Another Ripper! And some more advice needed, please.

PhilT · May 01, 2011, 07:46:53 AM

It's all back together. I'm pleased with how it turned out, given I wasn't going for an "as new" refin, but trying to get to how it might have looked if someone had taken reasonable care of it and not sprayed black over the body, pickguard and pickups. The pickguard, varitone plate and trc are new, everything else is as I got it.

Since I took the pics I put GHS steel precision flats on and they suit it really well. Neck is amazing. Haven't had it in a band setting yet, but subject to that test, I love it.

Its interesting, for me at least, having stock pickups. The black 78 I've got, with the Kent Armstrong rebuild at the neck, sounds very different. Solo'd that KA sounds more like a mudbucker. It's useful, being able to swap from Cream to Nirvana with a twist of the chicken head. Don't think I'll get that from this one though.

dadagoboi · May 01, 2011, 08:09:25 AM

FANTASTIC!! Great job, makes me want one (never thought I'd say that).

Nocturnal · May 01, 2011, 10:27:43 AM

You did a great job on that!! It looks fantastic!!

Highlander · May 01, 2011, 01:00:53 PM

Nice work...

Lightyear · May 01, 2011, 05:57:53 PM

Great job! Looks very clean but lovingly used - fantastic save!

Hornisse · May 01, 2011, 05:59:51 PM

Looks great! I love those early "fat bottomed" Ripper basses.

uwe · May 02, 2011, 03:42:30 AM

Sehr hübsch geworden!

Chris P. · May 02, 2011, 06:33:44 AM

Very nice! Natural and tort is always pretty!

Barklessdog · May 02, 2011, 08:04:58 AM

Great job & I love the tort guard,

uwe · May 02, 2011, 09:05:45 AM

Like mine!!!

PhilT · May 02, 2011, 01:37:05 PM

Thanks for the support, glad you all like it. It's been an interesting project, especially as I was expecting to find a maple body like Uwe's. Nice Grabber there too, I just need to convince myself I don't need one of those.

I took a risk with the pickguard and bought it unseen from AI Guitars on ebay. Screw holes all line up perfectly, but - there'd have to be a but with a Ripper PG - the tone knobs should be closer to the jack. So a bit of rewiring was required, but it's not a big deal. The red tort looks great. They also made the trc.

I emailed Kent Armstrong to see if they have any records of the bridge pickup on the 78. Got a reply straight back from Kent - his son made it, should find out more soon.

uwe · May 02, 2011, 02:02:55 PM

It's nice that these basses have found some reappreciation after they were the epitome of uncool in the eighties. Thank you, Herr Novoselic! Even Gibson picked up on that and has meanwhile reinstated both Grabber II (now more of a single pup Ripper) and Ripper II as regular models. Those basses were never really pretty or elegant, but they at least had a look of their own.

PhilT · May 05, 2011, 06:03:09 AM

So when did the 80s become a benchmark of cool? I missed that.

Nothing has ever felt quite so right as these Rippers. Don't know why that is, something about me I guess.

uwe · May 05, 2011, 07:49:07 AM

I agree that one issue that often comes up with Gibson basses - ergonomics (and the critics aren't wrong, the explanation being that many Gibson bass bodies are guitar bodies with too long a neck) - has been eradicated with the Ripper. Heavy as they are, these basses balance well and "hang stably".

I never thought them pretty or desirable though, but these days they give testimony of another time and they look like no other bass, this here maybe excepted, but Gibson was first!!!

Guitarists always call my Rippers "those Music Mans", of course the faintly similar pick guard is the culprit.

PhilT · May 29, 2011, 04:24:38 PM

Gigged with it on Friday. Very comfortable with the lighter body and the neck is a joy.

I made myself a wiring diagram in case anything came adrift while I was working on it. Just wondered, what would I have to change to get the neck pickup solo, say in position 4? Anyone know?

Another Ripper! And some more advice needed, please.

Hornisse