The Last Bass Outpost

The one on my Grabber is 7/8 of an inch.

I remember when I bought one at a Pawn Shop in the early 1990's for $160. 

I'll always remember that day in May 1987 when I met him at the Capitol Plaza Toys R Us of all places.  I was shopping with my then 3 year old daughter and I saw him with his daughter and a large fellow pushing the shopping cart.  I went up to him after I saw another fellow talking with him.  I shook his hand and said "you're great" in my awkwardness.  But I told him how I'd listened to him since his second record and mention the FM movie which made him groan a bit.  But he was so nice and autographed my South Austin Music business card.

He asked if I was going to the show the following night and I said that I couldn't get tickets. (Couldn't afford them at the time was more like it). He turned to the big dude and said in that voice, "get his name and give him some tickets".  Wonderful show with Del Fuegos and Georgia Satellites opening.  R.I.P. to a true rocker and a great guy. 

Since I stopped gigging 5 years ago I thought that I would revisit my first rig.

I remember buying Aja during the summer of '77.  Some excellent bass by Chuck Rainey and Becker played bass on Decon Blues.  What a great sounding LP.  At least the first ABC pressing.  Don't bother with the later MCA versions.  I always thought that photo of Becker inside the gatefold was mysterious looking.  At least that's what this (then) 15 year old thought all those years ago.  R.I.P.

It appears factory with a bi cut neck and very low six digit number.  I haven't checked the pot codes.  They have about a zillion pickguard screws on these plus you have to remove the pickups.

At a Halloween 1978 party that my band played I went as Paul even though I was the bass player.  Well, he did play bass on Love Gun among others. 

I drove myself to Palmer Auditorium to see them in 1984.  I was 22 at the time.

Let's get back to Grabber basses!

My sister bought me Alive for Christmas 1976.  I was hooked.  Started playing bass in late 1977 with a Gibson G-3 no less.  We lived in Panama until mid 1979 so i didn't get a chance to see them live until the Lick It Up tour in 1984.  Palmer Auditorium in Austin TX.  Riot and Vandenberg opened.  The band put on a show and Gene rocked the Pedulla bass.  Paul was jumping and running like a madman with his Leopard print BC Rich Eagle, Vinnie Vincent had probably 7 Jackson Randy Rhoads guitars on stage and the late great Eric Carr on drums.  I saw them again during the 2000 "farewell" tour and while it was great seeing Ace and Peter with the band it seemed like they were going through the motions.  I even left before the encore to beat the traffic.

I would have enjoyed seeing them circa 1974-76.  But that '84 show was incredible.  Especially at a 3000 capacity area.

Quote from: lowend1 on June 15, 2017, 02:54:45 PM
Mmmmm... they all have scarf joints, so are they really one piece??
Gene's wine red grabber was one of those (I think) earlier ones with the weird "negative pitch" headstock. The black one (which, IIRC, was passed on to Mark "The Animal" Mendoza) had a conventionally pitched 'stock.

No scarf joints on the one piece examples.  Just the skunk stripe.

All of the Grabbers he used back in the day had one piece maple necks.