Ah got blistahs on mah fingah's!

[rickenbrother]

It rubs the lotion on it's fingers, or it bleeds all over the bass again.

[johnallg]

It rubs the lotion on it's fingers, or it bleeds all over the bass again.

Good one Mark!

[walker]

Thanks - just paraphrasing Brian's signature tribute to Jame 'Buffalo Bill' Gumb!

[walker]

And while we're at it, how about a 'Bloodiest Bass Photo' contest! Fortunately for me, I have nothing of competitive caliber. But OH, you know I can certainly conjure something!

[johnallg]

Thanks - just paraphrasing Brian's signature tribute to Jame 'Buffalo Bill' Gumb!

Oh, I knew. That was the beauty of it.

[walker]

That's good. Just wanted to give Brian props as my set-up man!

[marc61]

Interesting fact that it was Ringo who had blisters on his fingers at the end of Helter Skelter

[walker]

Really? I'm no Beatles expert, but the popular legend that I heard was that it was Lennon. He played bass on Helter-Skelter, and from what I understand, he encountered the same issue that Mr. Luke did.

[Ric N. Backer]

And while we're at it, how about a 'Bloodiest Bass Photo' contest! Fortunately for me, I have nothing of competitive caliber. But OH, you know I can certainly conjure something!

The Zipper bass.

Just be careful not to get anything caught in it!

A fine quality bass, but I have to wonder if it would have sounded better if Gibson had in fact used those pick-ups that are pictured, instead of the other ones that found their way onto this once-famous, and somewhat mediocre sounding bass?

Yea, I owned one back in the day. Sould have bought a Ric instead. Hindsight!

[heinpete]

Before any blistahs or blood on the fingahs Cuck Norris will have worn down the strings from their wound and played for another 4 hrs set on the string core!!!

[walker]

The Zipper bass. Just be careful not to get anything caught in it!

HA! Good one, Robert!

I didn't actually own one back in the day, but a friend of mine let me play his for a few performances when I was in junior high.



And that's no optical illusion - the bass and I are the same scale. Hard to tell from this photo, but the pickups might be the same as those in the "Rip your ears off" ad. PG is different, obviously - I suppose the "Zipper" had it's variations from year-to-year, like certain OTHER basses we know!

Note the notable 6-strings in the photo - a nice old Gibson ES 335, and a BC Rich Seagull, the first original design by Mr. Rico himself back in 1972, back when they were actually really good guitars.

[coolhandjjl]

Are those Kustom cabs?

[walker]

There's the one Kustom cab on the right, stage left. Those suckers were awesome! I believe that one in particular also doubled as a fold-out bed.

[Ric N. Backer]

The Zipper bass. Just be careful not to get anything caught in it!

HA! Good one, Robert!

I didn't actually own one back in the day, but a friend of mine let me play his for a few performances when I was in junior high.



And that's no optical illusion - the bass and I are the same scale. Hard to tell from this photo, but the pickups might be the same as those in the "Rip your ears off" ad. PG is different, obviously - I suppose the "Zipper" had it's variations from year-to-year, like certain OTHER basses we know!

Note the notable 6-strings in the photo - a nice old Gibson ES 335, and a BC Rich Seagull, the first original design by Mr. Rico himself back in 1972, back when they were actually really good guitars.

I LOVE this picture. Absolutely FANTASTIC!!

Thanks for posting.

The one you are holding is in fact the production model, which has the standard super-humbucker pick-ups that were common to that bass.

The Ripper pictured in the ad was a prototype that never came to light. The pick guard was canned because it approximated the Ric 4001, and the EB-O type pick-ups weren't used because it was felt that the new bass deserved a new set of pick-ups. Gibson didn't want to issue something that was too similar to their declining EB-0 & EB-3 line of bass guitars.

That picture you posted is too cool for words... love it! Brings back a lot of fond memories.....

[rickaddict]

There's the one Kustom cab on the right, stage left. Those suckers were awesome! I believe that one in particular also doubled as a fold-out bed.

Ha! I had one in the Silver Charcoal (or whatever Kustom called the color). My drummer used to call it "the flotation device!"