What's that Gibson Bass?...

guitarz.blogspot.com:

Gary writes:

This is the best photo I could get and didn't get to ask the bass player - is it just a Thunderbird?

The band are The Idle Hands Band, a great blues rock band that I saw at Newark Blues Festival on Sunday.

cheers
Gary

Ah, here is the bass version of a guitar I am often asked to identify. It's a Gibson RD Artist Bass, which was introduced in late 1977 and was Gibson's first bass to feature active electronics. Working in conjunction with Moog electronics and The Who's John Entwistle, the design team at Gibson consisted of Chuck Burge (woodwork), Tim Shaw (electronics) and was overseen by Bruce Bolen.

It was never a big seller, but did manage to outsell the Gibson Ripper as Gibson's bestselling bass in 1978 and 1979, which does say something about how little Gibson were shifting bass guitars in those days.

We looked at the guitar version of the Gibson RD Artist here, and you can read more about the bass here.

G L Wilson

© 2011, Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - now in its 10th year!

Musicvox Space Cadet 12-string bass - NOS from 2000

guitarz.blogspot.com:

I had previously reported - in 2008 - that Musicvox guitars were no longer being made. Well, I'm happy to tell you that Musicvox are back with a new range of guitars and basses plus new editions of older designs such as the Space Ranger and Space Cadet.

Meanwhile, here is a NOS (new old stock) Musicvox Space Cadet 12-string bass from 2000. Apparently this actual instrument was the last white 12-string bass made, the model no longer being offered by the re-launched company.

The bass features four courses of tripled strings (root plus two octave strings) and other attributes include neck through body construction, twin double truss rods, brass nut, custom cast 12 string bass bridge and tail, locking tuners, dual output jacks (not sure if this means the bass is wired for stereo?), passive and active electronics, and a rosewood fingerboard with block pearloid inlay markers.

The 12-string bass was an instrument originally created in 1978 by Hamer Guitars' Jol Dantzig at the request of Tom Petersson of Cheap Trick who wanted "a huge sound". You can read more about "The Creation of the 12-String Bass" on 12stringbass.net.

G L Wilson

© 2011, Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - now in its 10th year!