[garwalt]

Salutations to all,

I have a Gibson Ripper that I have been trying to date for quite a while. Serial Number (101209) would tell me that it was made in 1974, but other charts i have say that the tobacco sunburst fretted Ripper was not available until 1975, and a bit rare. Any guidance would be most appreciated.

[thunderbird]

You cant really go by serial numbers - they are notoriously unreliable.

Gibson seem to have removed their serial number pdf, but that number could be either 74 or 75 - they are unsure themselves!

Have you looked at the pot codes. Also in 75 they were alder bodied rather than maple. Whats yours made of?

tbird

[garwalt]

Thank You for the reply!!! Well thanks to this GREAT forum I am taking the Ripper in for some wiring work (Thank You Collie for the wiring diagram!!) He will document the Pot numbers for me and I will post them as soon as I have them.

[garwalt]

Oh, also acoording to http://www.flyguitars.com/gibson/bass/L-9Sripper.php there were no Snburst Ripper Fretted basses shipped in 1974, with only 5 shipped in 1975. Things that make one go Hmmmm.

[Sting my ray]

I remember seeing rick danko of "The Band" play a sunburst gibson ripper with a rosewood fretboard on the last waltz. I remember hearing he had about 4 rippers in totall with different modified pick-ups

and i remember that the last waltz was shot in 1976.

[garwalt]

Thanks for the reply!! Wouldn't it be great if i end up tracking the Rip and finding out it had been given to someone from The Band or some other group of that ( also my ) time period. My appointment with the ICs Fretted Repair is next week and hopefully i will have more news. 1976 wouldn't be a bad year either, as only 52 were shipped by Gibson that year!!

Also, to my own chagrin i cannot determine whether my Rip is alder or maple? What is best method to identify?

[jules]

Hi,

maple is heavier than alder, so one way to tell what body your ripper has is to weigh it. My 1978 Maple ripper weighs in at 4.7 kg - obviously different finishes/strings/bridge covers etc will change the weight slightly, but an alder ripper should be noticeably less. My alder ripper is stripped down just now so I have not weighed it, but both my rippers are the second body shape. The earlier body shape is bigger and maple, so I suppose that will be greater than 4.7 kg still. anyone got one to weigh????

Jules

[garwalt]

Thank you everyone for keeping the steam alive!!!!! Well, whilst my wife doesnt like having a scale in the house (chuckle), I am leaning towards alder. I rememeber what a beast the RD Artist was that i used to own back in the eighties. Rock Maple and Walnut and a broken collarbone waiting to happen during another ill advised stage leap that were common for me then. Never broke the collarbone but did end up with quite a few bruised ribs.
We are still awaiting our appointment at ICS. They rewired it a month or so ago (but not to factory spec) Position one was like a "standby" setting with no output feeding through to the plug. They simply emulated the existing wiring, or lack there of. They are going to bring it up to original factory spec - gratis, so I am having to await an opening. My workshop area has been overrun by PC's in various stages of assembly, or dissassembly as it were.

The plan is to try to drop it off tomorow eve with the hope of using an appearance to provoke a little more urgency on their part. More news as soon as it is available.

Thank you everyone!!!!!!

[bassdroid]

Old thread I know, but I love Rippers and had to respond. According to a promotional video for the 1975 single "Jailbreak", Mark Evans (of Bon-Scott-era AC/DC) played a fretted sunburst Ripper w/ what looks like an ebony fingerboard. Early photos & films show that he had a maple one as well.

[bolmsted]

I have a 1975 Sunburst Ripper with ebony frettboard. It is unusual in that the body is made of alder but the horns are not sharp but instead are rounded and the body appears to be of the larger size. You can tell an Alder body by the grain pattern (alder does not typically have a very sharp grain unlike maple) and weight. My bass is very neck heavy. Other oddities someone may be able to confirm is the tuners do not say "Gibson" on them, they have a standard screw instead of a phillips and they turn clockwise to increase pitch. This is opposite of my 1978 Grabber. My 75 ripper won't even fit into my grabber case due to the size. It seems odd to me that the body is of the larger earlier style ripper but the wood is alder (or maybe it just shows that the suspected 5 rippers made that year are a transition type ripper???). What a great sound those rippers have though.

Later