Gibson "odd" Electric Guitars

[GCWaters]

Originally Posted by Bob Womack

I was in a band for a couple of yeas with a guy who played a Gibson Grabber bass.




Note sliding pickup. It had the ability to do a sort of Rick sound but with Gibson girth.

Bob

Rick Danko used to play a Gibson Ripper...

[M Hayden]

Originally Posted by Howard Emerson

Matt,
That's exactly where I got the notion to try this, but with a twist.



HE

OMG that’s gorgeous. Does it sound as good as it looks?

[M Hayden]

Originally Posted by DanR

WANT. One of my friends had an L6-S back when and it was good. The body shape was awkward but it had a ridiculously wide variety of tones for a pair of split-coil HBs.

[Howard Emerson]

Originally Posted by M Hayden

OMG that’s gorgeous. Does it sound as good as it looks?

Hi Matt,
Um........no, sad to say.

The neck pickup sounds wonderful by itself, but the output of the bridge pickup is lacking in my opinion.

I chalked that up to the fact that the coil is slightly further away from the strings at the bridge than it is at the neck, but I tried a test using a 'better' (ie: older) model of Dynasonic pickup held above the strings in the same location.

There was not an appreciable increase in gain. Of course there's the magnetic pull of the pole pieces involved, etc, but I'm not sure it would be worth going crazy over.

I may, however, just give the guitar to my friend Bobby Popper at Tonemaster pickups, and have him do a hotter rewind of the bobbin.

I'm picking nits, of course. I can get a great sound out of the guitar, but my baseline standard is plugging into my Princeton Reverb Reissue with a D123 JBL at 3-4 volume. It has the twang, but it's talking instead of hollering. My Tele build with Vintage Vibe CC pickups is all over it, no contest, but I digress.....

HE

[dave42]

This ad hung on my wall as a teen. I've never owned one, though.

[KCharlesD]

Didn't Rick Danko play a Gibson Grabber bass in the 1970's?

[Dru Edwards]

Hey Fazool, I though a few times of buying a basic Sonex back in the mid 2000s on eBay but never got to it. Great way to buy an inexpensive Gibson but I never read any great reviews. I'll have to read up on the Custom though.

Originally Posted by fazool

My first electric was a Sonex 180 Custom

Sonex was one of Gibson's oddball science experiments made out of resin that resonated better than wood. They published scientific studies showing better resonance, sustain, etc. But it was non-traditional and shunned.

They had a basic model, a mid range model and the "Custom" high end model, then a rare model with a Moog midi built in.

The Custom was actually a fantastic guitar with ebony fretboard, dirty finger humbuckers, coil split. This was an amazing guitar.

I sold it and moved on. Decades later I bought an old one and fully restored it. The nostalgia factor was wonderful but I moved into a different style of guitar.

The other models were nothing great but the Custom was an incredible guitar.

[GCWaters]

Originally Posted by KCharlesD

Didn't Rick Danko play a Gibson Grabber bass in the 1970's?

A Ripper, I believe

[EZYPIKINS]

Guitarist #3 in our 9 pc band had a Marauder back in the 70's

[jay7347]

My 2013 Gibson ES195 Memphis build would be my offering for a non-traditional Gibson. The headstock seems kind of "Fenderish". "Rusty" had been my main electric since I got her and has a really nice jazzish voice. Recently though she's had to make some room for my Gretsch Black Falcon which is my main guitar for playing in our worship band.

-jay

[Coop47]

Behold - the Corvus:

[Dru Edwards]

I currently have a 5 string SG Standard ... I wonder if that counts.

[dnf777]

Marauder c. 1975 or so. Dont play it much anymore

[Steve DeRosa]

Originally Posted by jay7347

My 2013 Gibson ES195 Memphis build would be my offering for a non-traditional Gibson. The headstock seems kind of "Fenderish"...

For your consideration, the new Guild Starfire I Jet90:

[s2y]

Originally Posted by Coop47

Behold - the Corvus:

Also featured in the Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai.