Delberthot Posted May 8, 2009 Share Posted May 8, 2009 (edited) Yip, it wasn't enough to just buy one bass in the last week, so as well as the Squier Telecaster/Precision Bass, I had to have this as well. Its a copy of a Gibson Grabber bass. It has the sliding pickup in the middle to vary the tone but the most unique feature about the bass is the fact that it has a maple fretless board. I've had an urge to have a maple fretless bass since I saw a picture of John Deacon holding one inside the gatefold sleeve of Queen's 'Live Killers' album. Unfortunately the budget didn't extend to a natural finish maple fretless Fender Precision so this has been the closest I could find. Its clearly been in a smokers house for a good number of years as it emits a strong aroma of Sir Walter Raleigh's finest tobbaccy. I've literally just picked it up from the post office so its not even been plugged in yet but I like it so far, being a closet fan of Gibson's less well known basses. When I have the chance, I'm going to strip it down and give it a good clean up. It looks like the E string is on the wrong way and the little piece of metal in that tuner that keeps the friction on the peg to keep it in tune has slipped out meaning that its easy to knock out of tune. The pickup is sitting at a an angle so I'll have a look under there to see if I can straighten it up. Edited May 13, 2009 by Delberthot Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rohan Posted May 8, 2009 Share Posted May 8, 2009 Hey dude if you need any parts I'm pretty sure Nash on here as exactly the same copy. Although it is in worse condition! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MoonBassAlpha Posted May 8, 2009 Share Posted May 8, 2009 My first ever bass was a fretted version of this!!! A friend of mine had a defretted one which was pretty good too. The pickup was quite microphonic and made an almighty clunk when you slid it back and forth, but the tone was pretty good for what was a very cheap bass at the time. DiMarzio did a nice humbucker which drops in as a nice replacement too. I'd be fascinated to know what they fetch these days, I think I paid £70 for mine in '78.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Delberthot Posted May 8, 2009 Author Share Posted May 8, 2009 [quote name='MoonBassAlpha' post='483034' date='May 8 2009, 04:06 PM']My first ever bass was a fretted version of this!!! A friend of mine had a defretted one which was pretty good too. The pickup was quite microphonic and made an almighty clunk when you slid it back and forth, but the tone was pretty good for what was a very cheap bass at the time. DiMarzio did a nice humbucker which drops in as a nice replacement too. I'd be fascinated to know what they fetch these days, I think I paid £70 for mine in '78....[/quote] 31 years inflation on £70 should bring the current value up to around £5,000,000 This fine beast cost me the princely sum of £67 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bassassin Posted May 8, 2009 Share Posted May 8, 2009 [quote name='Delberthot' post='483078' date='May 8 2009, 04:39 PM']This fine beast cost me the princely sum of £67[/quote] Bargain! You probably already know, but unlike most 70s copies this isn't JapCrap, it's Italian. Never seen a Melody with that logo before, or a maple/fretless like this. Very nice! If it's like the fretted JapCrap one I had, the pup will have screws to adjust height & angle on the sliding plate, and the plate itself just sits in a shallow body route under the scratchplate, held in position by friction. Should be easy to straighten it up. Jon. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Delberthot Posted May 13, 2009 Author Share Posted May 13, 2009 (edited) Its finally finished and here are the pics of it. I can't believe that this bass is 30 years old - the hardare was so skanky and stinky and now it looks almost brand new. I've decided to return it to its former glory with all the original bits. I'm pretty confident that these all came with bridge covers but the one on this looks like the pickup cover off a single coil P bass. There are no other screw holes so either its original or the existing holes lined up perfectly with this one Edited May 13, 2009 by Delberthot Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Delberthot Posted May 13, 2009 Author Share Posted May 13, 2009 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Delberthot Posted May 13, 2009 Author Share Posted May 13, 2009 And now on Ebay [url="http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&item=140320517164"]http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vie...em=140320517164[/url] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
budget bassist Posted May 13, 2009 Share Posted May 13, 2009 ebay already? how come? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Delberthot Posted May 14, 2009 Author Share Posted May 14, 2009 Don't get me wrong, the bass looks absolutely fantastic and sounds really good as well but whenever I get this out: Nothing else comes close. That and I really enjoyed stripping it down and giving it a good clean so I'll probably get something else and do the same at some point. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
budget bassist Posted May 14, 2009 Share Posted May 14, 2009 fair enough! well it's good to know your warmoth is still the favourite dangerous game though! if you find something better than your warmoth, what will you do? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grumble Posted May 17, 2009 Share Posted May 17, 2009 You Bastard !!! I'm not a Kiss fan (quite the opposite) but I always loved the look of the Grabber and to see a cleaned up copy on Fleabay means I can feel GAS rumbling. Please somebody bid silly money on it or I will be in the divorce courts very soon Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Delberthot Posted May 17, 2009 Author Share Posted May 17, 2009 [quote name='budget bassist' post='488231' date='May 14 2009, 08:34 PM']fair enough! well it's good to know your warmoth is still the favourite dangerous game though! if you find something better than your warmoth, what will you do? [/quote] I'm just back from a gig tonight and the warmoth just keeps geting better. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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.