Gibson RD Artist Pick up

[HIaWATTha]

Hi

Need help... is this a Gibson RD Artist Bass pickup? Looks like 6 pole pieces. Picture on fly guitars show no pole pices ([Invalid or Expired Link Removed]) Bought on eBay as an NOS Gibson RD Artist Bass pickup near 20 years ago.

 

[NKBassman]

Looks to be approx. the right shape, but it's been a few years since I sold my old RD.
Could be an RD guitar pickup... ?

@fu22ba55 , what say you?

 

[HIaWATTha]

Looks to be approx. the right shape, but it's been a few years since I sold my old RD.
Could be an RD guitar pickup... ?

@fu22ba55 , what say you?

Sold my RD two three years ago myself ... and just found this hidden away.

I have never seen a RD guitar with plastic covers, like on the bass guitar...

 

[NKBassman]

Sold my RD two three years ago myself ... and just found this hidden away.

I have never seen a RD guitar with plastic covers, like on the bass guitar...

A very brief Google image search and I'm in agreement.

 

[NKBassman]

I don't remember being able to see any pole pieces through the epoxy on mine, but they def had quick-connect ends on them that plugged into the circuit board. That's all I can remember. Could be this one was cut off. The wiring colors and single conductor w/ ground are consistent with the pics you linked.

And there's no reason bass pickups can't have 6 pole pieces. Should, in theory, create a more uniform magnetic field that way. But none of this answers your question.

 

[fu22ba55]

Looks to be approx. the right shape, but it's been a few years since I sold my old RD.
Could be an RD guitar pickup... ?

@fu22ba55 , what say you?

Looks a hell of a lot like a legit RD Pickup to me, but it's been years since I've seen one. My original pickup assembly is gone.

EDIT: bottoms of mine had more epoxy... epoxy was flush with the bottom of the pickup cover, so no pole pieces were visible on mine.

 

[96tbird]

Gibson only made big fat pickups with the mount tabs in those positions for use on one bass: the RD Artist. The victory pickups had all three tabs on the narrow ends opposite each other. Truly, the bass was not conspicuous enough in the world for anyone to bother making knockoffs so IMO, you’ve got the real deal there.

 

[40Hz]

The Artist had two wires like the ones on your pickup as opposed to the passive Victory models which had pickups with three wires.

But as earlier mentioned by @fu22ba55, the epoxy completely filled the cover cavity of Gibson’s Mark V active pups. You couldn’t see any pole pieces. At least not on any of the Victory Artist bass pickups I ever saw. If that paper tag is a part number, it also doesn’t match Gibson’s p/n which is: 13066.

 

[96tbird]

Check the writing on the wire. If you find USA on it, chances are the pickup was at least made in the USA. Little likelihood that offshore would import USA wire to make knockoff pickups.

As for the level of the epoxy, I don’t see that as a big deal. It would have been hand poured in the 80s so inconsistencies in amount wouldn’t be unusual. My three G3 pickups all have different levelsof epoxy in them. One is barely enough and one is almost level.

 

[40Hz]

As for the level of the epoxy, I don’t see that as a big deal. It would have been hand poured in the 80s so inconsistencies in amount wouldn’t be unusual. My three G3 pickups all have different levelsof epoxy in them. One is barely enough and one is almost level.

True enough. But each G3 pickup is also slightly different. Not to say that should matter for the epoxy fill as far as sound goes. But it also makes for better odds they weren’t all manufactured as part of the same shop run. So the odds of there being variances among the G3 pups might be greater whereas the Victory RD Artist uses two of the exact same Mark V pickups.

A lot of time pickup rewind services don’t use as much epoxy in a rebuild either. And there are a fair number of Gibson pickups from that era (notably Rippers and Grabbers) that have since been rewound.

So you make a very good point. And I’ll agree 100% with you it’s probably not a good absolute test of authenticity to rely purely on how much epoxy is in the pickup cover.

Good catch!

 

[NKBassman]

True enough. But each G3 pickup is also slightly different. Not to say that should matter for the epoxy fill as far as sound goes. But it also makes for better odds they weren’t all manufactured as part of the same shop run. So the odds of there being variances among the G3 pups might be greater whereas the Victory Artist uses two of the exact same Mark V pickups.

A lot of time pickup rewind services don’t use as much epoxy in a rebuild either. And there are a fair number of Gibson pickups from that era (notably Rippers and Grabbers) that have since been rewound.

So you make a very good point. And I’ll agree 100% with you it’s probably not a good absolute test of authenticity to rely purely on how much epoxy is in the pickup cover.

Good catch!

Just to be clear, we're talking about the RD Artist here, not the Victory.

 

[40Hz]

Just to be clear, we're talking about the RD Artist here, not the Victory.

Yup. I’m awake. I knew that.

(Yeah Right!)

(Just did a strikethru in moi earlier post. Thx for catching that. )

 

[HIaWATTha]

Thanks for all comments and thoughts.

Make sense that no one would bother to make a knockoff of this pick up.

There is some marking on the wire; AIPHA WIRE and then the letter M… which could be the first letter in Made in… but off course the rest I stripped off

 

[40Hz]

Good chance it’s ALPHA rather than AIPHA. As in Alpha Wire Co. in Elizabeth NJ.

 

[HIaWATTha]

Good chance it’s ALPHA rather than AIPHA. As in Alpha Wire Co. in Elizabeth NJ.

That coul

Good chance it’s ALPHA rather than AIPHA. As in Alpha Wire Co. in Elizabeth NJ.

Aha, ALPHA makes for sure more sense than AIPHA.

The No on the paper tag is perhaps a serial/batch/production number rather than Gibson’s part number?

 

[40Hz]

That coul



Aha, ALPHA makes for sure more sense than AIPHA.

The No on the paper tag is perhaps a serial/batch/production number rather than Gibson’s part number?

Absolutely no idea. Could be anything I’m afraid.

 

[HIaWATTha]

And then the billion dollar question, is there any big buck in this if I should part with it? Are we looking at $20 or $100? What do you think. I have no idea what I paid 20 years ago, I don’t think I got it cheap… (if not would probably not have bought it )

 

[NKBassman]

And then the billion dollar question, is there any big buck in this if I should part with it? Are we looking at $20 or $100? What do you think. I have no idea what I paid 20 years ago, I don’t think I got it cheap… (if not would probably not have bought it )

I would assume closer to the $20 end of that spectrum, but you never know.

 

[96tbird]

And then the billion dollar question, is there any big buck in this if I should part with it? Are we looking at $20 or $100? What do you think. I have no idea what I paid 20 years ago, I don’t think I got it cheap… (if not would probably not have bought it )

Market rules: if you have what someone needs you can charge a premium. If you’re just unloading it to someone that doesn’t really need it, fire sale.

eBay occasionally has these kinds of obsolete Gibson things for sale and prices can go from $40 to $400. Ive seen over $350 for a rusty old but very rare g-3 bridge. You just keep relisting until you find the right buyer. So with patience, you could probably get a premium for it since it’s obsolete and rare.

BTW i need a g-3 bridge and ashtray. But I ain't paying 350 for a bridge and 350 for an ashtray.