NBD Kimbara Ripper.

[Maude]

I've always liked the look of the Gibson Rippers and Grabbers, and in turn the 70s/80s Japanese copies. 

That's why when this popped up on facebook not too far from home I had to have it. 

After a quick message to our resident expert on Japanese basses, @Bassassin, for some much appreciated info I'd agreed a price the seller and I were both happy with.

 

These are the sellers pictures. 

 

 

 

 

I picked it up yesterday and had a chat with the seller. 

He acquired it forty years ago in a swap for a 4x12 guitar cab, the seller is also a guitarist so it's spent the last forty years hanging on his wall, with the occasional play just for his own fun so it's in really nice condition. 

A couple of dings that were there when he got it and a couple of little issues that have been sorted but obviously have left it non original, which is a shame but can't be helped. 

Firstly, the original scratchplate was a celluloid one and had started gassing off and crumbling, so he has fitted a replacement. The original would've been a very dark tort, as per the early Gibson Rippers, the later ones were black (I think). I was going to make a single ply black one but I actually quite like one on there now. 

Secondly, the original three point bridge had snapped and this is a generic replacement. It seems a pretty good copy and looks the part so it'll probably stay as well. The only issue is the strings are higher than I'd like but the bridge is bottomed out, something I'll address. 

 

I've pulled it apart for a good clean and polish, and to sort any little issues such as the pots which are a little crackly. 

 

Very clean in the cavities and nice, tidy routing. Maybe newer manufacturers could learn something from the Matsumoku workers as I've seen some more modern basses that are much rougher. 

 

The electrics look good and all original so just a squirt of some cleaner/lubricant will hopefully quieten things down. 

 

You can see the 'burn' marks where the celluloid scratchplate had started to react. 

 

It's constructed in a kind of butchers block fashion but build seems really good. 

 

The rear with a rather nice grain to it. 

 

Three piece neck construction so should be stable. 

 

And a set neck. All the wood joins are nice and tidy and in all honesty most of the woods match really well. 

 

I'll update in a couple of days when it's rebuilt, set up and been put through it paces with some new strings. 

Hopefully the pickups will have the same edge to them as the Gibson ones. 

[Old Horse Murphy]

I'm a Ripper fan too after seeing Rick Danko play one in The Last Waltz.
 

That's a lovely looking bass. Good score 👍

[Grahambythesea]

Good one, always fancied one, never bought one. There usually quite heavy beasts, how’s this one? I think perhaps a black scratch plate is in order, that tort would do my head in and I like tort!

[jd56hawk]

Nicest one I've seen...tort definitely puts it over the top!

[Maude]

5 hours ago, Grahambythesea said:

Good one, always fancied one, never bought one. There usually quite heavy beasts, how’s this one? I think perhaps a black scratch plate is in order, that tort would do my head in and I like tort!

It's not too heavy. It's no lightweight but not any heavier than most of my basses. The Gibsons were maple, apart from a couple of years in the late 70s I think, this looks like ash so is probably lighter than the Gibsons. Maybe a wood expert on here could advise?

 

I might see if there's a decent way to darken this scratchplate. If it was almost black with the pattern faintly showing I think it would be better. That's what the originals were like. 

 

 

[neepheid]

12 minutes ago, Maude said:

It's not too heavy. It's no lightweight but not any heavier than most of my basses. The Gibsons were maple, apart from a couple of years in the late 70s I think, this looks like ash so is probably lighter than the Gibsons. Maybe a wood expert on here could advise?

 

I might see if there's a decent way to darken this scratchplate. If it was almost black with the pattern faintly showing I think it would be better. That's what the originals were like. 

 

 

 

I'm no wood expert, but I must commend you on your Gibson Ripper knowledge.  When they weren't maple, they were alder, and it was mid 70s that happened - 75/76.  I had a 1975 alder bodied Ripper and it was pretty light

[Maude]

2 hours ago, neepheid said:

 

I'm no wood expert, but I must commend you on your Gibson Ripper knowledge.  When they weren't maple, they were alder, and it was mid 70s that happened - 75/76.  I had a 1975 alder bodied Ripper and it was pretty light

It's a big body but it's relatively thin so that keeps the weight down a bit. 

Were the Gibsons thin as well? It's not thin like the plywood Kays but thinner than your average P bass and the like. 

I'd like to get a 'The Ripper' TRC from the somewhere rather than the 'Custom' one on there, and I'm considering putting in string through ferrules to make it more in line with a genuine Ripper. 

There's an argument to keep it as original as possible, but the mods will make it more like a genuine Ripper. Something to ponder. 

[Shaggy]

3 hours ago, Maude said:

It's not too heavy. It's no lightweight but not any heavier than most of my basses. The Gibsons were maple, apart from a couple of years in the late 70s I think, this looks like ash so is probably lighter than the Gibsons. Maybe a wood expert on here could advise?

 

I might see if there's a decent way to darken this scratchplate. If it was almost black with the pattern faintly showing I think it would be better. That's what the originals were like. 

 

 

 

Fantastic score Maude; I remember Kimbaras as being at the top of the quality scale of late ‘70’s copies, and they always seemed to use nice tonewoods.   From the dim recesses of my memory I think most of the “natural” bodied guitars / basses were made from Sen wood, sometimes called Japanese ash (being very similar to ash).

 

Never owned a Ripper / Grabber, but those I’ve tried were quite thin bodied, so not unduly heavy.   I have owned quite a few RD Artists which being maple and thick bodied are......heavy.

 

There used to be someone on eBay in the US who would make up custom engraved Gibson TRC’s - I had one done, I’ll see if I can dig up contact.

Enjoy the new bass! 👍

[three]

That looks lovely - a really good buy and a pretty accurate copy in many respects.  As Shaggy notes, Kimbara were at the higher-end in the copy market back in the '70s (I was discussing this with a guitarist mate just the other evening).  In my experience, Rippers tend to be pretty light - mine (I think) is one of the earlier Alder production.  The body is large but fairly slender compared to a Fender.  Unfortunately, mine arrived (second hand in around '79) without its TRC, though somebody in the shop found me a Grabber TRC - no idea where that got to.  I didn't know about the dark tort on the earliest Rippers and mine came with a black plate.  The latter was replaced when the bass went through some fairly dramatic customisation in the early '80s.  More recently (last ten years or so), I've noticed that something seems to be gassing in the flight case - the finish (as beautiful a spray job as it is) appears to be coated in a form of sticky white dust - removing the stuff is quite a challenge.  Here's picture for reference (next to the old Status I used to play back in the '80s) - you can see that the body is fairly thin.  I'd go with the rear string load option too if possible - mine was pre rear string plate and just has the holes for insertion of strings.  If you zoom the image below, you'll see the little string ferrules on the front of the bass - probably a good idea to include these, though those on my Ripper were already cracked and slightly distorted by the time I received the bass.  The re-spray worked around the cracking.

Edited January 11, 2022 by three

[Skybone]

That's a lovely looking bass, nice acquisition!

[Bassassin]

Really pleased this turned out to be as good as I hoped it would, it does look in great condition for its age. Good to see some pics of the routing and electronics too. Unsurprised the original bridge has been replaced, the 3-points used by Matsumoku do seem to have had a habit of breaking in half! You may be reduced to filing saddle slots to get the string height down.

 

I'd expect Tim at https://gig.ink/ would be able to sort you out with both a Ripper trc and a more, er, restrained scratchplate. I kinda like the shouty tort...

 

Unfortunately it's long-gone, but this is very much a sibling to the Kimbara L6S copy I had years ago - I think if I still had it I'd be properly jealous!
 

 

Edited January 11, 2022 by Bassassin

[Shaggy]

28 minutes ago, Bassassin said:

Really pleased this turned out to be as good as I hoped it would, it does look in great condition for its age. Good to see some pics of the routing and electronics too. Unsurprised the original bridge has been replaced, the 3-points used by Matsumoku do seem to have had a habit of breaking in half! You may be reduced to filing saddle slots to get the string height down.

 

I'd expect Tim at https://gig.ink/ would be able to sort you out with both a Ripper trc and a more, er, restrained scratchplate. I kinda like the shouty tort...

 

Unfortunately it's long-gone, but this is very much a sibling to the Kimbara L6S copy I had years ago - I think if I still had it I'd be properly jealous!
 

 

 

That L6S is proper lush - even has the “harmonica bridge” sported by early ‘70’s Gibson’s - and so much nicer than the endless Les Paul copies of that era 👍.   Makes me wonder why Kimbara were never as big as Ibanez or Aria?

[ezbass]

34 minutes ago, Bassassin said:

Really pleased this turned out to be as good as I hoped it would, it does look in great condition for its age. Good to see some pics of the routing and electronics too. Unsurprised the original bridge has been replaced, the 3-points used by Matsumoku do seem to have had a habit of breaking in half! You may be reduced to filing saddle slots to get the string height down.

 

I'd expect Tim at https://gig.ink/ would be able to sort you out with both a Ripper trc and a more, er, restrained scratchplate. I kinda like the shouty tort...

 

Unfortunately it's long-gone, but this is very much a sibling to the Kimbara L6S copy I had years ago - I think if I still had it I'd be properly jealous!
 

 

😍 

 

I never understood why the L6 didn’t take off with guitarists, Santana played one for a bit, but it did nothing for its popularity. I worked for me visually, although I never got to play one. That Kimbara is pukka. I remember being enamoured with a white, Kimbara Strat as a teenager, they always seemed to be a premium copyist.

[Maude]

That L6S is lovely. 

As you say, it would be a good companion to my Ripper. 

[Grahambythesea]

Re darkening the tort plate. I wonder if putting a black backing on it would do the trick. Perhaps a sheet of vinyl which is pretty thin.

 

[Chris2112]

What does it sound like? 

[Maude]

4 hours ago, Grahambythesea said:

Re darkening the tort plate. I wonder if putting a black backing on it would do the trick. Perhaps a sheet of vinyl which is pretty thin.

 

It already is black on the back. 

I could just mix some transparent black into some clear lacquer and spray it but the colour would be sat on top. 

I'd like to find a stain that would penetrate the PVC but I don't think anything will. 

I'll probably just make a single ply black one. 

[Maude]

2 hours ago, Chris2112 said:

What does it sound like? 

Well, very nice, but I haven't really had a proper go. Just a quick test to check it works and then I stripped it down when I got home. 

The strings were really old and dead and I wanted to give it a fret dress and polish, and a general all over clean. 

I've got some new strings coming courtesy of D'addario's Players Circle. 

The both pickups in series but out of phase sounds really cool, like an extremely burpy Jazz but different. 

 

Once back together I'll do a little write up on the different tones available. 

[neepheid]

3 minutes ago, Maude said:

I'll probably just make a single ply black one. 

 

LOL BWBWB FTW IMHO

[Maude]

I like single ply, very vintage looking and the celluloid ones were single ply, and almost see through, the routing is visible through the old tort ones. A clean white perimeter line would be too new looking I feel. 

[Maude]

30 minutes ago, neepheid said:

 

LOL BWBWB FTW IMHO

BHHMA

 

(Bloody hell, how many acronyms?) 😄

[Shaggy]

I’d def go for tort, you’ve probably already checked out: https://www.wdmusic.co.uk/pickguards-c62/gibson-miscellaneous-c87/ripper-c266/wd-music-ripper-single-ply-070-1-77mm-semi-transparent-tortoise-shell-no-bevelled-edge-p6714

 

Plenty other options: https://www.wdmusic.co.uk/search/pickguards-c62/gibson-miscellaneous-c87/gibson-ripper

not cheap, but great quality, and with a Ripper the p/guard is a big part of the aesthetics.

[Maude]

5 hours ago, Shaggy said:

I’d def go for tort, you’ve probably already checked out: https://www.wdmusic.co.uk/pickguards-c62/gibson-miscellaneous-c87/ripper-c266/wd-music-ripper-single-ply-070-1-77mm-semi-transparent-tortoise-shell-no-bevelled-edge-p6714

 

Plenty other options: https://www.wdmusic.co.uk/search/pickguards-c62/gibson-miscellaneous-c87/gibson-ripper

not cheap, but great quality, and with a Ripper the p/guard is a big part of the aesthetics.

I'll probably make my own as with it being a copy Im not sure if it's exactly the the same. 

The chances of all the screw holes, pickup holes and the outline being an ex act match is proba pretty slim. The body has yellowed outside of the pickguard so if a Gibson one was a slightly different shape an showed the old outline it would just bug the hello out of me. Not point gambling with £50 when I can make an exact copy myself. 

[Shaggy]

16 minutes ago, Maude said:

I'll probably make my own as with it being a copy Im not sure if it's exactly the the same. 

The chances of all the screw holes, pickup holes and the outline being an ex act match is proba pretty slim. The body has yellowed outside of the pickguard so if a Gibson one was a slightly different shape an showed the old outline it would just bug the hello out of me. Not point gambling with £50 when I can make an exact copy myself. 

 

True.    If it were mine (which it ain’t!), to honest I’d leave the current one on there rather than change to black, but if making a new one I’d still go for a quality sheet of proper celluloid tort, eg:  https://www.wdmusic.co.uk/pickguards-c62/blank-pickguard-sheets-c95/wd-music-brown-tortoiseshell-celluloid-thin-non-laminated-p608

Bass doc used to make custom ones to order on here (pretty sure also sourcing from WD Music), not sure if he does any more?

[Maude]

31 minutes ago, Maude said:

I'll probably make my own as with it being a copy Im not sure if it's exactly the the same. 

The chances of all the screw holes, pickup holes and the outline being an ex act match is proba pretty slim. The body has yellowed outside of the pickguard so if a Gibson one was a slightly different shape an showed the old outline it would just bug the hello out of me. Not point gambling with £50 when I can make an exact copy myself. 

 

There's too much autocorrong in there for me to bother editing. 

 

Bug the hello out of me?

HELLO!! 😄