umcoo Posted March 12, 2013 Share Posted March 12, 2013 Hi all, I picked this up yesterday from Parcelforce and finally got to spend a bit of time with it this afternoon. As you can see, it's a 70's Gibson G-3. I bought it saying it was a '1974' but I think they weren't in production just then. Pot codes date it to 1976, so I'll go with that. I got it off fleabay, saying it had been left in a cupboard for years, no bridge, no strings, wiring all shot, so I was never expecting a closet classic. Saying that, it is in better condition than I thought it would be.. always nice! The neck has really seen some action with the tuners covered in gunk/mold/crap from many years. Despite looking pretty bad, they still turn smoothly, so a good clean should help. The neck is lovely and worn in, but with a few chips out the fingerboard. Frets will need a good clean to assess them, they may need replacing. No nut on it currently, so I'll need a pro to sort that for me. I haven't tried the truss yet as I don't have the right Gibson tool for it, but neck seems pretty straight with a very slight back bow which will hopefully change under tension. Body is in good condition, although I suspect it's been refinished at some point. The paint job is good for its age, with only a few chips and nicks in the finish, but the pick-guard screw holes and one of the strap button holes are filled and painted - hence me thinking refinish. I'm not too fussed though, I love the look of these basses when they're beat up! Pickups were stuck hard onto the pick-guard thanks to the rusted screws, but I've got them off now. They're pretty filthy (my girlfriend called them disgusting) but nothing a good scrub won't cure. Pickguard was well cracked with cut wires between pickups. One of the pots wouldn't even budge but I managed to salvage the knobs. Everything else is being thrown out - sacrilege maybe, but it really is good for nobody! So I'm not wanting to spend a huge amount on bringing her back to life. I can get a replacement pick-guard from the states and pots etc are cheap enough. Biggest expense will probably be a new bridge as I'm looking at a Hipshot A style. Seems a few folks have replaced Grabber bridges with these with good results. So there we go...oh I should have mentioned. I have zero cash at the moment thanks to this, a car service and a new roof last year, so don't expect daily updates. Probably won't start buying things for it for a few months, but it'll be nice to keep coming back to it every few months. Wish me luck! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yepmop Posted March 12, 2013 Share Posted March 12, 2013 Good Luck, you've got your work cut out there, but in the end you'll have a cracker. Body seems in quite good condition considering the rest of it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Truckstop Posted March 12, 2013 Share Posted March 12, 2013 Very cool! Truckstop Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tommorichards Posted March 12, 2013 Share Posted March 12, 2013 Ah, so you bought it. I was tempted to bid myself, but thought better of it at the last minute. Good stuff. Were you planning on keeping the pickguard? If not, could i get it as i bought some G3 pickups and would love to make a template and another one from it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
umcoo Posted March 12, 2013 Author Share Posted March 12, 2013 Tommo - yeah, I think I may have paid slightly over the odds for it. There may have been alcohol involved in the bidding though.... You're welcome to the pickguard, but as you can see it's pretty shot. There's a pickguard template on the flyguitars website, but if you really want it, let me know! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tommorichards Posted March 13, 2013 Share Posted March 13, 2013 yeah dude. To be honest, its mainly for the pickup spacing. Ive had a look at the pickguard, but i prefer things in front of me that arent printed dodgily Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
evilLordJuju Posted March 13, 2013 Share Posted March 13, 2013 Looks like you don't need too much more. Stock bridges do come up - I scored one for $40 about 6 weeks ago. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
umcoo Posted March 13, 2013 Author Share Posted March 13, 2013 Juju - that's pretty good. There's been a G-3 parted out on ebay this past week, but the pickguard was about £100 and the bridge was around £85 - that's before shipping and customs. Tommo - PM me your address and I'll get the guard out. Might be next week though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big_Stu Posted March 13, 2013 Share Posted March 13, 2013 [quote name='evilLordJuju' timestamp='1363202384' post='2009795'] I run two guitar websites; flyguitars.com - all about Gibson basses and vintageguitarandbass.com about everything else [/quote] Didn't know Vintage Guitar & Bass was yours! Great job! It's an an excellent site...........with a fair few plugs for Slade! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarkG3 Posted March 14, 2013 Share Posted March 14, 2013 I'm really interested to see how this goes, I've always loved the G3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
evilLordJuju Posted March 14, 2013 Share Posted March 14, 2013 [quote name='umcoo' timestamp='1363204296' post='2009832'] Juju - that's pretty good. There's been a G-3 parted out on ebay this past week, but the pickguard was about £100 and the bridge was around £85 - that's before shipping and customs. [/quote] you've got to get up pretty early in the morning to get to the Gibson bass parts bargains before I do... or stay up all night. [quote]Didn't know Vintage Guitar & Bass was yours! Great job! It's an an excellent site...........with a fair few plugs for Slade![/quote] why thanks... Yep Jim Lea certainly knew how to play a bass! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big_Stu Posted March 15, 2013 Share Posted March 15, 2013 [quote name='OBT1000_S12' timestamp='1363289201' post='2011190'] I'm really interested to see how this goes[/quote] Sorry, should have said this earlier in the topic. The Grabber/Ripper style is maybe the only Gibson I've never had my dabs on, so yeah - keen interest here. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
umcoo Posted November 13, 2013 Author Share Posted November 13, 2013 Thought I'd update this as things are not starting to take shape. Dropped the bass off in Manchester for the restoration a while back. We've had to go with a new fretboard as the old one was pretty much shot, so it'll have a new board and new frets. Spoke to the tech last week and we're going to get the old lacquer off the neck and start from scratch with a bit of a vintage tint, but nothing too orange! All the pickups were getting their correct readings when we tested them, so should be good to go with those and I've decided on a Badass II for the bridge. Looking forward to getting it back and giving it a thrashing Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
umcoo Posted December 3, 2013 Author Share Posted December 3, 2013 So...picking this up on Saturday [URL=http://smg.photobucket.com/user/goat_punisher/media/DSC04069_zps8e973bf5.jpg.html][IMG]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v292/goat_punisher/DSC04069_zps8e973bf5.jpg[/IMG][/URL] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
umcoo Posted December 3, 2013 Author Share Posted December 3, 2013 [URL=http://smg.photobucket.com/user/goat_punisher/media/DSC03601_zps11151058.jpg.html][IMG]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v292/goat_punisher/DSC03601_zps11151058.jpg[/IMG][/URL] [URL=http://smg.photobucket.com/user/goat_punisher/media/DSC03605_zps845a0c3d.jpg.html][IMG]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v292/goat_punisher/DSC03605_zps845a0c3d.jpg[/IMG][/URL] [URL=http://smg.photobucket.com/user/goat_punisher/media/DSC03607_zpsa377cba7.jpg.html][IMG]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v292/goat_punisher/DSC03607_zpsa377cba7.jpg[/IMG][/URL] [URL=http://smg.photobucket.com/user/goat_punisher/media/DSC03619_zps4a9fd9bc.jpg.html][IMG]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v292/goat_punisher/DSC03619_zps4a9fd9bc.jpg[/IMG][/URL] [URL=http://smg.photobucket.com/user/goat_punisher/media/DSC04014_zps0800337c.jpg.html][IMG]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v292/goat_punisher/DSC04014_zps0800337c.jpg[/IMG][/URL] [URL=http://smg.photobucket.com/user/goat_punisher/media/DSC04019_zps5aec53d3.jpg.html][IMG]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v292/goat_punisher/DSC04019_zps5aec53d3.jpg[/IMG][/URL] [URL=http://smg.photobucket.com/user/goat_punisher/media/DSC04026_zps9ce88c69.jpg.html][IMG]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v292/goat_punisher/DSC04026_zps9ce88c69.jpg[/IMG][/URL] [URL=http://smg.photobucket.com/user/goat_punisher/media/DSC04027_zps4889adb9.jpg.html][IMG]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v292/goat_punisher/DSC04027_zps4889adb9.jpg[/IMG][/URL] [URL=http://smg.photobucket.com/user/goat_punisher/media/DSC04032_zpsa9b32540.jpg.html][IMG]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v292/goat_punisher/DSC04032_zpsa9b32540.jpg[/IMG][/URL] [URL=http://smg.photobucket.com/user/goat_punisher/media/DSC04042_zps6e67680f.jpg.html][IMG]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v292/goat_punisher/DSC04042_zps6e67680f.jpg[/IMG][/URL] [URL=http://smg.photobucket.com/user/goat_punisher/media/DSC04044_zps9f12795d.jpg.html][IMG]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v292/goat_punisher/DSC04044_zps9f12795d.jpg[/IMG][/URL] [URL=http://smg.photobucket.com/user/goat_punisher/media/DSC04047_zps12dee195.jpg.html][IMG]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v292/goat_punisher/DSC04047_zps12dee195.jpg[/IMG][/URL] [URL=http://smg.photobucket.com/user/goat_punisher/media/DSC04049_zps1a6d323b.jpg.html][IMG]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v292/goat_punisher/DSC04049_zps1a6d323b.jpg[/IMG][/URL] [URL=http://smg.photobucket.com/user/goat_punisher/media/DSC04052_zps9eb998af.jpg.html][IMG]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v292/goat_punisher/DSC04052_zps9eb998af.jpg[/IMG][/URL] [URL=http://smg.photobucket.com/user/goat_punisher/media/DSC04055_zpse97fc719.jpg.html][IMG]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v292/goat_punisher/DSC04055_zpse97fc719.jpg[/IMG][/URL] [URL=http://smg.photobucket.com/user/goat_punisher/media/DSC04056_zpsf54a5a4b.jpg.html][IMG]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v292/goat_punisher/DSC04056_zpsf54a5a4b.jpg[/IMG][/URL] [URL=http://smg.photobucket.com/user/goat_punisher/media/DSC04062_zpsebb485b3.jpg.html][IMG]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v292/goat_punisher/DSC04062_zpsebb485b3.jpg[/IMG][/URL] [URL=http://smg.photobucket.com/user/goat_punisher/media/DSC04065_zps2f54dfc4.jpg.html][IMG]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v292/goat_punisher/DSC04065_zps2f54dfc4.jpg[/IMG][/URL] [URL=http://smg.photobucket.com/user/goat_punisher/media/DSC04071_zps64debe33.jpg.html][IMG]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v292/goat_punisher/DSC04071_zps64debe33.jpg[/IMG][/URL] [URL=http://smg.photobucket.com/user/goat_punisher/media/DSC04072_zps7e6daa7c.jpg.html][IMG]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v292/goat_punisher/DSC04072_zps7e6daa7c.jpg[/IMG][/URL] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
umcoo Posted December 3, 2013 Author Share Posted December 3, 2013 Picture overload Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skej21 Posted December 3, 2013 Share Posted December 3, 2013 Whooooooaaaaaaaa! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marcus bell Posted December 4, 2013 Share Posted December 4, 2013 Looks great! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
umcoo Posted December 4, 2013 Author Share Posted December 4, 2013 Cheers all, can't wait to get it! The work was done by Jack at Jack's Instrument Services in Manchester in case anyone was wondering. Top notch work and great fella to work with too - highly recommended! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jorgecl79 Posted July 13, 2015 Share Posted July 13, 2015 beautiful! want it Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarkG3 Posted July 13, 2015 Share Posted July 13, 2015 😍 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neepheid Posted July 16, 2015 Share Posted July 16, 2015 Nice rescue, looking good. I sometimes miss my G-3. It maybe doesn't bug you, but the (suspected) hand painted Gibson logo bugs the heck out of me. I managed to get a gold waterslide Gibson logo done by a certain well known provider of comedy Fender decals for my Ripper rescue (although my hand was forced as the original one had been scrubbed off completely). So maybe something for the future - if it bugs you, of course. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
.jpg.7e18f76540598a8efc0e6ca9be453059.jpg)
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.