The Last Bass Outpost

what about the midtown signature bass, wasn't that at NAMM - or have I missed a thread

Quote from: dadagoboi on January 31, 2014, 08:54:45 AM
At the least they give you the earliest possible date the bass was produced.

well, again, it only gives an earliest date it was shipped. A bass can be assembled, and left in the factory without hardware... This didn't generally happen with EB0s and EB3s, but the obscure models, later EB0Fs for example often have a weird mix of parts from different years.

I have seen them with '65 pots and '66 pots - so far I have not seen any with '68 or '69 pots - but admittedly I haven't checked that many - Scott did yours have '68 pots?

A big change happened at Gibson in mid-late '66, Stan Rendell took over from Ted McCarty - he changed the Gibson's production system from one in which guitars were simply built, and hopefully sold, to one where guitars were built ONLY when ordered. The first non revs were built before his time - ie without any orders. We all know the stories of unsold Tbirds, so I doubt there were many orders coming in in '68 for them to build more...

It could be that they were all produced in '65 and '66, and slowly shipped, as required, potentially with hardware added in the year they were shipped?
Until a clearly later one comes up it's hard to be sure that there are indeed later ones...

so that looks like a 1980 centralab pot (1348016) and an original  late '65 (week 52) - if original yours is a '66

Quote from: Denis on January 31, 2014, 07:05:43 AM
According to Jules site, the production breakdown is as follows:
1966= 361, 1967=0, 1968=67, 1969=7.

Yes, but remember these are the shipping, not production figures - when guitars are selling well (eg the EB0 at this time) they pretty much shipped them as fast as they built them. When they were not selling well (eg NR tbirds) they may have sat around for months or even years. Do the 7 '69 Tbirds have '69 pots? I don't know for sure, and I actually suspect not...

yeah, it's a nice bass. It was made a little after the first SB450's (sometime in mid '72) - but was using the same body blank. Obviously an idea they'd been toying with for a while (see the EB in the 1970 catalogue)

Now I'm hoping to find a pic from the '72 NAMM show showing it on display...

I believe the Grabber pickup is single coil - there are several misleading and contradictory bits of Gibson literature that suggest it is a humbucker, and one that categorically states it to be single coil (a late seventies Gibson pickup leaflet). Let me try and find it for you all. And I might put a bid on that Gripper too, if it stays at £350
http://www.flyguitars.com/gibson/bass/parts/pickup/

I can't tell. Are you asking me to be more or less specific next post?

$750 isn't too bad at all for store. They tend to go for between $600 and $800 for relatively nice ones on ebay.

yes, I was admiring this one online last night. Anyone here played one? Any good?

I've only seen the Ripper with that early body shape. My belief is that the Grabber does not exist with this shape, at least as a production model.

According to Grabber shipping figures there were 200 or so Grabbers shipped in '74, and one in '73. The '75 catalogue was printed in late '74, and the new body style is shown there. They don't show up in price lists until Jan '75. I have Gibson letters from Dec '74 describing it as brand new. So I feel the '74s were built right at the end of '74 and had the new-style bodies.

But the one in '73 (if it actually exists) was presumably a prototype Bill Lawrence made at the same time as he did the Ripper, potentially with the old shape. Prototypes were usually done in racks of 8 if they were to be shipped/demonstrated, and there was a long wait until more were made in '74. Furthermore, a patent application for the Grabber was filed in Aug '74 under Bruce Bolen's name. So I do have my doubts about this one being real, or at least being something that was actually shipped to a customer. If it does exist, it may even have other early Ripper features (set neck?). Did Bill just design a sliding pup, and suggest it for a new model?

The earliest Grabber I have a record of with a black headstock was a 6 digit, most likely 1975
The latest Grabber I have a record of with a natural headstock was an 8 digit, very early 1978

So in summary, IMHO Grabbers didn't change much, and with the exception of different finish options in the early eighties, but to be proven wrong would make my day!

I wonder whether another tbird pickup could be made to fit in that space.

The pickups wouldn't be evenly spaced, but it would look a little better.

Shame on whoever did it, and shame on GC for not mentioning it, yet still asking $1800.

But then, this has "a scale length longer than any fender", so perhaps it's worth $1800 after all?

IMHO that clip is probably the very best thing on youtube

Heres a couple double necks listed as a 1965 and 1966 fuzztone






I saved these pics from ebay (I think), and know no more about them. Cant recall prices or whether they even sold.

There were only 3 made in '67 (only 24 in total).

The ones i'd really like to see are the two made in the late seventies - there was one made in 1977 and another in '78.

Whilst I have not given this any more than a cursory look, it seems legit to me. I have saved pics of another from '65 with the same finish from a few years back.

I remember both of these basses from previous posts... both very nice looking (and I bet sounding) basses

so if not 60s Gibson pickups, what's under the covers? Does it sound more EB or more TB?

I still have my empty greatdealz pickup cases just waiting for a project like this... but whether i'd have them closer to the bridge like the red one, or closer to the neck like yours...