New 2009 Grabber II and, yes, even the Ripper!

[Barklessdog]

Still, it's a reissue of a lower line bass priced as a premium bass.

That is the part that is ironic to me. They re-issue the Ripper as a budget Epi which was the top of the line Gibson in the G-3 series, then re-issue the budget entry level Grabber at the top of the line bracket Gibson?

Who is making these decisions?

[TBird1958]

"Who is making these decisions?

What, didn't you see my post about the "Holy Explorer" ?

[Dave W]

Who is making these decisions?

I've found an exclusive video of Gibson's executive decision making team when they first arrived on our planet.

[uwe]

Comparing it to an original Grabber isn't really apt. This Grabber II is obviously not a budget model, it just emulates the look of one. They might as well have called it Ripper, but I guess the sliding pickup was regarded as the determining characteristic and gimmicky sales angle hence the Grabber name. And it is true that outside Gibon nerd circles the Ripper/Grabber/G-3 family is collectively remebered as "those wide basses with a pick-up you could move, heavy as a log and going by the name of Grabber or Ripper".

Would a limited edition Stingray be much cheaper? The Stingray has more lavish electronics, true, but also a cheaper/easier to make bolt-on neck construction.

[doombass]

Priced just about the same as the now deleted Les Paul Standard Bass even though they use cheaper woods/bridge and less electronics I suppose that the Limited Edition factor justifies the same pricing. I'd say 1749$ is an expected Gibson pricing.

[Barklessdog]

I've found an exclusive video of Gibson's executive decision making team when they first arrived on our planet.

I actually own that movie!

I think the really sad part is that they did not even try to make the concept better, but instead just put together a faximily of the Grabber with off the shelf parts. They could have actually made the pickup slide in a useful range (a double telescoping slide would have given more travel. Or have a new take on the varitone or a Warwick Bridge

[uwe]

I don't think this is an earnest attempt to reintroduce the Grabber/Ripper/G-3 line. Just like the 2007 GoW RD guitar wasn't an attempt to reintroduce the RD. They are just nods to the past. And Gibson probably quite rightly believes that due to the novelty factor there is a better chance of selling 350 Grabber IIs to a select market for a limited time in addition to their current sales of TBs and SG basses than raising sales of TBs and SGs. It's a way to keep up the utilisation in Nashville, keep the product line interesting and make a few extra sales.

[Dave W]

Would a limited edition Stingray be much cheaper? The Stingray has more lavish electronics, true, but also a cheaper/easier to make bolt-on neck construction.

The 30th anniversary 'Ray had a list of $2500 and a street price of around $1750, so I guess that's a fair comparison. Still, that StingRay was a deluxe bass, not a cynical attempt to cash in on an older economy model. And we needn't even talk about fit and finish differences between MM and Gibson.

[Barklessdog]

Could be they had a shelf of LP pickups to unload.

[godofthunder]

Could be they had a shelf of LP pickups to unload.

Pretty much what I was thinking !

[Andrew]

Sorry if I missed it's mention, but has anyone also seen the new Gibson Ripper? Details on it?

[Basvarken]

Ripper? Where?

[uwe]

The Ripper question makes me wonder as together with the BFG bass pic dealt with in another thread here, my guitar shop sent me a pic of another supposedly "new" Gibson bass which looked just like an old, but well-kept Ripper to me, so I immediately discarded that it would interest anyone here ... But now I'm starting to think whether the fact that it had a blond body with an ebony or rosewood neck was not down to a refin (non-maple boards with a blonde body weren't available unless you asked for it in the seventies) but with it being a new model after all. I'll dig out the pic and post it here. But if it is indeed something new then they would have matched the look of the old Ripper pups pretty well (with once again TB Plus lurking underneath). It would strike me as folly to bring out an upgraded Grabber and a new Ripper out at the same time - talk about cannibalizing sales - but with Gibson you never know. Stay tuned ...

[Andrew]

Sorry, I figured it would've been old news here by now. I was looking at a 2009 price list from Gibson that a guy I know who works for the Canuk distributor of Gibson had. It listed a Ripper bass for $300 more than the new Grabber (I think it was around $2300). Maybe it won't actualize, but it seems or at least seemed to be in the works at some point.

[Barklessdog]

This would be the first anyone has heard this. Wow, maybe just two LP pups?