1973 Gibson Ripper Bass - Broken Truss Rod

[cwhitten]

Hello all,

Can anyone help me with suggesting a course of action to take? We have a vintage Gibson Ripper Bass in need of repair and I am looking for opinions on what to do. We payed $530 for the bass, the truss rod just snapped and knowing that the repair may cost more than we paid for the guitar, I am searching for creative solutions. The bass was originally built with a maple fretted fingerboard. Someone else added a fretless ebony fingerboard on top of the original before we bought it. My thought is that if we are going to pay an arm and a leg for repairing the truss rod, the only thing that makes sense is to have it restored to original in the process so at least the guitar will retain some value if we hang on to it.

Do any of you have ideas for various courses of action that could be taken and costs involved? Do you know a great, value added repair person? I'd like to have good options before I hand it over to someone...could I save some money by removing the old board myself? Problems? I'm willing to be very creative in my approach to find the most cost effective solution that will maintain the value of the vintage guitar. I've posted close-up pics for you to see at I've tried to cover everything.

Thank you so much in advance for your help.

[VintAxe]

Hi cwhitten,

I have a little information that may be useful to you. My VG Price Guide indicates that the Ripper Bass was produced from 1974-1982 so the 1969 attribution may be a bit early.

Also, the bass is valued from $800-$900 by the Guide. This is going to make it difficult for you to break even on this instrument in the short term if you decide to fix it.

I should see my luthier tomorrow. He has a couple of my guitars and drops off at my house (how's that for service). I'll show him what you've got and see what he thinks an approximate price range would be for the repair. Knowing approximate repair costs should help you decide how to proceed. sb

[cwhitten]

VintAxe,
I realized I had inserted the wrong date after I posted it. I have edited the date to be 1973, but it may be up to 1976. Thanks for the catch.

Thanks even more for talking to your luthier for me! I have sent several emails out to a few I found online, (not knowing anyone personally like you do) - hearing from yours would mean a lot to me. When you show the pictures to him, will you please ask how much we could save by removing the fingerboard ourselves before sending it to him. I believe that I can handle that part myself if I take my time...as you can see from the pics, the varnish seal has already been broken due to the stress on the neck, I suppose. We are just sick that the guitar has been damaged. We haven't had it that long.

The price guide information is helpful. My son is a musician and says he plans on keeping this guitar till he's an old man. He purchased it off eBay. He is nostalgic for the Ripper bass and the music of the era. We would like to keep the costs of repair as low as possible while retaining the value. He's off to college in the fall so money is an issue.

Look forward to hearing back from you!

[VintAxe]

Hi cwhitten,

My luthier Keith just came by and I had him take a look at your Ripper. Here is his estimate if he were to do the work:

$30-$50 to pull the ebony fretboard depending on the level of difficulty
$30 to clean the fretboard and get glue gunk out of the fret slots
$30 to refinish the fretboard
$170 for a refret job

This breakdown should give you some idea of where you can do work to bring the overall cost of repair down.

I am sorry, but I flat forgot to tell him about the broken truss rod so I didn't get a price on that fix. I think I'll probably see him again next week if he gets my work done and I'll do my best to remember to ask.

If we assume for a moment that you do some of the work and the bass can be put back to original condition for $300 you are still within the VG Price range for a Ripper in very good to excellent condition. Assuming everything else about the bass is sound, I'd say you are still on the "restore it" side of the equation. I think this is especially true if your son wants to keep it anyway, this removes the pressure of being able to get your money back in the short term.

Finally, it would be best if you could find someone to do the work locally. I just shipped a 25 pound guitar package yesterday and it cost me $50 including insurance. Adding $100 to the price tag just in round trip shipping is not good. I hope this information helps with your decision. sb

[cwhitten]

Thank you. I can see that this type of work can span a wide range of costs. I have had two quotes so far, one in town for $750 and one out of town for $650. I am concerned that I will either pay too much for a good job, or even worse, pay less but get a poor job. I want to pay less for a good job! lol Your guy sounds reasonable, but the main thing I need is the truss rod replacement. If you do happen to remember, I would like to hear that quote.

Thanks again for your help,

[evilLordJuju]

Hi,

There is another possible solution to your truss rod issue.

I got a Ripper on ebay once with the same problem, which I got fixed for £30. The Ripper in question was already a bit hacked, plus rinned and not worth spending big bucks on. You could probably do it yourself to be honest

This is not the best repair but it is the cheapest.

What you do is scallop out a bit of the wood, until the truss rod is showing again.

Heres a pic of mine after the repair


Where you can see wood rather than black is where the wood was removed. It all depends how much of the tip has snapped to see if it will work.

Stewmac actually make a tool for this, but a bit expensive if you are just doing one



The downside is that the bottom truss rod cover screwhole is then lost....


You have also to ask why it snapped? Is the neck warped? Was someone overtightening to straighten an un-straightenable neck. Might be better to part it out on ebay and see what you can get!

And by the way, if you want to date it check the ripper pages on my site gibsonbass.com (there are several pages of info)
, Yours looks like a 75-76.

Early ones had a differnt body shape, more rounded horns

Good luck!
jules

[cwhitten]

Thanks for the dating info Jules. The neck is warped a bit...we're still talking to luthiers and thinking...