Gibson Grabber

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Gibson Grabber
Manufacturer	Gibson
Period	1973-1983
Construction
Body type	Solid
Neck joint	Bolt-on
Woods
Body	Maple (early models) or Alder (later models)
Neck	Maple
Fretboard	Maple
Hardware
Bridge	Fixed
Pickup(s)	1 Sliding Pickup
Colors available
Wine Red, Ebony, Natural, Walnut and White

The Gibson Grabber was a bass guitar introduced in 1973 along with the Gibson Ripper. The Grabber featured a bolt-on 34 1/2" neck like the Fender basses and shared a similar body with the Ripper. The Grabber also had a V-shaped headstock like the Gibson Flying V guitar. What made the Grabber truly unique from other basses was its sliding pickup to which the name refers. The bassist was able to position the pickup by sliding it either up or down to simulate a neck or bridge pickup. The pickup was brighter than the traditional Gibson style humbuckers, which made it sound more like Fenders. The Grabber had one volume, one tone control and a removable bridge cover. The Grabber was originally built with a thin, maple body, but it was changed to alder in 1975. 1975 was also a peak year for Grabber sales, totalling 2,637 basses shipped. The Gibson Grabber was marketed in wine red, ebony, natural, walnut and white colors. The Grabber was popular and quickly replaced the Gibson EB0 as Gibson's entry level bass. The Grabber was discontinued in 1982.

Later, another model of the Grabber was produced called the Gibson G3. This bass had three stationary pickups mounted between the bridge and middle positions. A three way switch was added to the control scheme so that each of the three pickups could be individually activated. Although very similar, the Grabber and G3 have different and unique sounds which lead players to prefer one over the other.