Guest WilliamV Posted October 7, 2020 Share Posted October 7, 2020 (edited) Here's one I started a while back. Poplar / Tulipwood blank that wasn't quite big enough for a full sized Ripper clone. Not many progress pics but will be taking more. I was going to make it like an Aria Pro II LB-650 lawsuit Ripper copy that I had many years ago. Did some searching and found some pics of one of the original prototype Gibson Rippers. From what I can find, they were never released into production and decided to do it like that but with some body design differences. Ones that just... happened. The only visual difference to the production model that I can see is that the pick guard only surrounds one of the pickups. Which I like the look of. Neck was bought online and the headstock will be shaped as a Gibson open book style. Edited October 7, 2020 by WilliamV Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest WilliamV Posted February 16, 2021 Share Posted February 16, 2021 Have gotten quite a bit more done on it and yes, I didn't take any progress pics. 🙄 Really just not my thing to take them. Probably should though... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SpondonBassed Posted February 17, 2021 Share Posted February 17, 2021 12 hours ago, WilliamV said: Have gotten quite a bit more done on it and yes, I didn't take any progress pics. 🙄 Really just not my thing to take them. Probably should though... It's not like anyone is cracking a whip but yes, it would be nice to see where you are with it. At least tell us if you're happy with how it's going? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MoonBassAlpha Posted February 17, 2021 Share Posted February 17, 2021 Too late to suggest that the pointed Gibson bass headstock looks better, Grabber style? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest WilliamV Posted February 18, 2021 Share Posted February 18, 2021 On 17/02/2021 at 20:09, MoonBassAlpha said: Too late to suggest that the pointed Gibson bass headstock looks better, Grabber style? Yes, just a bit too late. It's already cut. It was a thought though. If I was building it with the sliding pickup as The Grabber has, I would have. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest WilliamV Posted February 18, 2021 Share Posted February 18, 2021 On 17/02/2021 at 12:18, SpondonBassed said: It's not like anyone is cracking a whip but yes, it would be nice to see where you are with it. At least tell us if you're happy with how it's going? I have one or two pics of it in a 'mock up' stage and will post them/it. Yes, I am reasonably happy with how it's going. I wasn't at first because I couldn't get a single piece blank to make it as the full size of The Ripper. But after I attached the nearly completed neck and other parts on the body, the look of it has kind of grown on me and I like it okay. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest WilliamV Posted February 19, 2021 Share Posted February 19, 2021 (edited) One of it... The dark area on it has shown up as being darker than it actually is. Edited February 19, 2021 by WilliamV Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest WilliamV Posted February 27, 2021 Share Posted February 27, 2021 (edited) Here it is almost finished. The strings not being directly over pick up poles that I made a post about has not affected the sound. Not that I can tell anyway. The two holes in the neck heel, just in case the question is there, are for attaching an additional piece of wood that has yet to be. I'll do a write up on it soon. Edited February 27, 2021 by WilliamV Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest WilliamV Posted March 3, 2021 Share Posted March 3, 2021 (edited) A little story of it: The pick guard is made from a 2.5 mm hard rubber placemat from a supermarket. The shielding piece on the back was made from a metal tomato puree tube for a little rigidity and stuck on with double sided tape. The truss rod cover is from a piece of Maple veneer with Mahogany wood dye on it. There is also a layer of the veneer on the headstock front. Which meant that I had to counter bore the headstock and recess the ferrules about 1.5mm. The front is the wood dye again, but sanded and rubbed down to what it is now. The back of the headstock is yellow food colouring coated. There was quite a large space on the back between the neck pocket and the curved part of the neck heel leading to the heel end. So I made a piece to fill this gap from an off cut from the body. Looks unusual, but I think it looks okay. Doesn’t quite fit and cover as I had intended it to, so I may make another one that does. Not a conventional thing I know, but to me this gap was a bit excessive and I felt that I should fill it. I could have cut the pocket deeper into the body but it was in up to half way of the 19th fret already. The volume and tone knobs are left handed ones. I have had them for quite some time and only noticed this when I went to put them on. Didn’t even notice when they were on the Bronco fretless for a while. Probably should have noticed prior to buying them but I didn’t. Oh well… I have some right hand ones but they are smaller diameter witch hat style and don’t look right on it. Not to me anyway. I’ll just leave them on. Adds a bit of personal, if not unusual uniqueness. Maybe there is a way to wire the pots in reverse? 😄 Also a piece of the veneer behind the 4 position selector switch. Yes, wired like the original Gibson Ripper. There are also pieces of veneer to go behind the volume and tone knobs and output jack. I have scraped the black paint out from inside the knobs and put brown paint inside. The tuning pegs were/are actually 4 a side ones like for a Fender. I took two of them apart and reversed them. Probably didn’t really need to since two are mounted upside down. Requires a bit of thinking when tuning it, but since it is me that plays it, it’s something that I’ll get used to and remember. Another unique thing on it that I will leave as it is. Still to put the strap button things on it. Made them from shear nuts again and always do, with a dome head screw that covers and fits the top of them. Heavy duty! Also a round piece of veneer under the bottom one to move it away from the body some. The electrics are as the 1976 Gibson Ripper is with the Varitone selector. Not an original Gibson piece, but a selector switch that does the same thing. Gives four selectable positions. Yes, there are some imperfections and non-symmetry going on. Such as the “open book” cut on the headstock. The two sides don’t match. There are also some small mistake holes visible above the E and G machines on the back of the headstock. Still more to do on it and some of the parts used are “outside of the (normal) box” way of thinking for what to use, but oh well… I did it my way and it works okay for something that was built with basic tools, in a garden shed and spare room. A true custom built bass body. I'll post more photos when it is 100% 'ish complete. Edited March 3, 2021 by WilliamV Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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