The much-loved four-string is alive once more to enjoy a second life with Epiphone, offering bassists a humbucker with a splittable coil, and an excuse to stick their tongue out like Gene
Epiphone has raided the Gibson archives to reanimate the Grabber Bass, a lost classic bass guitar made famous by the likes of Krist Novoselic, Mike Dirnt and perhaps most notably Gene Simmons.
The Grabber was a go-to instrument for Simmons in the mid ‘70s, immortalised on the cover of KISS Alive! in 1975, and this Inspired By Gibson Epiphone version would certainly scratch the itch of many a KISS Army foot soldier looking to get in on the God of Thunder’s act.
Both finish options arrive with a maple fingerboard. Necks have been finished with an “antique” natural gloss finish that sells the illusion this could have been a box fresh original example, name on the headstock notwithstanding.
Besides the shape of this thing, and the appealing throw-and-go nature of it, the star of the show is the Epiphone Bass humbucker that is situated somewhere in the middle between the bridge and summit of the fretboard. This is where you’ll find the thunder.
Volume and tone controls adjust your sound to taste – but there’s more. A toggle switch located beside the controls – and the front-mounted 1/4” output jack – activates a coil-splitter, which just shows there is more than meets the eye to this Grabber Bass. It’ll cover a lot of styles.
Of course, we’re just presuming you’re going to play this through a fridge-style Ampeg bass amp stack but other options are available. This is 2024, not 1974.
Other vital statistics include the 320mm fretboard radius (a hair under 12.6” in the old scale), the 41mm nut, and the 34” scale length. The nut is bone and we have a Cast Grabber four-string bridge unit with a nickel cover. Epiphone has opted for Black Speed knobs for your controls.
The Epiphone Grabber Bass ships in a premium gigbag and is available now. Hat-tip to the Gibson Gazette for breaking the news. This release has surprisingly been kept under wraps, which is strange considering it is back because bassists have been requesting a Grabber for “decades”. Well, it’s here and it is priced £929/$999.