Jayme Lewis's Gibson Grabber 

I would love to see Gibson give this bass a proper reissue in the future.

The first time I ever saw that bass was watching some early Kiss performances with my dad. I wouldn't mind pick one up one day but they're so exceedingly rare. If Gibson was to make an reissued version of this I'd be on that.

Thrice... the bass line on 'Stare at the Sun' blew my mind back in the day

Shout out to thrice!! That line you played sounds perfect on that bass.

Man, Gibson had the magic back in the 70s. I own a Ripper and it is still my favorite sound and feel of any bass I own. I have a Gibson Victory that I also love, and picked up the 120th SG to finally add a short-scale to my collection; both a great, but the Ripper, Grabber, and G-3 were all just stellar instruments. Hitting jazz and funk on it are super sweet, punk sounds blown out in the best way, and it has a brutal growl for heavier rock and metal. My only wish is that it came in a 5-string model. It's still perfect without the extended range, but that would be the only way to elevate this thing. It was revolutionary when it was made, and it still holds up to this day.

Wow! Never knew the pickups did that. Seems like that would be a cool design on any bass.

Caleb Scofield formerly of the amazing band ‘cave in’ brought me here. Amazing bass player who also used the grabber. Caleb Scofield forever.

Lou Barlow had one of these in 1986 and 1987. What Jayme said makes sense because Lou was in a similar situation. Dinosaur Jr is known for huge guitar sounds and he needed a bass that sticks out in the mix.

Hey don't forget about the gibson RIPPER! never played it but i saw a few cats with them at shows. we had a female bassist in our crew who played the EB3 gibson at all of the shows.

Gene Simmons used one as well in the super early days of kiss; it’ll take some digging but you can find when they did tv shows and he had one that’s where I encountered the bass and I’ve wanted once since.

I've also always wanted one of these. My first time seeing it was Mike Dirnt at a live show. Thanks for reminding me! Now I've gotta go spend more cash on gear! Haha

grabber, g3, ripper are amazing, misery signal, green day, thrice sound my childhood i need one

Another bassist/band in the same vein as Thrice that used a Grabber was Brendan Brown from The Receiving End of Sirens. Amazing band, great bass lines and tone. They were a 3-guitar band so when that Grabber was thrown into a live setting, they sounded absolutely massive.

I just picked up a 77 G3 Grabber, got a great deal, love it! Really awesome tone, kind of rings acoustically when not plugged in, weird. Looks just like yours, perfect neck, all the hardware, everything great, which trips me out because I bought it from a punk kid lol. Thought it would have been thrashed!

All all maple basses I've tried sounded amazing. Not sure why there aren't more.

Bought my Grabber for $250 in pristine condition. Didn't know what I had! She's a heavy beast! Also useful in a zombie apocalypse!

The Gibson Grabber helped a very untalented musician such as myself to achieve semi success.. I traded it in for a Vox Phantom. The Gibson Grabber was dependable and always produced the piercing bass sound that I desired. My Grabber was identical to the one you see on this video, At the time, I wanted a brightly colored bass like gold or red or yellow, preferably metalflake,. Before the Grabber, I had a Gibson EBO.

Big fan of Jayme Lewis. Amazing bass player.

Killed that Hoods on Peregrine line👊🏼

I’ve wanted a Grabber since I was about 15 (I’m 28 now) and I finally got one earlier this year for an amazing price and I absolutely love it! My hand gets cut up by the bridge saddle screws as well. What bridge did you put on this Grabber? One of my favorite RU-vid channels!

I got one. I read somewhere that Gibson alternated between alder and maple for the body of these basses. Neck is maple.

Sounds really awesome with the fuzz behind it!

Love the sound from japan!

Anybody ever heard of Rick Danko from the Band,he used one in the movie the Last Walz and he was a hell of a musician

Looks like the bridge replacement is not quite centered. The poor G string is a cliff hanger!

God I love the tone of this thing. Ripe for a clone or reissue.

As dumb, impractical and ineffective as it might be, I think the moveable pickup is the coolest gimmick ever.

It’s like a j bass lite with that “bridge” position

hey Jayme, nice bass! what gauge of strings do you use for drop C? i currently play in drop B and use 5 string set (E string .130), but I see people playing in low tuning with fairly standard 4 string sets.

Fender has been very successful for making basses and guitars.

I've got the exact same one and I absolutely love it. I wanna ask, what bridge did you put on it? I've got the original one and it's painful for palm mute playing. Great review anyways take it easy!

Is the intro line an original or is it from somewhere I'm failing to recognize?

Hi Jayme, nice tone Just curious, what strings do you use?

Thanks for the video! What gauge are you using for Drop C? And did you have to adjust the truss rod too much to get it there?

Cola is also great to remove glue residue!

The Grabber was my first real bass. Sadly, it was stolen from a rehearsal space.

Was the hip shot a direct replacement without drilling? I just re-acquired the first bass I ever owned that was stolen in 1980. But it’s missing the bridge

Hi, it's 2024 and I can't find one of these for under two grand.

Do you play flats or roundwounds ?? looking at buying new strings for my grabber n love your tone

I've recently picked up the 2008 (i think) reissue of this bass. The Gibson Grabber II limited edition. Its been set up with a new bridge n sounds awesome. Just wandering what strings people use on these? And which strings they use ? Flatwounds/roundeounds? Thanks 😊

Do you have the original bridge?

Gene Simmons used to play these in his young years

whats the name of that bridge? is it string through body? i put a badass ii on mine.. so much better than stock

Y is it only a character piece aren’t these things similar to p basses

Shout out to Eddie from Thrice!!

What a tone!))))))

Spoiler alert, the only effect wood type has on electric instruments is sustain (because of mass) unless the pickups are microphonic as hell, it doesn’t have any effect on TONE, but fret material, what the nut and bridge are made of, basically anything the string touches, and the electronics themselves DO have a more obvious effect on tone, unless you like the look of the wood and are willing to pay a premium, just get the cheaper basswood or alder versions..

Well, congrats for your new bridge, but your neck and/or your new bridge are misaligned, 'cause the gap you have from 4th string to neck border is clearly bigger than the one from the 1st to the border's neck, even when the camera is set from the headstock. After all that work to bring it to life, it´s a shame. Great bass, any way. I used to play a G3 and man, that thing was so in tune all along the neck. Best F note in a bass ever.

I gave a thumbs up just for the Coca-Cola comment. Jayme's awesome.

What band does he play in?

I missed hearing some Gene Simmons riffs on that bass

Jayme your Grabber has a Alder wood body not a maple body

What year is it?

If it wasn't for Bill Lawrence, The Gibson Grabber would not have been popular.

Whoa only 400 bucks damn

Hoods on P ⚡️⚡️

What strings do you use on the grabber, rounds or flats? And what brand?

im currently looking at buying a Gibson Grabber 2 for $900 with a babics bridge n new nut. is this a good deal?

A bit funny looking, but it's got a great pick sound!

Lol I wonder how many Grabbers Ed influenced people to buy

5 years later you are looking at $3000 now.

Maybe Fender can learn a lot more.

That hat looks so wrong on you bud

Here because of badbadnotgood

That's an alder body

Really not that much difference in the tones, seems like a gimmick, the bass sounds good (ugly af) but heavy

Pickup selector? No. Pickup mover.

A J bass? You mean a Jazz bass.