Gibson Ripper

[UglyBuzzard]

Thinking of adding one. Any owners here? opinions? Lottery numbers? Thanks…

[lbpesq]

One of my all-time favorites, Rick Danko of The Band, often played one.

Bill, tgo

[edwardofhuncote]

Where's Joey?

[dannobasso]

I bought one in 78. $360 with case. Gene Simmons played them and Grabbers, Peter Cetera endorsed them too. The guys in my band played les pauls so I wanted to keep us all Gibson. Plus I didn't really get on with the guys who bragged about P basses.
I liked the 4 way switch and liked the look and sound of it. Bill Lawrence designed the pickups etc. if memory serves. Most guys I know with big collections have at least 1 and keep them. Mine was sold by a guy I lent it to when I was concentrating on fretless. Eventually got my money for it from the guy. Always find out if someone has a drug habit before you lend them your first bass.

[gearhed289]

I played a friends black one once, not plugged in. It felt great. It reminded me of a long scale version of the Guild JS II I used to own. Very thin body, slim neck. I'd love to try one through my Ampeg rig. The new guy in Voivod gets a truly "Rippin" tone out of his, but he's obviously running it through something.

[fivestringdan]

I'm actually putting mine up for sale if you're interested. It's a 74 burst finish. Send me an email if you'd like to talk more about it. It is a wonderful instrument.

[xlrogue6]

I've got a black '83 Ripper. Modded the 4 way switch so it goes neck/both parallel/bridge/both series (because who needs out of phase pickups?) and put a Hipshot bridge on it, as I got it with a Gotoh 3 point on the US studs, which was even worse than the usual 3 point bridge woes. A nice contrast to my other basses.

[pauldo]

An intriguing bridge design.

[gtrguy]

I personally think they are too big and clunky but maybe an improvement over the mudbucker basses they built earlier (yes, I owned one). The only time I saw one played out was George Benson's bass player back in the 70's (Ripper or Grabber). They had a Maple body. Gibson first made a similar bass called the SB350 that was sort of a budget model but had unique humbuckers and was also maple and smaller and sounded great. The SB350 is very hard to find and also suffered from Gibson's infamous 2 point bridge design.

[edwardofhuncote]

An intriguing bridge design.

That's the most polite, charitable thing I have ever heard said about the three-point bridge, Paul! And they aren't as bad as the rap they get; you just have to use your head setting one up. A while back, somebody with some machinist creds came up with a spacer bar to keep the silk windings offa' the bridge saddles that I thought was nifty.

That said, the HipShot replacement that Kent went with nulifies all other.

Joey must still be on a brisket hangover... ain't like him to leave a Gibson Ripper thread hangin'.

[UglyBuzzard]

I'm actually putting mine up for sale if you're interested. It's a 74 burst finish. Send me an email if you'd like to talk more about it. It is a wonderful instrument.

PM sent - thanks

[xlrogue6]

The thing with the Gotoh bridge is that it's designed for its own metric studs. On the SAE ones it has a tendency to flop around. The Hipshot cost around what it would have cost to pull the original studs and install the Gotohs, it was a pretty easy call.

[hankster]

I used a ripper on a good number of recordings in the late 70s. Loved it.

[UglyBuzzard]

Thanks everyone. Appreciate the feedback!

[bigredbass]

Here I am.

First bass I ever bought, back when they were new in the late 70's. 

Manageable weight, hung right on the strap (unlike the Thunderbird I really wanted . . . ), Boll Lawrence designed pickups and the Varitone were useable.  Hated (still do) that 3-point bridge, at least now Hipshot makes a proper improved replacement, and Seymour sells replacement pickups through his Custom Shop.

I'm not much of a vintage guy (to quote JJ, 'HAH') but if I were going to buy an old Gibson bass (geez I hate even saying that out loud . . . ), a Ripper is way better than the G3 or that sliding thing, any of the EB's or RD's, if you want a more or less regular long scale bass you'd use in place of the typical Fender.

To my mind, the closest Gibson ever came to an honest long scale bass that could compete with Precisions or Jazz Basses, and unlike the underwhelming RD and Victory basses, they had a good weight, not heavyweights like the latter two.