Gibson RD Artist Bass

I have a 1973 Gibson RD Artist Bass. The serial number is 73324XXXX. The headstock on the back has the serial number and then the word SECOND stamped above it. Maybe someone can tell me more about this bass. Email me at cannedhaggis@yahoo.com. The bass weighs a ton!! You cant play for more than half an hour without having to sit down!

The sound is great, especially with the active pickups!

Everything is great!

This bass is 30+ years and is still going strong!

Gibson RD artist bass is for me bass guitar N??1 on the planet Earth.
I have bought it 1979 in New York (Manny :)and lost it in burnt house during agression on Dubrovnik 1991. Since 2007 I am playing again and have bought same guitar and Fender Jazz bass as well. Now I compare those two guitars asking myself why so many bass players use Fender Jazz bass or Precission bass if they have possibility to use Gibson RD artist bass. Most of them says it is too heavy!? I do not feel it at all. It (in croatian language - SHE)is giving me such a good sound and joy that i do not feel it (her) on my shoulder at all.
To proof how much I love and respect this guitar is the price I paid for it: 1.400 Euro = 1.985 US$. And you know what? It is worth double!

1978 RD Artist. Not a second. Solid-body. 2 pick-ips, 4 knobs and 2 switches, much like an SG guitar. I have no idea what typee of wood it is. But it's heavy and solid!

This one is a beuatiful sunburst. The neck is really large. Closer to a Fender P-Style neck, maybe even bigger and a bit more convex.

THis bass sounds like a million dollars. It's warm and punchy and comes through. Kinda like a music man on steriods or a more versatile Music Man sterling of sorts. This will do what you need it to do.

My only complaint is the playability of the thing. The body is very thick and heavy and it honestly hurts my shoulder. The neck is long and wide and a bit hard to go fast on. I prefer smaller quicker necks like jass bass necks. I also play with a pick in a fast=paced doom metal badn like the sword.

This bass would be perfect for the plucker in a jazz band. But tryign to rock out with this on stage and do what we do, it is very limiting on its weight and the playabilaty of the neck. If you like doing fast rusn downt he fretbaord, this is not the bass for you.

More at home for reggae/dub, disco, funk, jazz and slap and pop and finger styles.

it LOOKS amazing and commands attention. It soudns superb and the quality is to die for.

The playability scores it very low here.

Again. Big neck, heavy weight. Awkward to play. VERY low action! But it gets a 4 in this category as it is nearly unplayaale for my stylings.

Well... it was made in 1977.

Yeah. Made in '77. Aint happenin. lol.

SOunds great, looks great. Doesnt play great. It's like that girl you dated that had a perfect personality and everything goin for her. But just couldn't cuddle right or know her way through a night in the bed.

It just wasnt meant to be. This is an amazing bass and I hate to knock it, but due to its playability factor it gets a low score.

Word to the wise. dont buy canadian from ebay. They tax you with a brokerage fee to get it past customs and pass the charges onto you via UPS or fedex.

My rd artist was made in early 1978 it is not a "second", it is black with ebony fretboard (real nice) solid maple through and through despite the argument with my guitar player who swears to this day that it is mahogany... moog electronics work great, expansion on neck humbucking pickup gives real nice low end clarity, compression on bridge humbucker really brings out the tone without too much clank! If you want more clank, toggle the switch to the left and you get a treble boost or "bright" filter... there is a 3 position toggle to switch between neck, neck/bridge, and bridge pickups... each pickup has its own volume knob, and there are 2 tone knobs... treble and bass. the humbucking pickups are active, as well as the compression-expander/brightness circuit AND the tone controls... nice bass three bolt bridge same as most Gibson basses... you have the option of stringing through the body to get a noticeable boost in sustain IF you can find a set of strings long enough.. (have your guy at the music store order them for you ahead of time)

There is NOTHING TO DISLIKE ABOUT THE SOUND OF THIS BASS, it will do anything you want it to do, with the flip of a switch and a turn of a knob or 2. The active tone knobs are VERY sensitive and give you a wide range of control... they are boost/cut knobs 0 in the middle.. I have found that if I am in need of more/less bass/treble a slight turn of the knob is all I need.. Also you can use both pickups and turn the volume of the bridge or neck pickups up or down , and then you have the compression/expansion and brightness switch to play with too.. This thing will clink and clang and ring like crazy, or go extremely low foundation shaking-freak out the neighbors three blocks away dub style low.. and everything in between... I use an old (early 80's) ampeg svt 300w monster with the fridge cabinet (8x10) and well... I have absolutely nothing bad to say about the tone, volume, or sustain this thing was made to do anything.. If you are looking for a particular sound, this thing will do it. End of story

I had to raise the action a little on mine, I play kinda hard and there was too much fret buzz.. the bridge is very easily adjusted.. as are the pickups, which are quite hot.. active and all..

This thing is a monster though... 22lbs I believe but it is balanced nicely, although if you play with it slung real low it will try to turn over on you due to the strap button being behind the neck on that side.. the input jack is on the front which is a little hard to deal with sometimes, the jack gets loose easier on mine, and beer can get in there when playing on stage, I've had to clean mine out twice since I've had it. Now I just turn my back when I see the beer coming and problem solved! ;-)

I have heard stories of these basses being thrown into situations that would shred any other instrument and coming back still in tune.. I have not abused mine but it is rock hard solid maple.. someone dropped mine on the edge of a steel rail and there was not even a dent. the neck is solid, thick, straight, and covered in ebony on top.. the neck joint is very strong, the headstock is thick and menacing, and the body is as well. I have had no problems and do not expect to ever have any problems with this bass, short of maybe having to replace the battery plug eventually.. those little things always get torn up eventually.. I bought this for use on stage in harsh situations and intense fans, and I do not need a backup.

haven't had to do any customer servicing.. Mine came with the schematics for the moog circuitry which is very handy to have, if you do need to get it fixed, chances are, your local shop won't know the circuit, as there aren't many of these around.

I have been playing for 20+ years playing bass and guitar on stage, I played an old ric 4001 before I got this, it was a little hard to get used to the RD, it is a little longer even though the scales are about the same and it is about twice as heavy. I spent the first few months knocking over mike stands and cymbal stands trying to get used to the extra clearance, which is a little clumsy.. would not recommend this bass for anyone under... say 5'9"

there are so many good things about this bass.. if you come across one, plug it in and play around with it for a good while, and you will know.. and then you will need it. so if you come across one and you are broke... LEAVE IT ALONE.. they are not cheap these days.

If you are planning to buy one make sure you find out if it is a factory second or not.. it is usually minor flaws in finish or someone at the factory set it aside to buy or some other strange reason that does not really affect the quality usually, HOWEVER it will affect the price. don't buy a factory second for the price of one that is not. the stamp will be on the back of the headstock somewhere under the serial numbers.. mine does not have this stamp but if it did, I would still be in love.. just for a little less money.

So... what do I have here before me? It is a Gibson RD Bass guitar. The RD range was introduced by Gibson in 1977 and consisted of 3 guitar models and 2 bass models. The one for this review is the "Artist" of the 2 bass models. It has an full maple body (looks like 2 pieces) in an asymetrical designed shape, similar to a Firebird/Thunderbird but with a slimmer waist and spots a still nice "cherry" sunburst nitro finish (which almost looks like Fender's 3-color sunburst finish). The neck is again of maple (3 pieces) and is set into the body. The fretboard material on the RD basses were maple (on the natural finished basses) or ebony (all other colors), so this one has an ebony board with 20 frets and pearloid dots. By the way, the scale length is 34.5" (so extra long scale strings are needed!). The headstock has the typical Gibson 2/2 shape. The front has a pearloid Gibson logo and the "Artist" inlay ("winged note","sea horse" or "shrimp" inlay, as it was called), and also, as usual to find on Gibson instruments, the bell shaped truss rod cover (with "RD Artist Bass" engraved on it). The back of the headstock has 4 nickel plated open tuning gears which are Gibson-branded Schaller BM tuners. Also on the back we find the serial number and the "Made in USA" stamped in the finish. In 1977 Gibson started a new numbering system which shows the year and week of manufacture and also tells me if it was made in Kalamazoo (Gibson's old plant, now Heritage) or in Nashville (where Gibson still produces it's instruments). So mine was made on the 226th day (August 14th?) of 1978 in Kalamazoo (where all of the RD series were made). The bridge is the well known 3-point bridge, but this model also allows the strings going through the body (if you do this you definitely have to use extra long scale strings). Now the electronics... this bass has two humbucking pickups (I still haven't found out the detailed specs other than they are low impedance) linked to 2 Volume controls (each pickup) and two preamp controls (the knobs go -5 to 0 to5) which boost/cut bass and treble. Furthermore, besides of a 3-way pickup selector, there is a compression/expansion switch as well as even adding more treble to the sound in the other position. The back of the body shows the lower half completely hollowed out to fit the electronics (which were designed by Bob Moog), yet this is a quite heavy instrument which is characteristic for any solid body bass by Gibson or Fender of the 70's/early 80's. The case is also XL sized to fit the bass. This one I got from ebay just recently and the owner included the original warranty card and owners manual.

One has to keep in mind that this bass is from 1978. So, what may have been innovative then, may be nothing special or even not good at all in 2007. I always liked the visual appearance of the RD series. I also play guitar and have the RD Artist guitar model too, and while I think the guitar feels comfortable in weight and playability this bass is heavier than I expected. I read that the body thickness and overall dimensions would be the same on guitar and bas, this is not true, the bass has a thicker body. And it tends to be quite neck heavy too. Otherwise it produces a quite nice, but very clean sound. Those who expect this bass to have a midrangey/bassy sound like the Thunderbird are totally mistaken. One has to dial in the sound carefully as it can add insane treble and bass with those electronics. While I like the compression/expansion switch I must say that this is one of the main features that make this bass out of date. Gibson seemed to try to get into Alembic territory but they failed. The electronics, especially in compression mode can actually get quite hissy, so for some people it may be better to completely ignore the compression/expansion function on this one. Still, I think this bass makes a good performance on stage and in recording situations you just have to understand how this instrument works (the electronics that is). I have seen this bass model in use by people like Krist Novoselic (Nirvana), Maya Ford of the Donnas or Geordie White (Twiggy Ramirez), I think this bass is capable of even other music styles. But the weight and handling might not be favorable to many players, and now 25 years after this model got discontinued it is no secret that this bass never got really popular at all (neither did the follow up Victory series). But I like it anyway, I wanted one for such a long time and now at last, I got one.

When i got this bass, I could have sworn it still had the original strings on it. Since this bass is already almost 30 years old I don't know if this was still the factory set up. It is all original and the finish stood the test of time, it is still "flawless". As others said in their reviews, "it is built like a tank" (but also as heavy as one, hehe). Regular long scale strings may cause problems in intonation and string height. So I have to recommend to get extra long scale strings on this bass. After all, with 34.5" scale length, this IS an extra long scale bass.

Well, will this bass withstand live playing? This is very massive, one should ask the question differently. Will you withstand to play this bass live? It is a sturdy one. In case of strap buttons, I fitted this bass with Schaller straplocks. And get a robust strap with this one. I can depend on it. The RD only needs trussrod adjustment if you switch the string gauge a lot. But I think I would use it without a backup, as this one is an active one and depends on battery power. I just never trust any active ones, be it guitar or bass, without backup.

I never dealt with Gibson. Of course, I don't expect lifetime warranty on this one even if the warranty card says so. Since I have had no deals with Gibson, so no rating here...

I play bass since 1988. I mostly play active basses, and usually I use a Fender US Deluxe-J (either fretted or fretless), though I use also a Gibson for recording stuff (my only passive bass, a Q-80). I always wanted an RD, and since I like the RD Artist guitar I always wanted a bass model of it too. I hope this never gets stolen as I made a great deal. and I like to play it actually (even though my review reads a bit like being too critical about the weight issue of the instrument. I made a nice deal for a bass in this condition.

My Gibson RD-77 Artist Bass with active electronics was made in 1977. The neck and body are blonde natural maple and this bass is the heaviest piece of lumber I've ever played -- my back feels it now after an hour on stage. There are two hot humbucking pickups. Most music stores don't carry strings that are long enough to run through the body an all the way up to the tuners. Usually I have to order "super long scale" or the string windings end up in the frets. The body is finished in nitrocelluose lacquer -- which I'm told is the best thing I could hope for when doing repairs of dings and scratches.

Due to the weight of this bass, I'd recommend a good set of strap locks as the bass can pull out of strap holes or even break straps if you get a little too boisterous.

I enjoy a wide variety of music from straight up rock-and-roll to blues, jazz, gospel, country rock, pop and this is an extremely versatile bass to everything I've tried (even helped out a friend with an accordian once). The active electronics provide the ability to switch from boomy deep bass to a funky finger popping sound on a whim. Because of the weight of the bass and the expander, the sustain is quite prolonged. The treble boost is useful during solo performance when the bass needs to cut through in higher range. If the 9 volt alkaline battery powering the active electronics is starting to fail, there will be an appreciatively noticable degradation in the sound quality. Its always good to carry a spare battery but it takes a few minutes to remove and replace -- an eternity if you're on stage an you only brought the RD to the gig. I've used this bass in the studio and on stage.

Often I'll tune the "E" string down to a "C" and the bass will provide an incredible bottom end. I've done this with other basses and the strings usually feel flabby and loose, not as playable. Not a problem here.

This is probably one of the most playable basses I've ever picked up. The action is fast. You can pick, pluck or hammer and the bass is up to the task. The setup is high enough from the body to accomodate very
agressive playing styles yet the bridge can be set so that there is
no fret buzz with very low action. Even after smacking this bass around for years, the neck remains straight and the bass stays in tune.

I had this bass fail me only twice in 27 years. Once was a busted
string which I hadn't changed in 12 years, and the other time for
a drained 9 volt battery. So you can see, it was really operator
neglect, not the bass. This is a player's bass. Its durable and built
like a tank. The only complaint I have with the electronics is despite cleaning with contact spray, the toggles are a little grungy and sound noisy.

The chrome on the tuners started coming off within weeks of my purchase, so I imagine the plating was pretty thin. Now ithe tuners
are just dull grey metal. Never mattered to the sound what the tuners
looked like.

Oh. And one more thing. If I'm playing and there is a radio transmitter nearby, chances are my RD will become an FM receiver if the pickups are oriented in the direction of the tower.

Just this week I was in contact with Gibson about what I needed to affect some cosmetic repairs to the nitocelluose finish and they
were very helpful.

A "life-time" warranty was included when the bass was new and Gibson was owned by Norlin. Now that complany has changed hands, I have no idea what the warranty policy would be and I suspect it was for the `life-time of Norlin' ;) , but I'm happy to report I've never had to try to get warranty service.

I've been playing for about 30 years now and have recently purchased a beautiful Dean Psychobilly Cabbie Bass, which plays more like a lead instrument and I also have an Eastman upright double bass that was finished and expertly set up up by Bruce Sexauer, a luthier in Petaluma, CA. I have an original Roland Cube 60 Bass amp which I use for practice and gigs.

The RD Artist Bass, to me, is an exceptional instrument. My first learners bass was a dept. store SG copy that my parents bought me when
I was 16. When I was 19 and a much more "serious" player I was browsing for a bass in Steve's in Toronto and this unique Gibson instrument was on the wall. I tried it out and knew I had to have one. I liked the feel and sound better than the equivalent Fenders of the day. I left a deposit and came back in a week with most of the grocery money I'd saved for surviving first term at college. I'm still here so I survived without much food that semester.

I bought this new sometime around 1980, give or take two years (sorry I can't be more accurate, it was a quarter-centry ago!) I still own it, but it's tucked away in the back of a closet as I haven't had much of a chance to play music for the past few years. Fretted, ebony finish, active with two switches (so likely one of the early models.) Came with a solid case the size of an ocean liner.

I was never able to get a sound I liked out of this without much fiddling of post-eq to get rid of what I can only describe as a 'muddy' low-midrange. On the other hand, the active electronics give you a wide range of tones. Using the compression along with rolling of the volume control gives a nice bowed bass sound. It can be quite noisy in a live environment (turning the treble down and/or turning off expansion helped) - it sometimes made quite a good am radio tuner, much to the chagrin of many a sound technician! This and the eq-fiddling makes it more suitable for studio, but the rock-solid tuning and the tank-like build makes it a good stage weapon.

I like the action low low low, which results in buzzing at certain frets. This wasn't much of a problem new, but has gotten worse as time goes on. Taking the bass in for adjustment hasn't seemed to help much. Other than that, quality was quite good new.

As others have mentioned, this is built like a tank! It will stay in tune for months at a time, incredible. I took off one point for the finish wearing off, but I think that's more my style of playing - I spend 98% of my time with my left hand rubbing the neck behind the upper five frets and my right palm rubbing the area above the bridge pickup. Strap buttons are solid but a strap-lock would be a good investment as this thing is damn heavy! I still have all the original hardware, after 25 years (20 years daily playing) the only wear has been rusted fretboard screws and a broken battery cable.

Haven't had any problems that required contacting Gibson.

I've been playing about 30 years, although not much in the past 5 years so I don't currently own any other gear. If it was lost or stolen I'd probably go for something else - maybe a Geddy Lee Fender Jazz?
I love it's unique look, and the fact it is solid and dependable. No hates, but it is damn heavy and was probably overpriced at the time.

What makes this bass stand out in the crowd is it's tonal versatility, reversed shape, incredible weight and it's special electronics. In addition to the pickup switch there is a switch for the built-in compressor/sustainer and some kind of treble enhancer which gives it an insanely punchy but not very useful tone.
The compressor/sustainer is useful for holding the note forever. And ever. Otherwise this feature won't replace a good, adjustable comp. The input level (or is it threshold?)for the compressor is adjustable with a small trimpot on the reverse side of the bass.

It can give almost every sound imaginable out there, the built-in compressor is only useful for holding the tone eternally.

Action can't be adjusted string by string, the bridge can only be tilted by means of three screws in the usual Gibson manner. The neck is fat, this is not a fast player.

I had some trouble whith the pickup switch which was fixed by opening the big back cover and exercising the relay style switch whith a small screwdriver.
Otherwise it's built like a tank. It'll probably double as a sledgehammer to drive fencing posts into frozen ground.

I played it on and off for twenty years. After I started playing again a year ago, I realized that my arms had grown too weak to lug this 30-pound monster (yes babe, 30 pounds whith case, tuner and cable)around and bought a Steinberger Spirit paddle-style bass that's made of helium or something.
Sounds ok, too.

I Have owned my RD Artist with active electronics since 1983,I am the original owner,and this is the only bass I have owned for 21 years,that's a testament to its versatility and great sound. I have read where a lot of players pull out the active electronics because they don't like the sound, but I have always enjoyed the sound.
My RD was built in 1981 so it has the updated active electronics and not the original moog electronics so that may be the difference.
the only thing bad I can say about the bass is that it is very heavy
and hard to play for long gigs.

runs the full spectrum,from fat bottom to bright and punchy.

after 21 years, it still has a great action and I have never adjusted the truss rod. the finish is still pretty good for an instrument that has been well used for 21 years.

I have gigged this bass from the garage to the concert hall and it has even been in the orchestra pit.I can't say enough about its reliability,the bass will stay in tune for an entire gig

25 years
no
yes I would try very hard to find another one.
no

My Gibson RD Artist bass was made on December 1, 1977, in Kalamazoo, MI. Fretless, converted. The controls onboard are, Pickup selector (3-way switch), Trick (Bright, Neutral, Compression) and four knobs, one volume for each and one tone for each which also acts as a boost. For neck, it's the treble. For the bridge it's a bass boost. Pup config is 2 humbuckers, bridge + neck. Active Moog electronics, requiring one 9 volt battery. Body and neck are maple if i remember correctly from my research. Finish was a home-done white, but i am thinking of getting this refinished in white or black. Body style is a very sick thunderbird that mated with an hourglass. But incredibly distinctive. The bridge style is string through, or bridge stringing. Long scale. A bit of getting used to but well worth it. No included accessories.

It suits my music style, every style imaginable except for rap/hiphop/rb/ The amp i'm using it with is a Drive CD100. Horrible, but produces shaking bottom end that vibrates me all the way across the room. It's noisy, no matter what setting it's on. It's rich, full, dark, warm and bright on every setting. Incredibly versatile. Amazing. No words imaginable can say enough about this. I love this thing. Nothing compares to it.

I got this bass 3rd or possibly 4th hand, and it had a set of flatwounds on it. pretty low. The pups were already adjusted. The bass did contain an okay finish, having it being home-done but the white against the silver and black hardware, it stands out.

This bass is f**king reliable. It seems it'll protect me from an oncoming train truck and tank, and will double as a bomb shelter with rations. The hardware will last forever. It's a Gibson from the 70's. The strap button is allright, but it'll need some locks. I would depend on it for a gig. I might bring my Squier jazz for some passive tones, but not for much else.

never talked with Gibson, but from the online info on this, seems like they'd be pretty good.

I've been playing for about a year. I own a squier jazz fretted. One thing i would have liked to have known before i bought this is a good explaination on the controls. If it were stolen. I would SMITE THE MORON WHO STOLE IT. I just got it, and want another. Preferrably the 80's models with 3 switches. I wouldn't compare 70's Gibson's because they are all the best basses made ever. Ugly but yet attractive in the best way. they sing so beautifully. the best value under the sun, or moon, whenever you buy one, and i highly recommend these.