LeftyBassist.com

A few questions on the Grabber or Ripper basses made by Gibson.

Does Gibson make a lefty version? Does Epiphone?

Would the Gibson Custom Shop make a left-handed model upon request?

Just curious, those basses are sick! Thanks so much.

Gibson/ Epiphone have never made a lefty Ripper or Grabber. Last I heard the custom shop was not doing lefty basses, but if they were the price would be astronomical.

You might consider getting a righty Ripper or Grabber and having someone like Michael Dolan build a lefty body for it and transfer the neck and guts to the lefty body.

No need to build a lefty body, simply mutate a righty like Gerald Casale of Devo did to his Grabber. Saw off the top horn and cover the routes with electrical tape.

The ONLY decent looking Grabber bass I have ever seen. Period. GeraldV at the zenith of Devolution - I love those guys!

Plus those basses are potentially lethal - check out this Nirvana clip - it isn't pretty:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u8oT9ag631Q&NR=1

(After Nirvana and Green Day emerged playing Grabbers/Rippers the market blew up when kids 'needed to have' those basses. Ironically Novoselic and Dirnt initially played Grabbers because they were soooooo cheap.)

And that's all I have to say about that.

That goes for many of the instruments of the grunge era. Cobain popularized Mustangs/Jaguars/Vox, and now they command more money. The Mustang was supposed to be a cheap student guitar, not some expensive vintage model.

Supposedly the Ripper was close in tone to a Rickenbacker. I would have liked a Ripper.

I've always loved that clip, I've got it taped on a VHS somewhere.