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what to do with my RD Artist?

HertzWhenIPlay

HertzWhenIPlay

Jan 15, 2011
837
371
Atlanta
Disclosures
I like things that go BOOM
#1
hello, fellow TB'ers
i have a 1978 gibson rd artist that unfortunatley had the moog electronics removed way before the bass was mine.

i'm looking at turning this bass into a versatile gigging and recording machine that would cover just about everything and do it well. i understand the big al to be one the most versatile basses currently out there and would like to accomplish something along those lines. :help: I know the big al has a third pickup in the neck position.

IS IT POSSIBLE?

the rd artist has 2 pickup, 4 knobs, 2 switches, and a rear-routed area that would dang near house a pedaltrain mini. lol

what i'm looking for...would be:
active and passive, varibale mid freq, bass, trble, volume, blend, etc...

thanks in advance for any help!:bassist:
 
#5
HertzWhenIPlay said:
i have a 1978 gibson rd artist that unfortunatley had the moog electronics removed way before the bass was mine.
Click to expand...

Not nearly so "unfortunate" as you would suppose. I used to own one of these. Bought it brand new. In 1978. So I know this from experience... :hmm:

Take Walter's advice: Get a nice set of aftermarket pickups, plus the onboard preamp of your choice. Trust me: the standard electronics components of today are of uniformly better quality than the cutting-edge components of 34 years ago. Even if they were designed & produced by Bob Moog... :hmm:

MM
 
#6
MysticMichael said:
Not nearly so "unfortunate" as you would suppose. I used to own one of these. Bought it brand new. In 1978. So I know this from experience... :hmm:

Take Walter's advice: Get a nice set of aftermarket pickups, plus the onboard preamp of your choice. Trust me: the standard electronics components of today are of uniformly better quality than the cutting-edge components of 34 years ago. Even if they were designed & produced by Bob Moog... :hmm:

MM
Click to expand...

thumbs up, folks
this is what i will do! :hyper:
I have been looking for original replacements (half heartedly) for the past ten years.

now...which preamp? :hiding:
 
#9
The '78 RD Artist had pickups that measured 73.5mm x 42mm (2.89" x 1.65"). They measured 6.5kΩ.

That's slightly larger than a guitar humbucker size, and both smaller and larger than something like an EMG 35.

Do you have the original pick guard? Since the pick guard holds the pickups, the easiest thing would be to have a new pick guard made with the openings to fit new pickups.

Or, you can have new pickups made in the original size. That sounds harder than it is.

The RD reissue that Gibson is making looks really tacky because they used Jazzbass pickups in it.

Sometimes this eBay store has them. They currently have a pickguard for one:

http://stores.ebay.com/Greatdealz1967?_trksid=p4340.l2563

They also have the RD Standard pickups:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-Gib...ccessories&hash=item3a6f64890c#ht_1755wt_1299
 
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#11
i have narrowed the preamp down to two options;
Aguilar or John East...

If i go with the Aguilar, I plan to source my own pot so that i can have variable mid freq selection, rather than only two pre-determinded frequencies in the mid band.

Any advice between the aguilar and the john east??
 
#12
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#14
NKBassman said:
Those are RD Standard pickups. The Standard had jazz-bass like pickups, the Artist had the guitar-ish sized humbuckers and the active Moog pre.
Click to expand...

I'm not sure why everyone says they are Jazz bass like pickups. They are actually humbuckers. Even Gibson got it wrong on the reissue.

The only similarity to a Jazz pickup is they are narrow aperture.
 
#17
MysticMichael said:
Not nearly so "unfortunate" as you would suppose. I used to own one of these. Bought it brand new. In 1978. So I know this from experience... :hmm:

Take Walter's advice: Get a nice set of aftermarket pickups, plus the onboard preamp of your choice. Trust me: the standard electronics components of today are of uniformly better quality than the cutting-edge components of 34 years ago. Even if they were designed & produced by Bob Moog... :hmm:

MM
Click to expand...

HertzWhenIPlay said:
can anyone provide input as to which pickups will fit an original issue RD artist?

thanks.
Click to expand...

This is what I have with my '78 RD Artist. Gutted, with EMG active pickups and 5(!) producer switches that do nothing... I swear, one of these days I'll wire two of the switches including the pickup selecter and a battery kill switch.

But all I do is play the hell out of my 12lb. beast.

and... loving it </maxwell smart>
 
#18
i have made the decision to use a filter preamp in my beast.
ordered an ACG preamp from the UK, it is one of their newer model, the Eq01.
...will use the stock pickups for now.

this is likely to become my primary instrument once the mods are done.
must admit that im pretty darn excited about the possibilities of this bass....
 

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