Uwe has said nasty things about the Ripper pups in the past, yes. But people change and so do their tastes. I've grown fond of especially one of my Rippers, the early one from 1973 with the original big(ger) body. It is modified so that one position now has the neck pup in solo mode. Anyway, I like that mapleboarded bass' sound. It sounds natural, with subtle authority and with a lot of wood in the sound. That said, I wouldn't mind if the new Ripper had new pups just for the variety of it, I'm not one who believes reissues should slavishly try to recreate what was state of the art 30 years ago. Had the Ripper been in continuous production through all these years, today's Ripper wouldn't be your father's Ripper either.