Gibson G3

The Gibson G-3 was a bass guitar by Gibson building on the design of the Gibson Grabber.

Introduced in 1975 as a companion to the Gibson Grabber, the G-3 (which stands for Grabber 3) introduced a new pickup scheme to the already established body style. Instead of a sliding pickup as was present in the Grabber, the G-3 featured a so-called "buck-and-a-half" trio of single coils. Along with a tone and volume control, the G-3 featured a three-way switch linked in with three Bill Lawrence single coil pickups. In the up position, the neck and middle pickups would be activated, and, as they were wired out of phase, a humbucker effect would result. Likewise, in the down position, the middle and treble pickups would be activated similarly. However, when switched to the middle position, all three pickups would be activated, the neck and treble pickups being in phase while the middle would be out of phase with both, hence the term "buck-and-a-half".

Notable players
Brian Cook - Botch, These Arms Are Snakes, Russian Circles, Sumac

Mike Dirnt - Green Day

John Entwistle - The Who

Kenny Vasoli - The Starting Line

Jeremy Davis - Paramore

Julian Dimagiba - Young Rising Sons

Nik Bruzzese - Man Overboard

Billy Hamilton - Silverstein

Pierre Kezdy - Naked Raygun, Pegboy, Strike Under Electric Light Orchestra

2012 Inspired Reissue
In 2012, Gibson introduced a G-3 inspired model in their '70s Tribute Series. Coined the Grabber 3 '70s Tribute Bass, this instrument borrows heavily from the visual aesthetic of the original G-3 while also retaining the "buck-and-a-half" pickup combination, albeit with modern Alnico V single coil pickups as opposed to the Bill Lawrence models used in the original; as well as having a more traditional pickup layout, as opposed to the pickups in the original which hugged closer to the bridge.