The original pickup configuration used 3 screws in a triangle that would attached through the pick guard. Some time between 74 & 75 the pickups were changed to have the screws go through two pickup pole pieces.
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NBD 75’ Gibson Ripper
- Thread starter hardtwister
- Start date
I recall one of those gear walkthrough videos on YouTube where someone had a burst finish G3. I think it might have been Jeremy Davis from Paramore. In any case he said in the video that burst finish rippers/grabber/g3 basses were very rare and that JMJ had offered to buy his burst G3 but he would never sell it.
My first bass, bought a brand new one in the late 70's, in natural. Do yourself a favor, the strings anchored in the bridge vs. stringing through the body offer only the DIS-advantage of having to find longer strings, no real sonic jump in my experience. The body can seem a bit wide to some.
Mine was the later with the pickup adjustment through the two extra screws through the pickup shells. These had the pickups and controls designed by the late Bill Lawrence, and resulted in one of the few basses (full long scale at that) that could have developed into real competition for Fenders and the other usual suspects, and to me (especially as Seymour Duncan already offers replacement Ripper pickups) one previous models that GIbson absolutely should reissue in a modern version with the Hipshot replacement bridge and UltraLite tuners. A reissue Ripper, modernized G3, and a sliding Grabber with the Cassady pickup in full Gibson build could offer basses that lack the foibles of the SG/EB's and TBirds.
Enjoy !
Mine was the later with the pickup adjustment through the two extra screws through the pickup shells. These had the pickups and controls designed by the late Bill Lawrence, and resulted in one of the few basses (full long scale at that) that could have developed into real competition for Fenders and the other usual suspects, and to me (especially as Seymour Duncan already offers replacement Ripper pickups) one previous models that GIbson absolutely should reissue in a modern version with the Hipshot replacement bridge and UltraLite tuners. A reissue Ripper, modernized G3, and a sliding Grabber with the Cassady pickup in full Gibson build could offer basses that lack the foibles of the SG/EB's and TBirds.
Enjoy !
Yes you are right , thats how my bass was. It was a 74 with the 3 screw arrangement.
They kinda did through epiphone Mike g3. There is a huge budget restriction though, À Jack Cassidy Mia would probably cost upwards of 3k instead of 799. The epiphone Ripper is a grand !
I had an EB3 in the 70's and that's what I used, but mostly position 3 with the amp's bass control pegged.
Interesting. I will say that the strings on this bass were very old and dead sounding. When I restrung it, I went through the body instead of top loading like it was. Different animal now.. had to bring the treble down.. This bass is fun to play and hard to put down. Likes a pic
Thanks for your response. I played one of these back when they first came in the 70's. I don't recall them sounding much like the EB3 which was either all mud or all treble. After all these years I'm still wondering why the designers in Kalamazoo didn't think that mid range was an important part of a good bass sound. have. Good one and enjoy. Nothing better than a new bass with fresh set of strings.
According to the Ripper Wikipedia page it's actually the other way round, the three screw mounting was the later configuration, and indeed if you search the current listings on Reverb all the examples with three point pickup mounting are from '78 and '79 while the earlier examples all have the two hole through the pickup style.
Packard Goose - good catch!
You are correct the older models have the screws through the pickups. The design was changed between 76-77.
Dream to own the real one played an exciting one like that years ago when I was a teen at a festival enjoy the thump
Thanks manDream to own the real one played an exciting one like that years ago when I was a teen at a festival enjoy the thump
Cheers
Correction to your statement, but the original first edition of Rippers from 73-76, all pickups were screwed direct in the body via two screws mounted in the pickup (as the OP has in his 75). From 77-82 production years, the pickups were guard mounted via 3 screws, pickup casing was also changed to have these screw tabs in place (which some of them would break overtime).
