The Last Bass Outpost
Gear Discussion Forums => Gibson Basses => Topic started by: godofthunder on August 09, 2009, 06:35:02 AM
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I have a line on a '74-'75 Grabber in wine red, the guy might take a MIA P for it. I have a very nice unplayed '08 MIA P white with rosewood, tort guard nice flame on the back of the neck. Think it's a good trade ? http://www.talkbass.com/forum/showthread.php?t=569437
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Only if the Vintage feel of the Grabber means an awful lot to you. To me, a Grabber always feels a bit cheap in comparison to a good P Bass and - I can't believe that I am writing this! - a P Bass has soundwise both more authority and focus. The Grabber is a middish affair and those mids tend to be all over. Sounds great ona fretless, but on a fretted bass ... The Grabber II is a much better proposition me thinks.
Here I am advocating that F-brand over Gibson ... [ : - < ]
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The feel of Grabber doesn't mean a whole lot to me, I don't really use the one I have, same could be said for the P basses I have. The only P bass that gets any use is the fretless, 2 songs a night. I like the Kiss connection and I like vintage so that's my interest in this bass. I do have a nice 1980 Grabber in black that cost me all of 450.00. I like the wine red finish, a bit rare and in looking in my bass room I have far to many Fender type basses ! I think value wise they are about equal, the Grabber is Vintage USA while the P is just that a new P not particularly uncommon. Didn't Gene have a wine colored one early on ?
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Yes he did and he liked it better over his Rippers because it was raunchier. Which it is, but it also lacks the Ripper's depth and calm authority.
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Now I really want it !
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What have I done ...
"Dear Leo F., whereever you are now (hopefully somewhere where the cloud-resident Commander-in-Chief has suitable own bolt-on experience too!), I wash my hands in innocence, it is not like I did not earnestly try!!!"
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As far as current value goes, they're about equal. You won't get hurt financially by doing the trade.
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eIyo4kpsEas
Get it!
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I like that bass. Never played on a Grabber, but I have played on Rippers and G3's so I guess it feels the same.
I like Gene's Grabber sound and the soundclips of the bass sound really good. So go for it!
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It feels exactly like a G-3, but has less bass and presence, with a strong emphasis on the midrange.
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I play my G3 always with the pickup switch in position 1 (bridge and middle pickup). That sound also has a lot of midrange and less bass, almost like a fusion type jazz bass bridge pickup sound. So I guess I will like the Grabber sound also.
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On my old G-3 I did a very easy modification. I reversed the treble and middle pickups. The up position was the bass and treble pickup, middle position all 3, and down position still the middle and treble pickups.
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Huh? Then the two positions were the same then, what was that good for?
I know some people changed either the middle/treble or the middle/bass to a treble/bass combo on their G-3s for a more Jazz bassy sound.
And I caution anyone to believe that a G-3 wired in any position sounds anything like a Grabber. If a G-3 is a Jazz with more ooomp, than a Grabber is a real dirty P minus the latter's clear presence.
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Oooops, correction liebe Hornisse, I misread your post. Now of course it makes sense and is the mod I mentioned (and have on one of my two G-3s, courtesy of the pre-owner).
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Not a problem Uwe. It did give a sort of "jazzbassish" tone to it. But back when I played the G-3 my dad was stationed in Panama and I used the original Monel Gibson bass Flatwounds on her. Great strings but they were very old and it wasn't until moving back to the States when I put on some GHS Boomers (which I like more now than I did then) that the bass really came alive.
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On my old G-3 I did a very easy modification. I reversed the treble and middle pickups. The up position was the bass and treble pickup, middle position all 3, and down position still the middle and treble pickups.
And how is that modification exactly ? I might be interested in that, since I never use position 3 anyway.
And is it a big sound difference and easily reversable?
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I can compare my two G-3s (with stock and modded pup combos) during the day and report ...
(Not much later in another part of the city ...)
Ok, did that just now:
My 78 maple board G-3 in ebony is wired stock, i.e. 1. neck/middle, 2. all three and 3. middle/bridge.
My 82 ebony board G-3 in CAR is wired 1. neck/bridge, 2. all three and 3. middle/bridge.
So the difference lies in position 1 (not 3 as I erroneously believed to remember). And just as in a stock set up I find the neck/middle combo sounding better than all three together (too much frequency overlap there me thinks), the modded neck/bridge combo sounds even better as it combines the ooomph of stock position 1 with the attack of stock position 3 (middle/bridge), all very clear, but with authority, think of a forceful Jazz Bass minus the phase cancellation which you can only correct on a Jazz by dialing down a little one of the single coils. There is no volume difference to the other two stock positions.
Having heard all the positions side by side now, I actually think that a modded combination replacing the "all three" stock (middle) position with a modded neck/bridge combo (sans the middle pup) and retaining the neck/middle and middle/bridge (which I like for its no-holds-barred attack without sounding wheeny) stock alternatives would be the best choice.
Have I declarified everything sufficiently? :mrgreen:
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Yes you have, thanks.
But I want to know how to change the wiring. Since I am an electronic noob.
I think I want to change the middle/neck (position 1 in Uwe's post) for the neck/bridge sound.
I like the sound of all three pickups together. And I like the bridge/middle pickup sound the best.
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Great report Uwe! And the mod requires nothing but a slot head screwdriver. Just remove the pickguard and swap the middle and bridge pickup positions. There should be plenty of wire to move the pickups easily.
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LOL! That is indeed an undaunting "mod". Never thought of it that way, beautiful in its simplicity. Kind of like turming the minibucker of an EB-3 or SG-RI on its head to get the pole screws closer to the middle. Even I could do that.
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thanks.
If it is that simple I will try to perform the surgery tonight.
Since we are talking on this subject. A few weeks back I wanted to adjust the truss rodd a bit. But then I discovered that you need a different tool for that then the normal ones that I use for my other non Gibson basses. Maybe that is on all Gibsons?
anyhow, which one do I need to adjust the truss rod on the G3?
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I've never looked at a Grabber/G3 truss rod, but almost all Gibsons use a 5/16 inch nut driver-type adjuster, like this one: http://www.guitar-parts.com/products/1600/Truss-Rod-Tool-for-Gibson.htm
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Yes, I think that is the one I need. Have to buy on a those.
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Yes, the G-3 should have the normal Gibson bell shaped nut. There are a few very early Grabbers (the skunk stripe neck ones) that feature a Fender style slotted screw nut, but as the Grabber came out a good year (or two) ahead of the G-3, I don't think that skunk stripe neck G-3s actually exist. But with Gibson you never know!
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LOL! That is indeed an undaunting "mod". Never thought of it that way, beautiful in its simplicity. Kind of like turming the minibucker of an EB-3 or SG-RI on its head to get the pole screws closer to the middle. Even I could do that.
I meant to say "phillips head" screwdriver. Don't know what I was thinking! I had an old 2 pickup Newport Deluxe bass from 1961 that had the mini humbucker with the poles towards the neck. I tried to turn it around but it came like that from the factory and there was not enough wire to turn it around. I also found that the mini humbucker had a PAF sticker on it.
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Iesterday I did the mod and switched over the bridge en middle pickup. The wires were just long enough so that is all I needed to do.
I like the new bridge/neck pickup sound a little bit better than the stock neck/middle pickup sound.
It has more focus. Strangely enough it sounds more Precision like then the stock sound. You would expect otherwise because the neck/middle pickup is kind of a P configuration.
The stock sound was to unclear for me, so the new sound is more usable for me.
Thanks for the tip!
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Still waiting..........................he is thinking on my trade. The longer I wait the more I want it.
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Seriously bummed he has decided to keep the bass. ???
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Sorry to hear that, Scott. It sucks when you get all excited for something and then it doesn't come through. I hope another opportunity comes up.
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That sucks! I'll keep my eyes peeled for one.
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Too bad. I like the wine red finish the best for a Grabber. And the sound of the soundclip was also great.
There will be plenty of Grabbers on Ebay though. You see them all the time for about 800$.
Good luck catching one.
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I have a black Grabber I paid 450 for so it's not like I am hurting, I just liked the wine color and that it is like Gene's first one.
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i saw the sellers demo video. too bad you could not save it from that wankster.
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Scott... you have one in black... sounds like you are not that fussed about the black fin...
A pro refin in a nice new shade would be a darned site cheaper than another instrument... just an idea...
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Still looking for a wine red Grabber?
http://cgi.ebay.com/1974-Gibson-Grabber-Rare-WINE-RED_W0QQitemZ200377085002QQcmdZViewItemQQptZGuitar?hash=item2ea767ac4a&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14
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I think that is the same bass, if it is be careful the owner told me the neck is twisted, one reason I backed out.
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Wine Red seems to bring a premium price!