evilLordJuju

A mate of mine is putting on a charity gig in aid of the sendai earthquake fund. It is at the Marshall factory in Bletchley, Milton Keynes (they have a theatre on site) It features three bands - Martin Turners Wishbone Ash, Stray and Motherlode - all classic rock kind of acts with some great bassplayers. Plus it is at Marshalls... which is a great place to see. There is an auction too - a Marshall amp, etc, but the best thing is a chance to roadie for Uriah Heep on a European gig!!! there are loads more items not listed on the site. Anyway, the date is Sunday 22nd May, tickets are £20 each, and it looks to be a great night. the website is here [url="http://www.soundsforsendai.co.uk/"]http://www.soundsforsendai.co.uk/[/url] Please publicise this event as much as possible - feel free to copy and paste this message far and wide - whatever other guitar forums you frequent. The Japanese are still in a bad way, plus it promises to be a great gig Jules

[quote name='Zydian' post='1215000' date='Apr 29 2011, 03:11 PM']Well I actually have a question about my Gibson Grabber, I think it's a wine red one[/quote] Yep, that's wine red alright

Although I have never bought from this GibsonBassStore, Idris (the owner) advertises on my sites, and has done for a while now. I would vouch for him. He is a genuine dealer with (as far as I have seen from the photos) legitimate stock. He has bought one bass from me, and all dealings I have had with him have been positive. I would happily buy from him. BUT, as with all vintage guitar deals, you need to do a bit of homework - even the best dealers can make mistakes! I am always happy to advise on vintage Gibson basses if you want a second opinion - from Gibson bass store or anywhere else for that matter (not that I or anyone is infalible)

[quote]The serial number in question is as follow: 80645481 According to an online checker, that serial number indicates that it belongs to a guitar made at the Kalamazoo Plant on March 5th, 1985.[/quote] That serial number definately seems wrong. yes, it dates it to kalamazoo, 1985, but the kalamazoo factory stopped producing Gibsons in late 1984. According to Gibson, they kept the same numbering system until 1989. So theoretically that serial number should not exist. Of course Gibson are known for their exceptions; and there is misinformation in the serial number info out there, but I would also be asking very big questions if I had bought this guitar.

RD Artists are probably the most desirable Gibson bass at the moment - excluding the rarer collectable stuff that you don't play out, and prices have gone up more for this model than any other in recent years. The fact is, they are great players and people like them. Because of the moog electronics, it will never be practical to do a reissue or copy, so there are not going to be any more. If you don't need to sell, this is one bass worth keeping as an investment (IMHO). If you are to sell, I would try and get at least £1000. It could go higher, but even without the flaws you mentioned £1500 is a bit more than usual. Fine for a shop, but too high for ebay or a private sale. I certainly wouldn't take less than a grand though, but you may have to wait a few weeks to find a buyer at that price.

You can hear a long interview with him, and the same band he's touring with in session for the BBC on iplayer just now [url="http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00zh7hs/Paul_Jones_21_03_2011/"]http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00zh...nes_21_03_2011/[/url] On the Paul Jones show - probably won't be up for long, so have a listen

Most of my basses I associate with a number of players, and no one person really made me buy it. I did, however buy a Harmony H22 and a Harmony H27 for the Ronnie Lane vibe. Sold them both later - really wish i'd kept that H22 though. Will get another one day. Oh, and I suppose Hendrix made me buy a Hagstrom H8 (eight string bass)

I saw them (Jack Bruce and Ronnie Scotts Blues experience) at the Stables in Milton Keynes last night. Great gig. Nice to be 20 foot away and see what his fingers are doing (unlike Cream reunion in 2005 where I could barely see anything). The Stables is a great venue with great sound - so I was surprised that his bass sound was a bit undefined - despite the fact that his amp was eq'd like a steep hill - lots of midrange, low bass and treble. He was playing his Warwick through a Hartke rig. The band was guitar, keys, drums, trombone, trumpet and sax - all young (compared to him) guys with a jazzy, sometimes funky feel. Great band in their own right. Anyway, he played some blues standards - can't remember them all: born under a bad sign, neighbour neighbour, spoonful, plus a few of his classics White room, Sunshine of your love (which probably owed as much to Spanky Wilsons funk version as the Cream original) and a BEAUTIFUL version of We're going wrong - the drummer played it with beaters (?) rather than sticks - so atmospheric. Not one of my favourite Cream songs, but they actually out creamed cream on that one track. Definately the highlight of my night. Great gig, and a good chance to see fantastic musicianship (from the whole band) up close. I paid £31 including booking fees, but it was well worth it. If you get the chance, go

The only thing I didn't like about the slidy grabber pickup was the range of possible slide. Some other basses (Dan Armstrong London bass for example) seemed to have much more slide range - and therefore more tonal possibility. If I was re-making a Grabber i'd consider increasing the distance it could go. But that is the advantage of rails over the gibson plastic plate idea. I'm sure rails have their own problems though. Interesting project, best of luck!

It depends on what you want. Block inlays instead of dots? A different colour? Stereo wiring? Things like that should be no real problem. Much beyond that and they will probably just say they can't do it. What did you ask them for?

There is something to be said for a good set-up with your favourite strings. And this is where Gibsons can get a bad rep - not that they can't be set up, but a lot of shops/owners struggle to get their heads around the Gibson bridges. I think a lot of Gibson basses for sale could really benefit from a tech that knows what they are doing. Maybe this is why everyone seems to love Grabbers and G3s - the Fender style bridge on those two models is a little easier to work with.

I recorded a few basslines at Space Eko in Fulham the other day... We recorded 4 songs - I wanted snarl on a couple songs, and fat Gibson mellow on a couple more. Here's my rig for the session - A [url="http://www.vintageguitars.org.uk/voxClubmanBass.php"]1965 Vox Clubman bass[/url] for the punky snarl and a [url="http://www.flyguitars.com/gibson/bass/1969walnutLesPaulBass.php"]1969 Gibson Les Paul bass[/url] - with my '64 Ampeg B-15 nice studio - friendly vibe. I haven't heard the finished results yet, but so far i'd recommend the studio, especially for retro styled stuff.

Yes, a very nice bass. The cherry finish seems to be holding up well. Is this new to you, or something you've had for ages? And which amp do you chose live for those Free sounds? Do you get it to break up nicely with the trace elliot? I tend to play my Gibson EB3s through a Marshall JMP - great overdriven Andy fraser tone when I need it - although it doesn't suit every band I play with. For some smaller gigs I was using a trace elliot combo, but it never quite sounded how I wanted it do.

[quote name='Shaggy' post='1133129' date='Feb 19 2011, 10:10 AM']The "winged note / flying shrimp" logo-ed RD Artist headstock probably the classisest headstock ever IMO.[/quote] Apparently there were two versions - the lightning bolt through the middle signifies that it was an active instrument (for the RD Artist). There was also a flying f-hole (an f-hole with wings) but no lightning. That was for passive instruments. Chuck designed both, but the passive version never got used. But you never know, there may be an early RD Standard with this other version - Chuck made all the show models that were taken to NAMM etc in '77... would be interesting to see one of those if it ever came up

That's the most i've seen one go for. My Artist was $350 - no case - about 4 years back. I knew that was cheap then though, so I jumped on it. My Custom was $700 with case - and I considered that i'd overpaid at the time - also about 4 years ago.

The 60s Gibsons had a veneer made of wood - holly in fact - painted black. By the late seventies (certainly for the RD series) it was a black resin - I can probably find the exact name they were calling it - but can't remember off hand. I interviewed the guy who designed the RD series (including the flying f-hole inlay) - the late Chuck Burge - and he told me all about it. I'll try and get that interview transcribed at some point. I can not tell you the exact date they changed, but they were still using holly in 1972 or so.

I shouldn't think this will go too much higher. Victorys haven't quite got the vintage appeal of other Gibsons (yet - they are getting there slowly) and they get listed fairly often. This might go higher due to nice condition/case/colour - candy apple reds don't seem to be the most common colour - but i'd be inclined to wait for the next one if it goes too far.

Its almost an EB2 - actually an Epiphone Rivoli (still made by Gibson at their Kalamazoo plant, but with different headstock shape and inlay). I know i'm pedantic... sorry

well, highest offer gets it. A lot of people sell like this - put a too high price up and wait for offers. Quite a good way of selling if you don't really know what somethings worth. I think £650-£700 or so would be a fair ebay price for this. maybe a couple hundred more if it was in a shop

[b]So which setting is sounding ok?[/b] The only thing I would change if I was designing the Ripper would be to have an extra varitone setting for neck pickup only - it isn't that easy to test the necks sound in a Ripper with standard wiring. The stock positions are for both pickups, except pos 2 which is bridge only. Could you neck pickup be giving a low output? Could it be that the neck and bridge are not well matched for each other? This is a bit tricky to test really, when you can't isolate the neck pup....

Some real lazy, pointless, and cliched replies here. [quote name='JTUK' post='1110490' date='Feb 1 2011, 12:28 AM']I agree that the Ripper is a one trick pony and you better like that sound. Like most Gibson basses, actually, IMV.[/quote] I just don't know why people say things like this. Gibson have made so many basses using different woods, pickups and construction techniques. Some have few sounds, some have very very many. My Rippers sound great - I do use mostly old amps, but sometimes modern ones. Is your Ripper working ok? The out of phase sound will require an even output from both pickups. If one is set too high or low, these positions won't give the sound it is supposed to. See the control descriptions here [url="http://www.flyguitars.com/gibson/bass/Ripper_controls.php"]Gibson Ripper controls[/url]. You might be able to work out the problem by working out which position is the one that sounds ok. Try playing with your set up maybe? Even doing this some settings may be less useful than others, but probably not to the extent you describe. Also Ripper pickups have VERY fiddly wire connections inside, and do damage easily. If a set up doesn't help, maybe measure their resistances. Are both pups giving a good output?

[quote name='hillbilly deluxe' post='1109877' date='Jan 31 2011, 07:12 PM']Cool,im a big fan.Off to find decent pics of his Jazz.[/quote] Yes, I had trouble... he seems to stand at the back a lot more earlier on