[bassric]

Hi, former member on return from Hiatus.
I just picked up a early Grabber. Pots say 16th week of "74". Serial # is vague (396980 or 596980?). Headstock front has been sanded but it is all original down to the soldering and the strap buttons. It even has the bridge cover and the original case. Picked it up in a Pawn shop for $150. I love it. I have had many Gibson basses over the years but I was drawn to this one. Needs some TLC but whatever.
My question is about the tuners. I have done a lot of research on these and I can't find out what these are on my bass.
They have a "Allen" bolt on the back to adjust the tightness. No Gibson logo or nothing. No extra screw holes either.
Any ideas?
Thanks...
Ric............(hope the pics works).


http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v313/ ... sfront.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v313/ ... rsback.jpg

[Bobsaget]

ive got the same tuners on my early ripper bass. might have been something between series perhaps?
want too sell it?;)

[doom]

The original tuners were made by Schaller and are still made by Schaller. Could be that they did'nt emboss "Gibson" on them as early as yours. I have'nt used any new to see if they retrofit perfectly but my guess is they do. I highly doubt that those black allen screws would be original (the washers seem out of place too). Someone probably lost them while they were lying around waiting for the neck to be sanded/finished. Congratulations. Nice price nevertheless.

[bassric]

O.K....lets throw another curve ball into this mystery....
I just pulled off a tuner. No I.D. anywhere. The headstock is slotted where the tuner "tangs" are. The "Bezel" that goes into the top of the hole has a smaller "mill-step" if you will.
I was starting to think that maybe the neck is a Replica but it has the stamped serial # and "Made in the USA" stamped below it.
Does that Ripper have the "slotted" back?
Any more ideas? Thanks......



http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v313/ ... /tuner.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v313/ ... adslot.jpg

[Shag-Wim]

My old grabber has te same slots/ducts in the back of the head stock. It looks normal to me.

[lxmetal]

I was watching these on eBay:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...MEWA:IT&ih=002

How is the headstock on that one... any twisting going on?

[bassric]

No twisting at all.
I talked to Mike Lull today. he said those tuners are early Klusons.
I also noticed that someone changed the bridge saddles. I was trying to find some set screws for them and it turns out they were metric.
So, I bought some U.S. replacements. Now this thing will be rockin' by tomorrow. (I am a guitar tech, I have toured with Eddie Money, Jerry Cantrell, Queensryche and SmashMouth as well as various others who were on the bills. I have teched for Robert Trujillo and Dimebag on one offs.you can see my "Myspace" here..... http://www.myspace.com/bitchfacebass ).

[eb2]

"Early" may not be an accurate way to describe them. I would call them "Late" as the Gibson EB Klusons had the smaller diameter post. Those look like the original tuners, with evidence of some dopey kid's work with a screwdriver. The Allen screws and washers are hardware store replacements, and if I had a buck for every time I saw that. But I don't rule out Schaller . With no markings they could be either. Gibson started using Schaller to make their Kluson copies within a short period of that bass roaming the earth, so who knows? Mr Lull may be privy to some info to the contrary.

But finding that in a pawn shop for $150? Amazing.

[bassric]

You may be right. He did tell me that Gibson or Fender (can't remember who) bought out Kluson years ago and just basically shut down the production. Is that right?
Yes, $150 was a score. The Asian lady who owned the Pawn shop thought it was worth $2000 just because it is a Gibson. I always wanted another Gibson bass. I didn't have the extra money the week before when I saw it so I kind of stuffed it back behind some things and came back the next week to get it.
It is finally getting to the point of good action. It has to settle after my adjustments. I even stuck a Bad Ass II on there for a minute to see what it was like (I only used two holes that were already there).

Are all these tuners Reverse turning? Mine are. Kind of like an older Jazz bass tuner. They turn opposite.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v313/ ... rabber.jpg

[bassric]

BTW, this one is on the Seattle Craigslist......

http://seattle.craigslist.org/skc/msg/528395442.html

Anyone have the truss-rod cover for my bass?