Gibson Grabbers..

Alpine White is the color I most remember going with Gibson. Original Grabbers were natural, a white one should look cool. Enjoy your new bass.;)

apparently from all the online sites about the Grabbers, they did come in white as an option.. although, i've never actually seen one in white or have even seen a pic of one in white..

thanks, Vinx.. ;)

if anyone has a pic of the elusive white grabber, please post it up..

Maybe TV White...I'm not sure.

I had one of those - in fact it was my first real bass...this is the one with the sliding pup, right??
And it's an ivory colour as original - I think Vinnie's right - it was Alpine White with black pickguard etc..

cool.. Alpine White it is..

does anyone know what the string pitch is?? 17mm/19mm?? the original bridge is long gone, and it has some sort of huge import brass bridge.. it's unsightly, and more importantly keeps the action to a medium-high action.. i want a lower action on it, which means i have to get another bridge for it..

it has gotoh copy tuners on it, i'm going to replace them with Grover Vintage tuners.. i'd do Hipshot, but the Grovers are about 10 bucks each..

i'm gonna have some fun getting this one cleaned up..

SilverBurst..

or...

Alpine White..

my Grabber has the black headstock with the gold logo, so that won't change, and it also has the MOP dots, not the black dots shown in the renderings.. these renderings are based on the new G-II grabber..

it's a toss up for me.. i'm partial to SB, but White would be much easier to do..

thndrstk6 did the renderings on TalkBass..

i played a real nice one back in '97 with the siding PUP....nat finish. i really liked it.

I'd like to see some pictures of it in it's current state.

it's rough and dirty.. the bridge looks like it's from a Spector NSX.. it's huge, immensely heavy.. it's an amazingly heavy bridge.. and it's got to go..

like i said, it's going to take alot of work to get it nice.. someone at some point thought that it would be a good idea to slice off part of the body.. then reconsidered, and glued the piece back onto the body.. there are dips in the epoxy used to glue it back on.. the body will have to be sanded/leveled, etc.. it's alot of work without any doubts.. but, i think it's worthwhile, if it comes out nice..

right now, i'm trying to decide if i should put a BA-II on it, or a Schaller Roller.. the tuners will be swapped for something else..

Other than the bridge issues, how does it play? I would almost want to put on either bridge, both are awesome!

I think just clean it up and go for the vintage vibe and leave the finish alone. Why cover her war scars? It's what made her what she is.

the bridge weighs a huge amount.. literally like 2 pounds, easy.. it plays ok, the action is a bit high, but the bridge isn't going to allow for much leeway.. i can lower it some, but it would still be too high.. and that would be like a lower-high action on a JBass.. i'm going to have to replace it..

i'd leave it, but it just looks dirty.. not as in dirty = funky good, but as in soiled.. i'm dealing with the neck, it's cleaning up pretty well with a light scrubbing with a green Scotchbrite.. it's taking some of the circular sanding marks off the neck and the imbedded dirt..

but, i don't know if it was originally a walnut stain, or if it was black and not stripped very well.. or if it was natural and someone did a really crappy stain to it.. it looks alot worse up close.. it's not war wounds, it's more like i have no idea of what i'm doing, but i'm going to do it.. it's a cheap bass anyway..

there are just too many abused Grabbers out there.. it's very easy to find them in this condition.. so, if i refinished this one - on the same level as a current Gibson, not a 8 dollar Krylon job - that it would be nice.. i've just seen too many of them beat to death, and left that way.. this isn't to say that these basses are really anything more than what they were to begin with.. a low cost bass.. but, it just looks scabby right now..

and i'm leaning toward Silverburst.. even though SB is trendy, it would look right on the Grabber because it's of that era..

and if it gets any dings/dents/scratches, they will be mine.. ;)

i just wish that i bought a few of them earlier on in my life.. when no one wanted them at all..

They were a low cost bass once upon a time, but have you seen the current pricing? They are going for more than $2000 for the re-issue on the MF site.
http://bass-guitars.musiciansfriend.com/product/Gibson-Limited-Run-Grabber-II-Bass?sku=527771&src=3WWRWXGB&ZYXSEM=0

Yeah! Volkswagon Bugs were cheap when they first came out, now they are a almost a collection item, so the price goes up. Same case here!