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Travis

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At least right at the outset we know who made it. Didn't he refuse--at least at one point---refuse to identify who made the Punisher model? IIRC it was B.C. Rich

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Many times Gene has said he does not like asymmetrical body shapes for basses.  The Spector that was seen around the time of Alive II was symmetrical.  The Punisher was symmetrical as well.  For a while in the 80s Gene played Pedulla basses.  Seeing these pseudo Thunderbirds make me laugh a little. 

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Cool enough looking bass, but, what is the market?  Does Gene's celebrity really hold sway?

Just spitballing and trying to make sense of the strategy: you want to sell basses (guitars in general), so you hang your hat on a guy with a fairly limited set of chops who's at the end of his career (not knocking Gene.  His set of skills were perfect for Kiss)? 

I recognize the history of Gibson and Gene (or at least I recall there was a relationship back when I was a fan, i.e., through Alive II).  I just don't see Gene as someone who would sway my decision on which bass to purchase and I surely don't see him as swaying at all the decision of anyone, say, twenty years or more younger than me. 

I'd put all of these guys in the same, "mature" category: Geddy? Sheehan? Pino? Marcus? Victor? Bootsy? Steve Harris? Sure, I guess, but Gene?  Maybe it's that they're all taken (in order):

Fender, Yamaha, Fender, Fender/Sire, Fodera, Fender

Why not grab a Thundercat (presently with Ibanez), Tal (Sadowsky, maybe), Michael League from Snarky Puppy, or why not some of the "influencers" like that Davie504 guy from YouTube?  GENE? 

Not picking up what they're putting down, not to mention a new brand to boot.  This feels too much like one of those spurious case study "solutions" some team came up with in nerd school - checks some theoretical boxes, presented, then sits down to applause while it would never work in the real world.

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Yeah, I noticed he played a T-bird for a few songs in the Dubai show. It just didn't look right, and it seemed like he was a bit uncomfortable. I'm so used to seeing him playing more symmetrical body shapes. 

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1 hour ago, killerteddybear said:

I'm surprised he hasn't changed his name to $immons...

He’d have two vertical lines thru the S...

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6 hours ago, killerteddybear said:

I'm surprised he hasn't changed his name to $immons...

Have you not seen the autograph he's been signing (and has trademarked) since the 1970s?

 

Gene sig.jpg

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When I was a teen and our garage band was looking for a bassist a guy showed up and he was decent but not a great player but we weren't exactly Led Zeppelin either. After he left we had a meeting to decide if we wanted him in the band. One guy finally says " the guy is kinda goofy lookin' and besides he plays a Gibson Ripper, that's a deal breaker for me". 

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Those Gibson Ripper and Grabber basses were good.  The Grabber pickup made that bass feel odd the whole time you played it, though.  It was like you might want to move it around.   Then again it sounded OK where it was.  It was a simpler way of creating the same problem with a B.C. Rich switch section. 

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2 hours ago, LefThanDed said:

Distributed Exclusively by:

20210109_202346.jpg

All jokes aside, that would almost make sense. That's the kind of joint that the late comedian Tim Wilson called a "Go to Hell Store". 

 

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On 1/9/2021 at 8:08 AM, Steve Haynie said:

Those Gibson Ripper and Grabber basses were good.  The Grabber pickup made that bass feel odd the whole time you played it, though.  It was like you might want to move it around.   Then again it sounded OK where it was.  It was a simpler way of creating the same problem with a B.C. Rich switch section. 

I always dug the G-3.   If one turned up in Ebony finish for a reasonable price and didn’t weigh 15lbs, I’d pull the trigger.

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8 minutes ago, cmatthes said:

I always dug the G-3.   If one turned up in Ebony finish for a reasonable price and didn’t weigh 15lbs, I’d pull the trigger.

I had a black G-3 stolen from me in Ottawa, Canada around 1980. So there's at least one out there...
FWIW I replaced it with a Yamaha PBass (BB1200) and never looked back.

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