came in today, and I could not believe this made-in-the-U.S.A. bass passed Gibson inspection.

First and foremost, none of these flaws are shipping damage or anything to do with AMS, who I still love. I'll try to make this short. I too have the mysterious zipper marks, with a huge wood gash. Both are UNDER THE FINISH (painted over). The fretboard sticks out sharply from the neck, as do the actual frets. The pickguard is bowing, making my pick-ups angle weird and my bridge pick-up right against the strings. I'd like to think raising the bridge would fix this... oh wait. The bridge is already WAY up (more than I've seen in any promo pictures) and the strings are still buzzing on the frets like crazy!!!

Talked to AMS and they said they will exchange or refund, but were helpful in telling me that NONE of these have been returned. Did I just get the worst Gibson ever? If I could read the scribbled signature of the inspector I would blast him here, but unless someone can convince me that I just got a fluke, I'm getting a Fender Jaguar Bass.

Please help. I need to make a decision A.S.A.P. I want to believe that the tribute really is like the 70's Grabber and Ripper basses... but this particular bass is the worst I have ever played. A shame, because I did plug it in for a sec and the pick-ups sounded great.

 

[Chadrtc]

Major problem in need of urgent advice from anybody who has purchased the Gibson Grabber G3 Tribute. Last week American Musical Supply had an amazing 4 hour flash sale, and I grabbed this bass new in satin black for $749! Needless to say this has been the longest weekend waiting for the bass to arrive. It came in today, and I could not believe this made-in-the-U.S.A. bass passed Gibson inspection.

First and foremost, none of these flaws are shipping damage or anything to do with AMS, who I still love. I'll try to make this short. I too have the mysterious zipper marks, with a huge wood gash. Both are UNDER THE FINISH (painted over). The fretboard sticks out sharply from the neck, as do the actual frets. The pickguard is bowing, making my pick-ups angle weird and my bridge pick-up right against the strings. I'd like to think raising the bridge would fix this... oh wait. The bridge is already WAY up (more than I've seen in any promo pictures) and the strings are still buzzing on the frets like crazy!!!

Talked to AMS and they said they will exchange or refund, but were helpful in telling me that NONE of these have been returned. Did I just get the worst Gibson ever? If I could read the scribbled signature of the inspector I would blast him here, but unless someone can convince me that I just got a fluke, I'm getting a Fender Jaguar Bass.

Please help. I need to make a decision A.S.A.P. I want to believe that the tribute really is like the 70's Grabber and Ripper basses... but this particular bass is the worst I have ever played. A shame, because I did plug it in for a sec and the pick-ups sounded great.

I had a new Gibson 2013 EB delivered yesterday and that was a bit of a mess straight out of the box. Sharp fret edges, wonky screws, a ruined Tone knob that just spins around on the pot and a hair underneath the lacquer on the back.

This is the second Gibson I've had that required quite a bit of work.

I've now sorted all the issues (apart from the hair) and the finished article is a lovely instrument... But the state they are allowing guitars and basses to leave their factory in is ridiculous.

 

[RoughNightOut]

I had a new Gibson 2013 EB delivered yesterday and that was a bit of a mess straight out of the box. Sharp fret edges, wonky screws, a ruined Tone knob that just spins around on the pot and a hair underneath the lacquer on the back.

This is the second Gibson I've had that required quite a bit of work.

I've now sorted all the issues (apart from the hair) and the finished article is a lovely instrument... But the state they are allowing guitars and basses to leave their factory in is ridiculous.

Thank you so much for the quick response. I can try to get a another one sent and hope I don't have the issues. I want to love this bass, but the two things killing me are the rough frets and how high I had to set the bridge. Did you sand the frets down yourself? How high is your bridge? Mine is way higher than I've ever seen on a bass right now and I'm still getting horrible fret buzz. Thanks again.

 

[Dave W]

I grabbed mine from AMS. It was a B stock or return, I don't remember exactly. So if it was in fact a return I'd say AMS just lied to you in saying that nobody returned them.

Anyways, mine is pretty good. There is some fret sprout so the ends feel sharp. I need to break out my fret file and clean them up. Otherwise it's great.

 

[darkstorm]

Where are you seeing a price for it? I cant find one. The grabber was a nice bass

 

[Chadrtc]

Thank you so much for the quick response. I can try to get a another one sent and hope I don't have the issues. I want to love this bass, but the two things killing me are the rough frets and how high I had to set the bridge. Did you sand the frets down yourself? How high is your bridge? Mine is way higher than I've ever seen on a bass right now and I'm still getting horrible fret buzz. Thanks again.

Yeah, I polished the frets. The bridge was fine... It's ones of those crazy Babicz ones.

 

[RoughNightOut]

Yeah, I polished the frets. The bridge was fine... It's ones of those crazy Babicz ones.

Thanks everyone. You're help was greatly appreciated. I found out you can replace the 3-point Gibson bridge with a much nicer Hipshot Supertone bridge. I'm also seeing what people dislike about the extreme angles the E and G string come off from the nut. Unfortunately this entire process has left a sour taste in my mouth. I am usually one to drop more cash for the brand name, especially having purchased so many well-made foreign assembled instruments. This "made-in-USA" Gibson is a disgrace, and will be going back today. I wish I could have had a better experience, because the bass looks awesome and sounds great.

I will be trying my luck with the Fender Modern Player Jaguar bass. I love my Squier Vintage Modified Jaguar and reviews boast the Fender as a better built and sounding version of the Squier Jag. I've played the normal Fender Jaguar, and love the sounds you can get out of it. But I don't need all the bells and whistles in a live bass, and the Modern Player Jag is half the price of the regular Fender Jag.

I took a couple pictures of the incredibly noticeable finish flaws and bowing pickguard if anyone wants me to post. I just recommend taking caution when dropping the extra cash for an American made instrument. There seem to be many others who have received Gibsons recently that needed full set-ups right out of the box. I know that isn't crazy, but every Fender I have recently bought needed minimal set-up and certainly didn't need any sanding or filing. Thanks again TalkBass!