1978 Gibson RD Artist Natural, Very Good, Original Hard, $2,750.00

Summary: The RD Artist was introduced in 1978, after two years of development (RD stands for Research and Development). The design was born of Gibson's desire to tap into the developing synthesizer market, as well as to compete with the new electronics being used by makers such as Alembic. To do so they collaborated with none other than Bob Moog to design their own state-of-the-art circuitry. The result was a beast of a guitar with a remarkably wide tonal range.

Body: Solid Maple. Offset Firebird-style dual cutaway. Natural nitrocellulose finish.

Neck: Three-piece maple set neck with volute. Unbound ebony fretboard with MOP block inlays. Winged “f” headstock inlay. 25.5” scale.

Electronics/Hardware: Fully functioning original electronics. Series VI humbuckers. Preamp with onboard transformer. Separate active volume controls, shared tone controls for treble and bass. Three-way “trick switch”: center position is neutral, front position boosts treble, back position activates expander/compression circuit. Gold-plated hardware. Tune-o-matic bridge with TP-6 fine-tune tail piece.

Cosmetics: This guitar is in great shape. There is light buckle rash on the back and some dings on the corners of the body. There is a small amount of damage to the binding on the head stock where the finish has chipped. There is light wear to the head stock overlay and inlay and the commonly seen tarnishing of the hardware plating. There is minor wear to the frets, which still have plenty of life left to them.

Playability: The action is low and the board plays smoothly with no dead spots or buzzing. The offset body balances the longer neck out nicely and the guitar sits very comfortably. Importantly, the original active Moog circuitry is intact and completely functional, providing a wide range of tonal options for the player.

Weight: 9 lbs, 5 oz.

Case: Original hard shell.