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BASSES > RD Artist | RD Standard

RD Artist overview | Soundclips | Technical specs | Pricing & publicity | RD forum posts

1978 Fireburst RD Artist | 1978 Ebony RD Artist | 1981 Antique Sunburst RD Artist CMT

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1978 Gibson RD Artist
1978 Gibson RD Artist bass, fireburst finish with an ebony fingerboard

Maple body, set maple neck with ebony fingerboard. Active Moog electronics with built in compression and expansion modes. 34½ inch scale.

1978 Gibson RD Artist bass. Body detail 1978 Gibson RD Artist bass. Twin series V humbucking pickups. 1978 Gibson RD Artist bass. Body detail - switch details 1978 Gibson RD Artist bass. Body detail - Volume and tone knobs 1978 Gibson RD Artist bass. Body detail - headstock with inlaid Gibson logo
1978 Gibson RD Artist bass. Body detail 1978 Gibson RD Artist bass. Body detail 1978 Gibson RD Artist bass. Bridge detail - 3 point bridge 1978 Gibson RD Artist bass. As with all gibson guitars and basses built after 1970, the words 1978 Gibson RD Artist bass. Rear headstock detail

The serial number 73348120 tells us that this bass was stamped on the 30th November 1978 (day 334), at the Gibson Kalamazoo plant, and was the 107th instrument stamped that day.

RD Artist bass controls, 1977-79This RD bass has the first series switch configuration, as detailed in the diagram (left). See the RD Artist technical page, for a view of the mode switch from inside the body of the bass; it is not a simple three-way toggle. The technical page also shows the two-switch system that replaced it. The disadvantage of this early switch system is that expansion/compression could not be used simultaneously with the bright mode. On later models it can.

Ebony finish was available from 1977 until 1981.

The bass pictured has mark V active humbucking pickups, Gibson 3-point chrome bridge, and Schaller BM machine heads.

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