- Ships to:
- United States
This is a 1977 Gibson RD Standard bass that I restored to almost 100% original condition. Only 900 of these made and in overall great condition for a 48 year old bass. I completely took apart and cleaned everything on this bass just to inspect that everything worked. Truss rod nut, bridge posts and tuners are also all lubricated and greased properly.
Tuners, pickups, pickguard, bridge, electronics cover, knobs and case are all original as far as I can tell. Nut is likely not original but I really can't tell. Bridge is probably original but the saddle screws don't let you top load the strings properly because of how they're mounted so I'm also not sure on those.
I sourced the following parts:
-New Reproduction truss rod cover from Philadelphia luthier tools
-Aged Schaller/Grover strap buttons
-I sourced 3 A300k Gibson pots from the 1970s/80s Norlin era and a vintage Sprague .022 capacitor. I found a picture of an unmolested RD electronics cavity and restored the wiring as close as possible to factory wiring. This is according to the 1981 official Gibson parts list.
The bass plays great. Heavy as you'd expect but I played a bunch of gigs with it since I bought it and I'm still here. Lots of wear and imperfections as pictured. Truss rod works wonderfully. It appears someone has refinished the headstock and hand painted the Gibson logo with that added graphic. I believe that was part of the official Gibson company branding at the time and only the Artist models had any designs on the headstock so that makes this bass unique in that sense.
The original Gibson case is in OK shape with a kitchen cabinet handle installed. Strange but seems very solid to me. All latches work
Tuners, pickups, pickguard, bridge, electronics cover, knobs and case are all original as far as I can tell. Nut is likely not original but I really can't tell. Bridge is probably original but the saddle screws don't let you top load the strings properly because of how they're mounted so I'm also not sure on those.
I sourced the following parts:
-New Reproduction truss rod cover from Philadelphia luthier tools
-Aged Schaller/Grover strap buttons
-I sourced 3 A300k Gibson pots from the 1970s/80s Norlin era and a vintage Sprague .022 capacitor. I found a picture of an unmolested RD electronics cavity and restored the wiring as close as possible to factory wiring. This is according to the 1981 official Gibson parts list.
The bass plays great. Heavy as you'd expect but I played a bunch of gigs with it since I bought it and I'm still here. Lots of wear and imperfections as pictured. Truss rod works wonderfully. It appears someone has refinished the headstock and hand painted the Gibson logo with that added graphic. I believe that was part of the official Gibson company branding at the time and only the Artist models had any designs on the headstock so that makes this bass unique in that sense.
The original Gibson case is in OK shape with a kitchen cabinet handle installed. Strange but seems very solid to me. All latches work
