Vintage 1978 Gibson RD Artist model in its original Fireburst finish. The guitar was made on the 333rd day (November 29th) of 1978 at the original Gibson factory in Kalamazoo Michigan, U.S.A. The guitar has been professionally set up and plays great. It appears to be 100% original, with no breaks or repairs.
The guitar features a set-neck construction, with a maple body and 3-piece maple neck. The Fireburst finish is beautiful and the colors are very bright and vibrant. The Gold hardware on the bridge/tailpiece , pickups and tuners shows a nice patina. There is a wear spot in the finish between the pickups-see photos. There is also other wear around the edges of the body. The neck joint is an excellent fitment and the neck angle is perfect.
The neck itself is the highly coveted "Slim-Taper" profile with the side nut. The nut measures 1.697" (1 11/16") wide. The neck depth measures .773" at the 1st fret and .866" at the 12th fret. The neck is straight and the truss rod functions. The neck feels very nice and smooth. There is some wear through the finish on the backside-see photos. It feels like a perfectly broken-in pair of jeans. The tuners all function and the guitar stays in tune well. The headstock and logo display excellent with lots of mojo. Some of the binding around the top corner edge of the headstock is missing-see photos. The ebony fingerboard is really clean and the block position markers look great. The frets have been professionally leveled, crowned and polished and have a great height. They look very nice too-see photos. The action is set low for a fast and easy playing experience. The current string height is .010" at the 1st fret and .050" at the 12th fret. The guitar plays like butter up and down the fingerboard. The guitar has a 25.5" scale-like a Fender Stratocaster.
The pickups both have an excellent signal and sound great. They are stamped patent number pickups. The wiring harness appears to be all original. The battery terminal leads have been touched up for the best connection possible. The Moog board is present and looks good. The rear switch is the controller for the Moog circuit; the front position functions as designed-it is a "treble/bass" booster. The middle position is neutral (natural signal). The rear position is supposed to be a compression/expansion feature. Currently, this function does not work-it just cancels the signal, like a kill switch. The front switch is the familiar 3-way toggle for pickup selection: bridge, both or neck pickup.
The guitar is a lot of fun to play. Both pickups sound killer and the guitar balances nicely in your lap. The original Gibson hardcase is included. It is in decent condition with one latch missing and the handle has been reattached with a couple of leather straps. The inside is the red. It is exciting as all hell. check it out.
