Just a simple question. Do you know wether the neck on your RD (witch is a gorgeous bass btw) is the same as on every other Gibson bass. Or is there a difference like it's length or something like that.
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NBD! 78 Gibson rd artist!
- Thread starter Danfuzzbass
- Start date
There's no such thing as "every other Gibson bass" when it comes to scale length. RD is a standard 34" long scale, as are (most) Thunderbirds, Victory, Grabber/Ripper/G3, Q80, EB-0L/3L/4L, EB 2013, EB 2017...the list goes on. And on.
There are also short-scale (30.5") offerings such as EB-0/1/2/3, original Les Paul Bass (along with the Triumph), SG...and a bunch of others.
When it comes to the actual neck profile, what one finds on RD is definitely different from an EB-0L and even more different from recent long-scale Gibsons such as Money Bass, Midtown or EB 2017.
Thanks, i just found some info on the RD's neck and its actually very similar to the neck on my current bass. Witch is good because i love that neck.
The RD basses are slightly longer scale, coming in at 34 1/2" (one site says 34 3/8")... That said, I've never actually measured mine.
Interesting bit of info. Thank you.
Would you believe that I owned one for 11 years, gigged it regularly for about half of that period, and never knew this? The thought hasn't even crossed my mind...that bass just felt like home in so many respects...it just got picked up and played and that's all there was to it.
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You know that you love an instrument when you dont really care about its specs you just know you like it.
I was a Gibson dealer '77-'88. We got more seconds than we'd have liked to. Gibson didn't tell you they were sending a second, nor did they discount the dealer price. They did give you the right to refuse it, but when it could take a year to get a new Les Paul or 335, we wound up taking them. Thing is we seldom found anything that was markedly inferior to guitars that weren't stamped with the "2" under the serial number.
In fact it got to the point we figured they were stamped as seconds because they made the necks right!
In fact it got to the point we figured they were stamped as seconds because they made the necks right!
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Mine is a "second", but other than bit of very minor clouding in the lacquer over the Gibson logo, you'd never guess it. The build quality on mine is awesome!
I've seen quite a few "seconds" in my days and was never able to precisely figure out the flaws that made these particular pieces "earn" that designation...
I think that they just had a very high standard at the time. I remember reading somewhere that the large majority of the issues were simply paint/lacquer flaws.
Yes, it was finish flaws, often quite minute. But I certainly wouldn't say that they had very high standards then as there were too many flawless finishes on guitars with poor fret work, sloppy inlay gluing, and questionable neck sets.
I wasn't talking only of the RD, nor even basses, but the whole line. As a dealer I saw a wide gamut of instruments and while Gibson wasn't horrid, they certainly were horribly inconsistent. And for their premier status, I found them frustratingly prone to having too many minor to medium level problems to justify either the reputation or the price.
None of which matters 40 years later when evaluating a specific instrument. In that case you simply determine if it works for you.
None of which matters 40 years later when evaluating a specific instrument. In that case you simply determine if it works for you.
This.
It would be fair to say that late 70s Gibsons - as well as Fenders and Guilds - are best judged on a case by case basis. My personal experience is that one too many Gibbys from this era were mediocre playing/sounding, Fenders just lacked overall QC and Guilds offered a weird combination of the two...so yes, "try before you buy" would be my piece of unsolicited advice to anyone contemplating purchase of an instrument from this era.
