The Gibson Ripper was launched in 1973 It was available as a standard fretted instrument and from 1975 as a fretless, though only 898 fretless ripper were shipped between 1976 and 1979 The earliest ripper bodies were manufactured from maple, though in 1975 to 1976 they were manufactured from alder. In 1977 they went back to maple.
The following shipping figures are taken from Larry Meiners book Gibson shipment totals
| 1973 | 1974 | 1975 | 1976 | 1977 | 1978 | 1979 | total | |
| Ripper Fretless L9-FS Ebony/Natural | 95 | 107 | 76 | 74 | 352 | |||
| Ripper Fretless L9-FS Tobacco Sunburst | 108 | 255 | 57 | 79 | 47 | 546 | ||
| Ripper L9-S Ebony | 19 | 426 | 118 | 734 | 442 | 466 | 198 | 2403 |
| Ripper L9-S Natural Maple Gloss | 20 | 3075 | 715 | 351 | 187 | 4348 | ||
| Ripper L9-S Natural Satin | 1057 | 1185 | ||||||
| Ripper L9-S Tobacco Sunburst | 5 | 22 | 52 | 19 | 28 | 126 |
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