I found my sound (G3 content)

[diegom]

Girls are made of sugar, spice and everything nice.
Basses are made of wood and metal, but given a SOUL by those who play them!!!

Congrats on YOUR SOUND and your partner in crime!

 

[40Hz]

I think @40Hz is a bit of a Gibson bass enthusiast; 40Hz, please come to a white paging telephone...

I had never seen that model of Gibson before. Cool! Do you know what the body is made of? Weren’t some of the instruments in that era made of a resin-wood dust composite, kind of like some of the Ibanez Talman guitars?

Is it active or passive?

Hi!

It’s a 3-pickup single coil passive bass. But the switching scheme is very unusual in that you can’t solo a single pup. The choices are (1) neck plus middle (2) all three- or “buck and a half” or (3) middle and bridge. Think of it as working like a single humbucking pickup with an incredibly wide aperture. Neck is maple with a maple, rosewood, or ebony fretboard. Maple feetboards were the most common. The body was either maple or alder depending on the year. Most were maple bodied.

Sound is bright and articulate with a fair amount of spank on tap if you dig in. Great bass for funk or (especially when played with a pick) classic 70s era prog. A lot of tonal shading also possible when played fingerstyle. Very effects friendly too. It doesn’t sound exactly like anything else I’ve heard. Nothing like any other Gibson, including the similar looking Ripper or Grabber. Definitely has its own unique sound. Something you’ll either like or you won’t.

AFAIK Gibson has never done composite bodies for anything they make. Their preferred body wood is mahogany followed by maple. Alder body Gibsons are far less common.

Hope this all was of help.

 

[40Hz]

My dad bought me my first “real” bass when I was about 10....40+ years ago. He gave me a choice of the 2 basses the music store had in stock, a Fender Jazz or the Gibson. Being a huge KISS fan I of course chose the G3. It was my only bass for many years, I learned on it gigged it hard it was my bass. As the years passed I moved on to other basses and the G3 was regulated to mostly case and closet duty. Learning how to set up my basses was the single most important thing I’ve learned here on Talkbass. I got the G3 out a few years ago and put fresh strings on, cleaned her up and gave it I think it’s first set up. The truss rod had never seen the light of day. It set up and played wonderfully and felt like an old friend. I started rotating it into band practices and jams. Last weekend I got together with 2 of my oldest friends, putting together a trio....undetermined direction thus far. We were just fooling around jamming out to some old covers we played back in the day, myself and the guitarists trying out some new patches we’d created. Almost simultaneously they both commented that me playing the Gibson sounded like me.....that was my “sound”. When they hear me playing that’s the sound they anticipate. I was floored as I never really considered that I had a “sound”. I suppose it makes sense since I spent so many of my formative years with the particular bass. Sorry for the long post and I know it’s just wood and metal but damn I love that bass.

View attachment 3695323

Sweet bass! In beautiful shape too. Play it well.

FWIW my main bass is a 74 Ripper purchased new back in the mists of time. I’ve since acquired additional basses over the years for different tones and purposes. But the people I get together with to this day associate the Ripper with “my” sound. Like you, I never thought of myself as having a signature sound. But as far as my musical cronies are concerned I most certainly do. And that sound is me on the one bass I know better than anything else on the planet.

Lots to be said for growing up with one main bass and knowing what it can do inside out. Eventually you end up influencing each other’s sound.

 

[40Hz]

I believe it was the Gibson Marauder that shared these same pups

The Marauder included a Lawrence designed pickup in a clear epoxy case. But it wasn’t the same pickup found in the G3. Each pickup in the G3 wasn’t exactly identical either. Each was assigned a position and had a unique part number. Yet another example of Bill Lawrence’s uncompromising perfectionism when it came to pickup design.

 

[bassbrad]

Nice bass and a great story. You are a lucky man to have found the right bass for you not many are so fortunate. I had a G3 for many years and as much as I really liked the bass it was just never true love. I traded her for another Gibson and she is my new "Be My Number Two" as the Joe Jackson song goes, but I do still have my Number One.

 

[mexicanyella]

Hi!



AFAIK Gibson has never done composite bodies for anything they make. Their preferred body wood is mahogany followed by maple. Alder body Gibsons are far less common.

Hope this all was of help.

The one I was thinking of was the Sonex guitar, which I just read was actually a
wood core wrapped in a layer of fiberglass or plastic...not a resin-and-sawdust composite.

 

[40Hz]

The one I was thinking of was the Sonex guitar, which I just read was actually a
wood core wrapped in a layer of fiberglass or plastic...not a resin-and-sawdust composite.

Learn something new every day!

Didn’t know that. Probably because I don’t follow Gibson’s guitars that much. Their basses are another story.

From what I just looked up it appears to be a wood/epoxy-resin composite. Something more akin to particleboard than something you’d expect see used in musical instruments. I’m guessing it was heavy since most project guitars I’ve heard about with a lot of epoxy in their bodies weighed a ton.

I’ve found some synthetic fretboards can actually work quite well. And graphite seems to be working for some things musical. But I don’t have much personal experience with synthetic bodied basses beyond one bass I briefly owned made out of Luthite. And about all I can say about that was it smelled pretty bad and gave me a headache every time I opened its case.

Thx for the info on the Marauder!

 

[5StringBlues]

Back in the late 90's, I did some sessions at Pedernales Studio ( Willie Nelson's ) with a country rock/folk band.


We had a break for some reason and I and Larry Greenhill , the house engineer, were doing nothing but waiting. So I suggested hooking up my G3 that I had brought along as a backup to my Fullerton era Fender Jazz and seeing how it recorded.



I did a take on a track that was already finished and when we listened back Larry said, " You should have been using this bass for the whole session, it's got a low-mid that sits much better than your Jazz."



So while the G3 is known for it's top end spank, it also has great low-mids.

 

[bigtone23]

That's a great bass! Really, really like the black and maple and the fact you have held on to it for decades!
The G3 has really cool sounds, it thumps, it punches, it funks! I'm partial to the tones basses with more than 1 pickup can produce, so G3s and Rippers win over the Grabber.

 

[Miles_ONeal]

My dad bought me my first “real” bass when I was about 10....40+ years ago. He gave me a choice of the 2 basses the music store had in stock, a Fender Jazz or the Gibson. Being a huge KISS fan I of course chose the G3. It was my only bass for many years, I learned on it gigged it hard it was my bass. As the years passed I moved on to other basses and the G3 was regulated to mostly case and closet duty. Learning how to set up my basses was the single most important thing I’ve learned here on Talkbass. I got the G3 out a few years ago and put fresh strings on, cleaned her up and gave it I think it’s first set up. The truss rod had never seen the light of day. It set up and played wonderfully and felt like an old friend. I started rotating it into band practices and jams. Last weekend I got together with 2 of my oldest friends, putting together a trio....undetermined direction thus far. We were just fooling around jamming out to some old covers we played back in the day, myself and the guitarists trying out some new patches we’d created. Almost simultaneously they both commented that me playing the Gibson sounded like me.....that was my “sound”. When they hear me playing that’s the sound they anticipate. I was floored as I never really considered that I had a “sound”. I suppose it makes sense since I spent so many of my formative years with the particular bass. Sorry for the long post and I know it’s just wood and metal but damn I love that bass.

View attachment 3695323

Great story, and I am thrilled for you. You have nothing to apologize for!

 

[brainiac]

Black beauty!!
Glad you brought her back out to play.
It’s nice to have your own sound and not be a carbon copy of everyone else.

I "found my sound" in early 1969 when I bought my first new bass: a 1968 Fender Telecaster. First of all it had the neck that I will forever be identified with: wide 1.75 nutwidth with a maple board. But the sound is the key ingredient, and those 1968-1971 Teles had it in spades! The midrange capabilities on these Teles is immense! So I've always been associated with a very clean, somewhat treble-oriented tone. Then you add the foam mute that came on the new Tele from the factory, and I've always had that mid-range, clean compressed tone...the antithesis of boomy bass. Back in those days, I never used Jazz basses because the necks are so thin, but in the past two years I became a huge Jazz proponent and user. How? I started buying Fender MIM 50s Classic necks and installing them on Jazz basses. They are 1.75 nutwidth and maple boards, just like my '68 Tele! Once the neck issue had been addressed, I am always thrilled with the breadth of tonal capabilities from a Jazz. And, of course, give me that midrange/treble from the bridge pup with about a 4-5 from the neck pup. The old Tele is still active and has influenced me in everything since I first bought it!Attached are pix of the '68 Tele, then a blacl Jazz with maple Precision neck, and then a sunburst Jazz with maple Precision necks with the frets removed.

 

[Pauly 4001]

It's a beautiful bass with nice honest wear where it should be.
You should be commended for resisting the urge to modify/ruin it when it fell out of favor with you and the rest of the world.
I really wanted a Grabber back when Greg Lake was using it briefly and had to buy one recently which had seen a fair amount of abuse. Still needs refinishing:
View attachment 3696185

Hmmm...
Greg Lake most definitely didn't play a Grabber even briefly and I don't own a Grabber but would love a G-3 and the picture of the stripped Gibson bass is obviously a Ripper.
Maybe a little too much Tequila and not enough focus...

 

[NYBassman1]

Black beauty!!
Glad you brought her back out to play.
It’s nice to have your own sound and not be a carbon copy of everyone else.

I hear ya!!!!!!