Watch On
In an exciting collaboration, Epiphone has teamed up with Mike Dirnt, the bassist of Green Day, to introduce a signature model of his iconic Grabber G-3 bass.
“I first got into bass through guitar,” he recounted in a conversation with Epiphone. “My mom had this old pawn shop bass. It only had a flatwound E and A string, and I would mess around with it.
“One day,during band practise,our original bassist Sean had to leave for a dentist appointment. Billie [Joe Armstrong] and I exchanged glances, and I thought, ‘Why not? Let’s give it a shot.’
“The moment I picked it up, I thought, ‘This is a blast!’ I looked at Billie, and he seemed to agree, saying, ‘Looks like we’ve found our new bassist.’ I thought to myself,’Did I just become a bassist?’”
The Mike Dirnt Grabber G-3,available in Natural and Silverburst finishes,follows the revival of the double-cut bass by Gibson in September 2024.
As a prominent player of the Grabber, Dirnt was a natural choice for this signature model. The bass features a 34″ scale with a maple body and a three-piece maple neck, complemented by either a maple or ebony fingerboard. Both versions include 20 medium jumbo frets and stylish abalone dot inlays.
For sound, the bass is equipped with three Gibson G-3 pickups, arranged in a unique “buck-and-a-half” configuration, along with a three-way pickup selector to toggle between the neck, middle, or all three humbuckers. Additionally, it features Master volume and Tone controls.
Hardware options include open-gear tuners with vintage-style clover buttons on the V-style headstock,a bone nut,and a Leo quan Badass II bridge. the string-through-body design enhances the G-3’s remarkable sustain.
The Epiphone Mike Dirnt G-3 is priced at $1,299/£1,199, with the Natural finish available exclusively on the epiphone website.
For more details, visit Gibson’s official site.
In a recent interview with Bass Player, Dirnt delved into the intricacies of tone and shared insights on the creation of their acclaimed rock opera, American Idiot.
