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NBD: 1978 Gibson RD Artist

jschulman

jschulman

Aug 21, 2018
584
1,559
Long Island, NY
#1
I got this bass in a trade. It was in kind of rough shape: bridge pickup was cutting out, switches were sticky, battery cover missing, G saddle gone, battery wire working but badly frayed. The neck and hardware seemed otherwise good though, and the weird compression/bright circuit worked. I brought it to my friend who is amazing with electronics: he recapped the circuit board, cleaned the electronics/switches, and resoldered the pickups. I found some AllParts replacement saddles here on TalkBass, and strung it with Labella flats. Right now, Dave at Frets on the Net is fabricating a replacement battery cover based on a template I sent over.

This bass just feels BIG. I'm used to 5 strings and this 4 string just seems massive. I'm not sure if there's something unusual about the scale length or the pickup placement, but I typically place my right hand above the neck pickup, and it feels a bit uncomfortable and forced on this bass. Otherwise it's fun to play, and has a great sound in bright mode with the bass rolled up a bit. Can't wait to give it more work when my band gets back to practicing after omicron blows over.

PXL_20220109_141717084.jpg
 
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#5
Nice! I had a '77 in that same finish (the mustard/ketchup burst) that was all straight. Yes, its shape precludes any familiarity with playing other basses. You kinda have to be assimilated to it. I didn't care for the Moog circuits, but I thought the pickups sounded great on their own. It's a different animal for sure - I was gigging alot with disposable $$ and it was one of the "I got to try one of these" basses that came and finally went. Plus it weighed a ton. It certainly was fun to play though! Enjoy it!
 
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#7
bassclef112 said:
Nice! I had a '77 in that same finish (the mustard/ketchup burst) that was all straight. Yes, its shape precludes any familiarity with playing other basses. You kinda have to be assimilated to it. I didn't care for the Moog circuits, but I thought the pickups sounded great on their own. It's a different animal for sure - I was gigging alot with disposable $$ and it was one of the "I got to try one of these" basses that came and finally went. Plus it weighed a ton. It certainly was fun to play though! Enjoy it!
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The pickups are real nice. I wasn't nuts about the compression/expansion side of things, but I wonder how it'll sound going through my board, maybe with a little drive. The bright mode sounds great though, it really brings out the pick attack on the flats.
 
#10
I bought one of these new, probably in 1978. I was 23, a real bull, and that was easily the heaviest sob I EVER owned. Never weighed it, but 16# was probably in the neighborhood, allmaple body and neck.

It FEELS longer as the scale terminates at the bridge closer to the center of the body, not at the rim, so the neck is 'pushed out' relative to a bass where the bridge is back at the bottom.

I traded it in for a much lighter bass . . . . a Peavey T40 !
 
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#11
jschulman said:
This bass just feels BIG. I'm used to 5 strings and this 4 string just seems massive. I'm not sure if there's something unusual about the scale length or the pickup placement, but I typically place my right hand above the neck pickup, and it feels a bit uncomfortable and forced on this bass. Otherwise it's fun to play, and has a great sound in bright mode with the bass rolled up a bit. Can't wait to give it more work when my band gets back to practicing after omicron blows over.
View attachment 4536773
Click to expand...

Gibson historically has never cared much about player ergonomics, especially on their basses. And 16.2lbs is... :speechless: (some) guitarists like them. The bass review by CME

I have an '85 (Czech) Jolana DiscoBass that was based on the RD visually. Very light and basic/passive circuitry.

upload_2022-1-10_17-56-6.jpeg
 
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#12
JW56789 said:
I bought one of these new, probably in 1978. I was 23, a real bull, and that was easily the heaviest sob I EVER owned. Never weighed it, but 16# was probably in the neighborhood, allmaple body and neck.

It FEELS longer as the scale terminates at the bridge closer to the center of the body, not at the rim, so the neck is 'pushed out' relative to a bass where the bridge is back at the bottom.

I traded it in for a much lighter bass . . . . a Peavey T40 !
Click to expand...

:laugh:
 
#13
⚓⚓⚓⚓⚓⚓⚓⚓

Consistent on the weight consensis!

It's too bad because, as I said, the RD pickups passive (no Moog) sounded really good! I just couldn't justify keeping them with the poundage involved. I never saw them as an outboard option by Gibson....
 
#19
Many, many years ago I went to work at the Gibson USA main plant in Nashville. Let's just say it was a different era; break times resembled the parking lot at a Rastafarian/Greatful Dead concert... It was a cool time to work there, to say that things were lax would be an understatement.

Just before being hired I bought a used RD Artist, it was black with an ebony fretboard. Heavy as hell but very cool. One day I was telling a friend who happened to be a lead person in the finishing department about it and he said "Man, you ought to get it custom painted". When I asked him how much it would cost he just laughed and told me to pick a color and bring the bass in.

I did and the color I chose was candy purple; Gibson was producing a line of USA made Epiphone guitars and one of the colors they came in was a beautiful candy purple. I took the bass apart and then it disappeared for a month or so.

When I got it back I was blown away. It was freaking beautiful! as an added touch they had put a "Gibson Custom Shop" decal on the volute on the back of the headstock. I reassembled it and rocked it for about a year but in the end it was just too damn heavy. I wasn't the most responsible person back then, at some point I pawned it for next to nothing and lost it.

I've often wondered where that bass turned up. I'm surprised that I have never seen another picture of it after all of these years. I would kill to have it back but with the price of these things soaring I'm pretty sure it's out of the question.

This is the only pic that I have of it. The P bass was also painted at Gibson.
20220110_222705.jpg
 
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