Gibson 1981 RD Artist 4-String Bass Guitar, Ebony Fingerboard, Sunburst

Light wear: Light wear from normal use. Damage: None. Note: Some dings etc throughout as pictured. Nothing out of the ordinary for an instrument this old.

The Gibson RD Artist bass was launched in late 1977, after two years of development as Gibson's first active bass guitar. According to the Gibson product development director at the time, Bruce Bolen, it had been designed from a "musical purpose" point of view, "to determine what the musical instrument is supposed to accomplish". Gibson had worked closely with Moog (at this time both companies were subsidiaries of Norlin) and Who bassist John Entwistle, to create a bass that would benefit from the newly emerging electronics being fitted to basses by manufacturers like Alembic. The actual design of the RD bass itself (i.e. excluding electronics) was the work of Bruce Bolen, head of the Kalamazoo research and development group, with a design patent filed in May 1978, and granted in August 1980. Previously, most Gibson basses could be considered as extensions of a successful guitar line; the fact that the design patent is for the Artist bass strongly suggests, for the RD series it may have been the other way around.

Product Features

• Ebony Fingerboard
• Active Electronics Designed by Moog
• Maple Body
• 3-Piece Maple Neck
• Mark V Humbucking pickups
• Schaller BM Tuning Machines
• Original Case Included

Attributes

• Color: Sunburst

Technical Specifications

• Type: Electric
• # of Strings: 4
• Orientation: Right
• Body Material: Maple
• Neck Joint: Set Neck
• Neck Material: Maple
• # of Frets: 22
• Pickup Configuration: HH
• Features: Retail Used Buy
• Weight: 11lbs 10.5oz
• Fingerboard Material: Ebony