what to do with my RD Artist?

[NKBassman]

That'd be great. And no rush... My RD Artist isn't going anywhere

 

[HertzWhenIPlay]

...slightly behind schedule. the preamp was delivered today.
now i am waiting on a hipshot supertone bridge and knobs

 

[HertzWhenIPlay]

update:
i decided to hold off on the bridge, as I love everything about how the bass plays and feels as is.
just got word from the atlanta bass gallery that the install is done and she sounds excellent, very similar to an alembic. just waiting for some final cosmetic finishes and when i get her back i will post some pics.

recap:
1978 RD Artist bass
AC Guitars - filter preamp
Sadowsky concentric stacked knobs
serious fret job with very low frets

 

[HertzWhenIPlay]

Wow!
The bass sounds fantastic with the A.C fileter preamp installed.
It definitely has those Alembic tones and you can fatten it up nicely.
modern tones, deep and fat, or sharp and bright.
from p-bass'ish to sizzle
...all at your fingertips.
I highly recommend the AC guitars filters, eventhough they must be ordered directly from the UK.

 

[Mystic Michael]

Wow!
The bass sounds fantastic with the A.C fileter preamp installed.
It definitely has those Alembic tones and you can fatten it up nicely.
modern tones, deep and fat, or sharp and bright.

If that's the case, I can assure you that your instrument already sounds far better than the original instrument, with the original Moog preamp. For all of Robert Moog's technical & musical genius, his onboard bass guitar preamp that was installed on the Gibson RD Artist was largely a novelty piece, i.e. quite experimental & cutting-edge for 1978 (though it doesn't seem so long ago to me ), that offered up some interesting sounds to fool around with, but most of which were ultimately impractical for the practice of creating actual music.

For the design & building of bass guitar preamp circuits that actually were - and are - highly musical, Alembic got there years before...and has remained there.

MM

 

[HertzWhenIPlay]

building a hardshell case for the RD artist bass.

 

[NKBassman]

Did you keep the original pickups?

 

[HertzWhenIPlay]

some pics of the preamp

...sorry for the crappy lighting and overall bad photography

 

[HertzWhenIPlay]

a couple more pics...again i apologize for the poor photography but you can see how well the intstrument is shielded.

 

[HertzWhenIPlay]

i topped the controls with a nice set of concentric knobs from sadowsky and built myself a case.

 

[HertzWhenIPlay]

the case is ostrich with a tan stiched leather handle and black hardware.

 

[HertzWhenIPlay]

Did you keep the original pickups?

yes.

 

[ctmullins]

Niiiiiiiiiiiice.....

 

[NKBassman]

Looks awesome! And nice work on the case too!

I just finished re-wiring my RD Artist last night. I went with a passive VVTT setup, but with stereo output jacks. Seems to function properly, but I didn't get a chance to test it other than making sure all the knobs worked. I'll update my thread when I get the chance.

Still would love to hear some sound clips of yours with the new preamp though!

 

[SGD Lutherie]

some pics of the preamp

That control cavity is so big you can fit your lunch in there!

 

[marklaforest]

Wow great job on both the bass and the case. I've got a 78' RD Standard and I'm having a hell of a time finding some replacement pickups for. The stock ones are pretty uninspiring and as was covered here they may look like jazz pickups but they are quite a bit shorter width-wise. I'd rather not take the router to it. If anyone has any pointers please share!