Funny Picture of Gene Simmons with his Grabber.

[Blazer]

Apparently, his Grabbers were good enough to eat. 

[uwe]

Without a Gibson truss rod wrench at hand, some people can get quite desperate!

Either that or maple syrup - is that kosher? - addiction can be a lifelong affliction. 

[Denis]

Gee, that Grabber can't be all that heavy...

[EvilLordJuju]

I've got a picture of him eating a Les Paul Triumph somewhere too - just like beer, olives, and some of the other best things in life, Gibson basses are an aquired taste

[Hornisse]

Without a Gibson truss rod wrench at hand, some people can get quite desperate!

But Uwe, that is the original Grabber with the rare one piece maple neck and skunk stripe on back.(note the straight as an arrow headstock)  He would just need a phillips screwdriver as on a F*ender bass!

[uwe]

Ouch, you just downed like you did with those lumbering, night raiding Lancasters in the bad old days. Unforgiveable!!!

[Basvarken]

it's for sale...

[Hornisse]

Hmmm, no one piece maple neck on that one.  I only recall Gene having a black one and a burgundy one and both were one piece neck basses.  It may have had the neck replaced?  I guess Mendoza was not an original member of Twisted Sister then?  I have a 1973 issue of Rock Scene magazine that has a "up and coming bands" section on the back pages of all of their magazines.  The issue I have has both Kiss and Twisted Sister as "up and coming bands." 

The seller forgot to put this photo up on his auction. 



The body may be legit.  Not sure about the neck though.

[Highlander]

Mendoza was in the Dictators in '75 (partly associated with Blue Oyster Cult through some link or other, I think it was Sandy Pearlman) and with Twisted Sister post that point...

Looks a wreck...

No bids... I'm not surprised...

[Hornisse]

I was just listening to Agents Of Fortune the other day too!

[gearHed289]

His black one had a skunk stripe on the neck, didn't it?

[uwe]

What a great band The Dictators were. And while Twisted Sister were always good fun and Dee Snider is a loveable motormouth, their music had none of the street cool and general New York'ness of The Dictators. Still, Mendoza (not to be mistaken with the Nugent/Whitesnake guy) could have had a much worse fate and gone on like Ross the Boss to the loincloth wops of Il Manowarro, si!

And yes, Sandy Pearlman was the connecting factor between BÖC and The Dictators. He tried to turn them into BÖC II when the punk thing hit America which was strangely anticyclical (and failed). What he should have done is sell them as thinking man's Ramones. At the end of the day, The Dictators were too punk to be heavy and too heavy to be punk though they considerably roughened up their sound after the Pearlman produced Manifest Destiny (a great album in my book) for the follow-up Bloodbrothers.

If you search for "The Dictators Search and Destroy" on youtube you get a nice clip of Mendoza playing his Grabber.

[Highlander]

Gotta agree, Uwe... they produced some great stuff but not got any at present on CD...

Anyone for another BOC link... Pavlov's Dog... 

[Freuds_Cat]

I was just listening to Agents Of Fortune the other day too!

Me too, its been in my car for the last 2 weeks

[SKATE RAT]

in the late 90's or so my old band used to practice in the room next door to the Dictators.