The Grabber 3 ’70s Tribute Bass is based on the classic Gibson G3 Bass design, featuring 3 single coil bass pickups with Hum-Canceling circuitry.
According to Gibson, they upgraded the classic design to address the needs of modern rock, funk and pop music of the day.
This tribute bass has all the essential features of the original G3 Bass intact, only this time around, it utilizes modern manufacturing quality, a glued-in neck and a newly designed set of single-coil bass pickups. Just like the old Gibson G3 Basses, the new Grabber 3 ’70s Tribute Bass produces versatile Fender-ish bass tones while maintaining Gibson aesthetics.
The body of this bass guitar is made of solid maple, carved in a unique double-cutaway shape with nicely contoured edges. To my eyes, the new Gibson Grabber 3 body shape looks a bit like a Music Man Sterling Bass, but with a unique pickguard design, and more shapely curves.
Improving on the classic bolt-on design, the maple neck of this tribute bass is glued into the body. It comes with a slim profile that measures .820″ at the first and 0.920″ at the 12th fret. A baked maple fingerboard is set on the top of the neck, featuring 20 frets that run on its 34″ scale length.
The headstock is pleasing to the eyes, shaped like an arrowhead just like Gibson’s earlier Flying V guitars. You can tune your strings with its four Grover tuners with Shamrock keys. The nut and the frets are utilizes modern Plek cutting technology for improved consistency across production models.
Gibson USA created three new Alnico V single-coil units just for this bass guitar. These pickups are wired in a unique scheme that gives you a quiet hum-cancelling operation in all positions. Gibson explains the pickup wiring: “A clever wiring scheme through the simple array of a three-way switch and master volume and tone controls assures that these units—with a reverse-wound, reverse-polarity middle pickup—offer hum-canceling performance in all positions. The “switch up” position gives you the neck and middle pickups for a rich, woody tone. The middle position taps all three pickups for a round, funky tone. And with the switch down, the bridge and middle pickups offer a punchy, snappy sound. All together, this simple yet clever array gives the Grabber 3 ’70s Tribute Bass unexpected versatility and makes it the perfect choice for any style of contemporary music.”
Other hardware found on this bass guitar includes black speed knobs, aluminum strap buttons and a chrome 3-point adjustable bridge. It comes in Satin Honeyburst or Satin Ebony finish and is available from the manufacturer with MSRP at $1,499. Finally, each piece comes with a plush-lined and protective gig bag.
For those that are curious about this bass guitar, you may visit Gibson.
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