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Who desighed the Gibson Victory basses?

D

DavidCertain

May 7, 2008
155
33
St. Louis
Disclosures
Sole Proprietor, CertainBass
#1
Anyone know who designed the Gibson Victory basses, the Standard and Artist? Or better yet, was it you? I got the Standard when they first came out in (I think) '78. I thought it was the first time anyone at Gibson recognized the P bass as the standard bass and really tried to follow that footprint. The Victory was like a redesigned and improved Precision.

Great bass except for one thing: the maple body was pretty stupid, the thing wieghed a ton.

Thanks,
David
 
#5
DavidCertain said:
Anyone know who designed the Gibson Victory basses, the Standard and Artist? Or better yet, was it you? I got the Standard when they first came out in (I think) '78. I thought it was the first time anyone at Gibson recognized the P bass as the standard bass and really tried to follow that footprint. The Victory was like a redesigned and improved Precision.

Great bass except for one thing: the maple body was pretty stupid, the thing wieghed a ton.

Thanks,
David
Click to expand...

And don't forget the RAREST Victory of them all, The Custom!

It was a Passive version of the Artist. And at 12 Lbs, not an Ounce Lighters!

This is the only pic I have of it too...Note the RD in the Stand!
CS08.jpg


I also had a Victory Artist Guitar. Both had set & Painted necks.

I remember when the Victory had come out. I bought an RD Artist Bass new in 77, and a Standard body to "HotRod" in 1980. I almost sold both to by the Vic...Still have the RD in the family!
 
#7
Gibson put out an amazing amount of absolute crap in the 80's. But there were a few diamonds in that huge pile of excretement.

The Victory's were a strange offering. One of the very first active basses offered by major manufacturer (along with the RD). I played a couple of Victory's including a Confederate flag and a few of the guitars ( I was living in Nashville for the 70's and early 80's).

Not my particular cup of tea but a very forward thinking move by Gibson. John Wetton of King Crimson/Asia played one during his Asia days. I think that the guy who designed them works at Gruhn guitars in Nashville currently.

I'll also have to give Gibson credit for creating the Gibson Sonex deluxe 180 in the 80's. In the days before CAD/CAM built guitars it was a great guitar for $250 in the early 80's
 
#8
DavidCertain said:
Anyone know who designed the Gibson Victory basses, the Standard and Artist? Or better yet, was it you? I got the Standard when they first came out in (I think) '78. I thought it was the first time anyone at Gibson recognized the P bass as the standard bass and really tried to follow that footprint. The Victory was like a redesigned and improved Precision.

Great bass except for one thing: the maple body was pretty stupid, the thing wieghed a ton.

Thanks,
David
Click to expand...

Interesting point- figure the "traditional" Gibson basses all went boobies-up in 79. Their "niche" had been filled...
 
#9
DavidCertain said:
Anyone know who designed the Gibson Victory basses, the Standard and Artist?
Click to expand...

It was designed by the Gibson research and development team of the late Seventies and early eighties.

Woodwork/artwork - Chuck Burge, Electronics - Tim Shaw, project overseen by Bruce Bolen.

Chuck talks about the development of this bass here
[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]

yeah, they are nice basses, quite different from a lot of Gibsons earlier basses
 
#11
Yeah, it was the first Gibson bass that seemed to address what it was about Fenders that made them succesful. And it was really well made. They also had the S-1 guitar and the Maruader which were trying to be Strats and Teles- pretty much to no avail.

But I don't see that the Victory was "...One of the very first active basses offered by major manufacturer...". Music Man introduced the StingRay in 1976 or so. By the time the Victory came out, I beleive the G&L was out, and the Fender Precsion Special was out too.

Of course I don't know anyone who put both a compressor AND and expander into a bass, let alone a guitar. Some weird stuff going on at Gibson in the '80s.
 
#13
Had an '81 Vic standard that someone had tried to do a red-oil finish on, which ended up more pink than red, and had installed a Dimarzio model G. I did a repro pickguard and installed an EMG DC-40 in the correct spot. That bass friggin' ROCKED! i've heard that the stock pickup had a weak response on the G, due to it not being wide enough, but any other Victory i played seemed fine. And love that 24 fret neck and 34.5" scale.

Super under-rated basses, heavy as hell, brick-tough, really great weapon on stage or in a bar fight, sure wish i didn't sell mine.
 
#14
DavidCertain said:
Great bass except for one thing: the maple body was pretty stupid, the thing wieghed a ton.
Click to expand...

That was "The Thing" back then - there was this odd myth that the more an instrument weighted (Guitar or Bass) the more "Sustain" it had. Why sustain was so darned important in the '70s is really beyond me - and I lived/played then - but it was.

And I was never wild about the Victory bass. My first bass was a Gibson, so I always gave their new models a test play and the only Gibson bass I ever wanted to own was a T-bird. And I still kinda do...
 

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