Question on the Gibson Grabber/G3

[Soppy Hat]

Anyone here had experience playing the Gibson G3 or Grabber? I have an opportunity to trade for one. I've always wanted one (Brian Cook fan, ha), but never had a chance to play.

Anyone familiar with how they do play? I'm already in love with the tone, but how's the neck/playability compared to other basses? Is there unbearable neck dive? Hit me.

 

[Johnny Alien]

I have owned a few Rippers and Grabbers in my day and played a G3 a few years back that wasn't mine. Of all of them in the series the Grabber is my favorite. The Grabbers I had were always lighter than the Ripper and they sounded more Fender like. None of them were neck heavy that I can remember. The Ripper had a thicker profile than the Grabber. The G3 neck is (from what I remember) exactly the same as the Grabber.

 

[Soppy Hat]

Good to know. Just as long as it doesn't play like a 2 x 4.

 

[mpdd]

my grabber sounded great and was very light, but it was somewhat hard to play compared to my fenders and it needed set up kind of frequently due to my hard playing and the weird bridge

 

[coreyfyfe]

The neck will depend on the year. My 78 G3 is thinner - front to back - than my 82 Grabber. The nut width is like a B necked P bass, not the thinnest but not a baseball bat either. They're very light and have thin bodies, and no trouble with neck dive.

 

[Im_telling_tim]

I own a Grabber and I used to own a G3. I never really liked the G3 I could never get it set up how I like it and it was too clean sounding to me so I sold it to a friend and now when he plays it sounds awesome I don't get it but Grabbers (G1) are awesome basses no neck dive and comfortable to play standing up or sitting down. The down side to them I find is they're not really great to play with your fingers I prefer a pick. I remember when I first brought it to band practice my buddy laughed at me said it was an ugly piece of **** then I plugged it in and guess who was telling his buddies about it and who asked if they could borrow it to record with their side band and the other buddy I sold it to now has a G1 to go along with it.

 

[dukeorock]

I've owned several G3's, Grabbers and Rippers over the years...Can't decide which is my favorite

I find them to be playable with no neck dive...the necks aint tiny or huge.

Overall, I kinda like Rippers the best, but if you want grind, the G3's 'buck and a half' setting is about as cool as it gets, IMO

 

[joer431]

I just bought a G3. I'm primarily a Fender P and J player but I had very little problem picking this up and playing everything solidly.

A couple things I noticed right off the bat:
1. I play with a pick and tend to strum exactly where the bridge pickup is located. Still in the process of adjusting my picking position to compensate for that.

2. The output is a lot higher than my fenders so right away I had to roll off the gain on my amp because it was clipping. Haven't played a show with it yet, but I can see this being annoying if I need to switch out basses.

Other than that I love the G3 I got. I ordered it new from Musicians Friend and have had it for about 2 weeks now. As soon as I started playing it I was inspired to write some new parts and songs! That may be the biggest testament to the instrument to me