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Gibson Ripper rescue


neepheid
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[quote name='Jus Lukin' timestamp='1366571340' post='2054293']
I once turned down a Gibson Ripper in favour of a cheapo P-bass. The difference was only about £20, too!

It was a natural maple body with the 'arrow-head' headstock, as on the Flying-V bass, and with the sliding pickup.

I couldn't get the pickup to move, the frets had been pulled, and even then my preference for P pickups was starting to show. Still, it remains a bargain I should have put the time and effort into fixing up.
[/quote]


It was a Grabber, another highly underrated bass. On my list for one day, however the power of P always draws me to safety.

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[quote name='3below' timestamp='1366572034' post='2054305']
It was a Grabber, another highly underrated bass. On my list for one day, however the power of P always draws me to safety.
[/quote]

Sounds like a Grabber - though when they went to the G-3, they finally did away with the moveable pick-up and settled for three single-coils, with the a switch. I had a 1976 G3 and it was a great bass.

Looks a very good project Neep. Assume non-standard colours are in, too? I mean, Gibson didn't always give bassists a lot of choice - but you could paint it anything. Red, maybe?

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[quote name='tommorichards' timestamp='1366568732' post='2054237']
I thought the body on these was maple? Or was yours the year that they went to alder?
[/quote]

According to Jules' site - 1975 and 76 were alder years. All other years body was maple.

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[quote name='Gust0o' timestamp='1366576128' post='2054429']
Sounds like a Grabber - though when they went to the G-3, they finally did away with the moveable pick-up and settled for three single-coils, with the a switch. I had a 1976 G3 and it was a great bass.

Looks a very good project Neep. Assume non-standard colours are in, too? I mean, Gibson didn't always give bassists a lot of choice - but you could paint it anything. Red, maybe?
[/quote]

Well, I had a crazy idea of doing a translucent cherry red like an old EB, but that depends on how well I deal with the various dings on the body.

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Well, I had a successful day's sanding and steaming out dings.






I'm glad I got the front sorted out, it looks like my original idea is back on - classic cherry red translucent.

It's sanded all over to 120 grit, still some pink in the horns to get rid of.



I guess if I go down the cherry red route then it'll look a bit like this "wine red" Grabber:



(picture nicked from Jules' site)

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I had a very productive lunch hour at work, splicing together various bits of pictures from flyguitars.com (thanks Jules once again for your website) to come up with a mockup of what I hope the final result will be:



The Ripper that never was! Also have ordered a few bits and bobs - strap buttons, 4 way switch, pickguard and screws.

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Small update - more steaming/sanding. Also fixed a nasty bit on the back of the lower horn, wood was actually split - I have no idea how people manage this. I mixed wood dust and glue into a paste then filled the hole. Glad it's in the back as it turned out much darker than I anticipated. Still, at least it seems solid.

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Small update: another pass all over at 180 grit, it's beginning to actually feel smooth now and the swirly orbital sander marks are almost gone. Got some 240, 400 and 600 grit to come then I think it'll be ready to be sprayed.

Also, the 4 way switch arrived. Of course it's different to the one in the schematic! So I had to do a bit of detective work on how the switch worked, make a translation table of pin numbers from old -> new then redo the schematic for the switch. Here's what I've got. Would anyone like to idiot check it?



My switch works thus:


Position 1: A -> 1, B -> 5, C -> 9
Position 2: A -> 2, B -> 6, C -> 10
Position 3: A -> 3, B -> 7, C -> 11
Position 4: A -> 4, B -> 8, C -> 12

A is wired to ground, B takes the (reversed) hot of the bridge pickup, C is final output to the volume pot. X means no connection.

Position 1 should give both in series
Position 2 should be bridge pickup only
Position 3 should be both in parallel
Position 4 should be neck only

I think I'm right, am I?

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Been following your updates from the start neepheid, it's fairly coming on impressively well.

I'd be keen to do something similar myself, but it's this stage where I'd be absolutely clueless trying to do the electrics myself.

Looking forward to seeing the end result!!

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