Here I am onstage on Long Island in the '90s with my 1975 fretless tobacco sunburst Ripper.  I absolutely love this instrument; plays great, looks great, and most of all sounds great.  Funnily enough, I never originally intended to buy a Gibson.  I had ordered a fretless Fender Precision months earlier through the music store at which I was teaching.  However, it kept getting back-ordered for months and months. One day the Gibson rep came into the store and mentioned that he had heard I was interested in a fretless and that Gibson had a new one he thought I might like.  He brought it in the next day and it was love at first sight!  In the intervening 34 years this bass and I have had many great adventures together and, thanks to my obsessive-compulsive care of the thing, it still looks like new.  Everyone I play with loves it too.  My only beef is that it's almost impossible to get a case that fits right and Gibson refuses to sell the case separately even though they've reissued the bass.  Mine got destroyed years ago in an accident and I've been making do with a Fender style case ever since.  Nevertheless, the Ripper is one of my all-time favorite basses.  I'm happy to have stumbled upon your fascinating and fun website.  Keep up the good work.
Stephen Fricker Huntington, New York

Multi instrumentalist Stephen Fricker's Solo Album - The Twelve Guitars of Christmas
Stephen Fricker also appears with his wife, guitarist, vocalist and multi-instrumentalist Patricia Shih

Gibson Ripper Basses (Gibson Bass Website)

Gibson Grabber Basses (Gibson Bass Website)