Grabber copy

[mr zee]

I have a Grabber copy which I acquired a few years ago but I don't know where or when or by whom it was built. It's a decent enough bass. The original neck was a three piece but it was well past its use by date so I had to replace it, so I've only took pictures of the body.

 

[B-Mac]

I have a Grabber copy which I acquired a few years ago but I don't know where or when or by whom it was built. It's a decent enough bass. The original neck was a three piece but it was well past its use by date so I had to replace it, so I've only took pictures of the body.View attachment 3417740 View attachment 3417742 View attachment 3417744 View attachment 3417746 View attachment 3417748

Interesting bridge

 

[mr zee]

Interesting bridge

The saddles are akin to a tele bass I think

 

[B-Mac]

I have a Grabber copy which I acquired a few years ago but I don't know where or when or by whom it was built. It's a decent enough bass. The original neck was a three piece but it was well past its use by date so I had to replace it, so I've only took pictures of the body.View attachment 3417740 View attachment 3417742 View attachment 3417744 View attachment 3417746 View attachment 3417748

Anything on the headstock?

 

[mr zee]

Anything on the headstock?

The original headstock had no markings whatsoever. It was a 3 piece neck that was splitting down the back.

 

[Biffa]

Nice lump of ash with a dubious centre line

 

[B-Mac]

I have a Grabber copy which I acquired a few years ago but I don't know where or when or by whom it was built. It's a decent enough bass. The original neck was a three piece but it was well past its use by date so I had to replace it, so I've only took pictures of the body.View attachment 3417740 View attachment 3417742 View attachment 3417744 View attachment 3417746 View attachment 3417748

Looks like a decent home made build

 

[Floppystrings]

Nice lump of ash with a dubious centre line

Both my 2006 Warwick double bucks have an off center two pieces ash body.

It's done intentionally so the area where it bolts on doesn't split, which happened with some early bolt on Thumb basses (they have a very small heel).

It makes more sense to have it off center.

 

[mr zee]

This had a narrow neck socket, had to open it up slightly for the replacement neck.
This is a closeup of the bridge.

 

[mr zee]

Anyway, does anyone know what make it might be. Thanks to biffa for the advice on replacement neck alignment when I first did it

 

[mr zee]

These are the original tuners and ferrules which have a very small diameter peg, 5/16, or about 8mm

 

[darkestsun]

at first i though maybe it was an Aria, but i think this is it, a Melody. Bridge cover and tuners look the same.


Guitar Blog: Gibson Grabber Bass copy by Melody

 

[40Hz]

Aria, Melody and Crestline all did lawsuit era Grabbers with varying degrees of fidelity to the original.

But if I had to guess, I’d suspect it’s a Melody.

 

[mr zee]

at first i though maybe it was an Aria, but i think this is it, a Melody. Bridge cover and tuners look the same.


Guitar Blog: Gibson Grabber Bass copy by Melody

That looks very much the same to me. The review mentions the screws on the machine heads being different. Some of the screws actually snapped when I was trying to get them out on mine.
Fine job, at least I now know more about it. Thanks

 

[B-Mac]

I have a Grabber copy which I acquired a few years ago but I don't know where or when or by whom it was built. It's a decent enough bass. The original neck was a three piece but it was well past its use by date so I had to replace it, so I've only took pictures of the body.View attachment 3417740 View attachment 3417742 View attachment 3417744 View attachment 3417746 View attachment 3417748

Something of a similar flavor....

Came across this a while ago: Rippenbacker

Mather Rippenbacker | Eastside Music Supply

 

[40Hz]

Something of a similar flavor....

Came across this a while ago: Rippenbacker

Mather Rippenbacker | Eastside Music Supply

Ooooo! I do like that!

Looks like a real fun bass to take for a spin.

 

[secondbestcody]

I love the look of Rippers/Grabbers. I won’t be able to afford an original any time soon so I did this to an Epiphone Ripper PJ I got recently.

 

[mr zee]

I love the look of Rippers/Grabbers. I won’t be able to afford an original any time soon so I did this to an Epiphone Ripper PJ I got recently.

View attachment 3418388

That's looking really nice.
I have the same but black

 

[secondbestcody]

That's looking really nice.
I have the same but black
View attachment 3418637

Yeah, these basses are great. I randomly found mine at a music shop one day. I really didn’t like the stock bridge though because my saddles has to sit so high that tightening the set screws just pushed them up higher rather than holding them in place. Whenever I took the strings off one or two would fall out and I’d have to find them. A Hipshot A style with .750 spacing fits perfectly.

 

[Microbass]

I have a Grabber copy which I acquired a few years ago but I don't know where or when or by whom it was built. It's a decent enough bass. The original neck was a three piece but it was well past its use by date so I had to replace it, so I've only took pictures of the body.View attachment 3417740 View attachment 3417742 View attachment 3417744 View attachment 3417746 View attachment 3417748

Really nice looking! I’d agree in that this looks like a Melody copy.

That bridge looks worse than the originals tho... jings.