Gibson grabber copies

[javi_bassist]

Hello guys! I looked for a similar topic but I dodn't find anything. 

I've always liked the Gibson Graber (why no reissue??). In any colour actually. And the moving pickup. It has something. Of course, I'd love to have one and I will eventually (I hope). However, in the meantime, I've seen some brands which make good copies and some brands that made more budget friendly copies. I'm looking for some info about good copies. One of those popped up in my area but when I wrote the seller, it was already gone. I don't remember the brand. Do you guys know some good Gibson Grabber copies?

[Grahambythesea]

Epiphone issued one for a while, never played one so won’t comment further. I’ve also seen one by Maya . I believe these are generally considered boat anchors 🤪 Hope you’ve got a good strong back!

[Bassassin]

70s Japanese copies were sold with various brands - Maya, as mentioned by @Grahambythesea Avon (which I had 10+ years ago) and various other names. These all seem to be rebrands of the same bass, thought to have been made by Chushin Gakki, and were very accurate copies. A bit hefty, certainly, but well-made & a good player. If I recall the neck profile was P width but quite shallow, pretty high output & a reasonable range of tonal variation moving the pickup.

Quite hard to find, like a lot of old MIJ stuff now, wish I'd kept mine! Some better pics of a nice one in this old TB thread:

https://www.talkbass.com/threads/70s-gibson-grabber-copy-incredible-orig-cond-sliding-pickup-maple-neck-orig-hsc.1164324/

There was also an Italian-made copy, made bt Melody, these turn up very infrequently & as far as I can tell were good & pretty accurate. Never seen one in the flesh, but some decent pics here:

http://guitarz.blogspot.com/2018/06/gibson-grabber-bass-copy-by-melody.html

The recent Epi version is probably easier to find than either of these, but (someone correct me if I'm wrong here) not a true Grabber as it didn't have the sliding pickup, iirc it had a standard split P unit.

[TheGreek]

There was an Epi on Gumtree a few months ago. Knowing that @Truckstop was a fan I sent him a PM...he hadn't been here for a while so I've no idea of he followed up on it.

[Cosmo Valdemar]

Gibson did reissue the Grabber a few years ago.

The Epiphone was called Ripper, but it wasn't particularly close to that Gibson either - same shape, but the first run had a single pickup and the next had PJs.

[Delberthot]

I had a Melody fretless years ago. I don't remember how it sounded but it seemed to be very well put together

 

Edited May 28, 2021 by Delberthot

[cetera]

I had an all maple Melody Grabber MANY years ago. Had a unique feel and sound..... wish I hadn't parted with it

 

[Skybone]

I'd love to see Gibson do reissues of the Grabber and Ripper basses (and the Victory), but I doubt it'll happen.

[neepheid]

1 hour ago, Skybone said:

I'd love to see Gibson do reissues of the Grabber and Ripper basses (and the Victory), but I doubt it'll happen.

They have done "modern" remakes in the past -

Grabber - 2009 as the Grabber II
Ripper - 2009 as the Ripper II
G-3 - 2012 as the Grabber 3 '70s Tribute

I can't imagine you'll ever see the Victory again - it wasn't a great success when it was out and unlike the Grabbers/Rippers/G-3s, no subsequent artists of note were seen with them to generate the kind of nostalgia buzz required.

That plus right now you'd need to stick some dynamite under Gibson's behind to get them to do anything interesting in the bass sphere right now...

[Davt]

I have an old Japanese grabber copy which has been customised to a high end. Any ideas what it would be worth? Can’t seem to upload pictures 

[Davt]

[Davt]

Just managed to post the picture 

[cetera]

£25, but I'll give you £30. PM me to arrange....

 

[Davt]

£30 would probably cover postage 

[Grahambythesea]

It looks like that’s been made very playable. Did the bridge cost more than the guitar did originally. I’ll double the previous offer and collect to save you having to pack it 😆

[Bassassin]

In fairness you'd probably be better selling the Hipshot sparately, assuming you still have the original bridge. These old MIJ basses have slipped in to collector territory, so non-original parts & refins will have a tendency to discourage a lot of that market, and devalue the instrument regardless of the quality of work & parts.

 

Value is hard to estimate because there's a distinct lack of examples of these to compare to. I used to buy & sell a lot of old MIJ stuff 10-15 years ago and I tend to look at what I'd hope to get for it if it was mine. In original condition, with what I know of the market these days I think I'd be hoping for maybe £250-£350.

 

And if it was mine I'd be getting the acetone & T-Cut out, hoping the original clear lacquer's still there under that matt black.