More Ripper prototypes

[Basvarken]

A while ago this dark fretless Ripper prototype popped up on Ebay.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-GIBSON-Bass-Long-Neck-With-Original-Case-Age-Unknown/322809273538?ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&_trksid=p2055119.m1438.l2649


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It looks a lot like the one that Uwe has in Ze Kollekshon (featured in The Gibson Bass Book)


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Last week I got an email from a guy who told me he has a prototype from 1973 too.
It has the same burst as the Mark Evans Ripper that was sold the other day.
He is thinking about selling it. But he's not sure about the price.


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And that gentleman that sent me the email also told me there is one more Ripper prototype at Dave's Guitar in Wisconsin
Which looks really nice. He tells me they are asking $10.000 for this bass. Which is too much if you ask me.

http://davesguitar.com/dgs_collection/prototype-bass-mid-70s/



So that makes four Ripper prototypes of this type.
Who would have thought!

[clankenstein]

I imagine that if you can switch those two pickups in series it's terrifying!

[doombass]

Now there's so many afloat that I'm beginning to think they were actually the first serial produced model, though extremely shortlived even by Gibsons standards.  Anyone know if these have regular serial nr's or are they in any way marked as being prototypes?

[Basvarken]

Here's a pic of the back of the headstock on the bass from the gentleman that emailed me

[Chris P.]

Close to April 1st

But really: I think the same. The control lay-out look so the same it more looks like a small series than prototypes. Maybe made for some artists? I dunno. Would be nice to find out.

[doombass]

Close to April 1st
Maybe made for some artists? I dunno

I was thinking the same. Maybe a testrun handed out to various artists or otherwise suitable people.

[Grog]

When I was at Dave's in La Crosse a month ago, I checked that prototype out. In his huge collection, he only has a handful of Gibson Basses. Mostly vintage Thunderbirds. He does have an original EB(1) with an early humbucker. It must have been one of the last ones shipped.

[Chris P.]

And what was your opinion about the prototype?

[uwe]

It was never a one-off, they built a whole bunch of them - they were the earliest Rippers, but the shape was discarded due to weight considerations - the later shape featured a huge pg that allowed for excessive routing to combat weight.

The guy who sold me mine had connections to Gibson and told me that inter alia Greg Lake made a visit to the plant when they had a dozen or so of these around in '72/'73 - different woods (there were maho ones too) and pup configurations. Jack Bruce was involved in the early designs too, but jumped ship when he didn't like where it was going.

There is not much of a dif in tonality to an early regular Ripper. Lurking underneath these mudbucker casings are the same sidewinders that were later under plastic.

The Rippers were for Gibson standards at least a moderate success, but I doubt that this would have been achieved with the early single cut shape. Both weight- and size-wise, those were ungainly for anybody but the very tallest players (with well-developed shoulder muscles!).

PS: The bridge on mine is not the original three point which made a sensible action impossible, so I put a Blackbird three-point on it (my Blackbird has a Supertone bridge) which went quite a bit lower. The plastic saddles, however, were featured on the original as well.

[planetgaffnet]

I understand from a legacy perspective that these hold some interest, but man alive, that body-shape is a bit of a dog.

[Dave W]

At what production volume does a prototype stop being a prototype? IMHO these have to be considered at least a short run. Odd how we never heard of these until a few years ago, or at least I hadn't.

[Grog]

And what was your opinion about the prototype?

I was only able to look at it, his collection is just for viewing as far as I know.................

[clankenstein]

Well how about that , Ripper pickups under mudbucker covers . Routed for ripper size pups then?

[doombass]

At what production volume does a prototype stop being a prototype? IMHO these have to be considered at least a short run. Odd how we never heard of these until a few years ago, or at least I hadn't.

My first memory of these was a natural one and that must have been during the Dudepit era, possibly around 2005-2006. It was'nt on Ebay or any other auction/sales site but must rather have been just two or three pics someone found at random coincidence. I remember it caused some confusion, because everything looked like it could be a legit prototype using the lovely early promo pic as reference, but the body shape was so off and could never simply be a modification. You'd have to add wood to the lower horn and there was no visible seam or grain/nuance difference.

[clankenstein]

Well it looks a little more like its cousin the l6s guitar. Still weird though.