Good God, I thought that my RD Artist was heavy!
Keep on Jammin’
BTW don’t forget to check out my newish Guitar blog Guitar Licks and Tips. I’ve got some great posts over there for guitar and music enthusiasts to go through.
Serial number info on RD Artists
Gibson has a section in their site dedicated to the identification and meanings behind their serial numbering system.
So my serial number is 72657067.
YDDDYPPP
YY is the production year
DDD is the day of the year
PPP is the plant designation and/or instrument rank
YY = 72657067 : 77 = 1977
DDD = 72657067 : 265 =
PPP = 72657067 : 067 = 67th made on that day
Can anyone help me in figuring out what the DDD is the day of the year is because it is just baffling me to know end! I took this quote directly from the Gibson website and it’s hard to follow.
Thanx in advance!
Keep on Jammin’
The Perfectionist
This is another song from Saga that we played in Pylis. The song starts up with an acoustic guitar that then goes into an electric. My Gibson RD Artist fulfilled that dual roll quite admirably I must say.
It wasn’t until recently that I re-visited this song on my Larrivee L-03 acoustic.
The lyrics were just fascinating to listen to and the guitar forms are much more complex then I remembered. As you may or may not know, I’m not a lyricist by any stretch of the imagination. I just pay attention to the level of difficulty of the guitar, the overall structure and emotion that a song provides.
Later on I will start teaching people how I “interpret” how a song is played. So check out this song, and try to pick out all of the guitar progressions and remember them when I start video taping my version.
Keep on Jammin’
Getting the RD Artist ready for battle
The other day I had to do a few errands like pick up some grocery’s and earth worms for our turtles. Oh BTW, we use to have lots of reptiles like, Chinese Water Dragons, and a HUGE Iguana named Napoleon that we called our son who I miss every day, and some turtles.
Before starting off I decided to go to the 12th Fret to finally start paying more attention to my electric guitar ambitions. I haven’t restrung my RD in years. Whenever I broke a string, I just put another one on from the pack that I bought ages ago.
Yes, I really do feel bad about not paying proper homage to this beauty but, I did not have any use for it for a long time.
While visiting the store, I ran into my favorite guitar technician Tim. This guitar master is very knowledgeable in his field. He’s the type of guy you can sit down with and ask for honest opinions about what direction you should take in any situation. Tim has the uncanny personal trait of making you feel relaxed and at home. He has that trustful older brother demeanor. He is also the proud papa of a 16 day old boy, whom I’m sure is a guitar prodigy to be.
So I told him what I was looking for and he started to ask me about what setting/intonation I was using. I felt a bit like a rookie when I told him I had no idea. So as not to directly acknowledge my stupidity, he started explaining my options to me. Ahhhh, finally dodging a big bullet. I was saying to myself, “thanx for not dwelling on that too long Tim!”
He asked what type of feel the guitar strings had in regards to malleability or flexibility and he directed my attention to the D’Addario XL EXL110’s. These electric strings are nickel wound and have a regular light gauge to them.
How you restring your guitar is the most important thing that you will ever do to your axe.
You have to make sure that the way you wind them around the tuning pegs are perfect in every way.
How you thread the string through the eyelet – or the little whole on the tuning head- is very important. The length at which you start winding it, the tension that you have on it, using your other hand, and how close they are placed together on the shaft of the tuning peg is paramount.
Imagine when you are measuring an angle. If you start a little bit off, as little as one degree, it will only get worst at the end of your project. Does that make sense to you?
The strings are on, and the windings look good. Now it’s time to start working them in! For further results, tune in next week!
Keep on Jammin’
My 1980 Fender Lead II
This is the guitar that I have is to play more Rock and Roll tunes on. It’s a lot lighter then the RD Artist but heavier then the Fender Duo Sonic. The width of the neck is right in between both of the other ones. The intonation is perfect for the Ozzie stuff but it’s not as wide for the Jazz approach. I find is fabulous for playing the electric version of Neon that allows me to use my thumb on the upper E string.
The 1980 Lead II and the 1982 Lead II are both fine guitars. The Lead II Manual, which I wish I had the original, went missing somewhere in my parents house in the 80’s.
Not many scratches (I think that they’re character markings like the colour of the neck being worn down) on the body. The pick guard on the other hand has lotz of character, because of my aggressive NOT THRASHING style of attack in my playing. I use the D’Aaddario True Blue medium strings on this puppy.
My Serial # is E0009736 which makes it made in 1980. The guitar came with a brown shoulder strap bag and that was it, bare bones. I purchased in Hong Kong by a foreign exchange student but, his name eludes me right now. He live at Mr. Zryrini’s house down the street from my parents home in Brantford. I remember him being a great guy who could play the guitar not that bad but, he sure looked like he was having a hell of a lot of fun playing it!
He was a bit strapped for money at the time so I bought it off him. He was always at our house that summer and i showed him tons of stuff. I really felt bad for the guy because he no did not have an axe to jam with at home so I lent him the one he sold, weird eh? I had to because there is nothing worse then stunting the growth of a guitar player!
My 1979 Gibson RD-Artist
Wow, is all that I have to say about this baby! It has a rounded like Gibson Explorer or Firebird body that is as heavy as a tank, seriously, come over and lift the thing! It has the wide neck with 22 frets that I love and has a great straight forward sound. It was one of the original guitars that had built in compression in it, oooooooohhh! When I got the balls as a high school kid, I took off the plastic cover that exposed it’s internal workings. It looked to me as the internal workings of a space ship. Opps, better not touch anything in there!
So my parents bought this guitar at Steve’s Music in Toronto. With me in tow, I tried out many guitars after getting over how many axes there was in this place. It was a toss up really between the RD and a Gibson ES-335, which is comparable to to RD if you read the WHOLE article below. I think that the main reason that I bought the RD was because it looked REALLY COOL! It still does.
Now for some boring technical reading, everyone comfortable yet?
Some time ago when the Gibson M-III was introduced to much fanfare, a lot of people could be overheard expressing awe at the possibilities of the switching system. But, as we’ve seen, this is only the latest example of Gibson’s long infatuation with complex switches. While the Les Paul Recording remains my personal favorite, it’s followed quickly by the often insulted RD Artist, occasionally referred to as the “Research & Development†Artist.
The RD line was originally conceived in 1975, officially introduced in 1977 and ultimately discontinued in 1982. The RD series was essentially Gibson’s response to the emerging success of companies like Alembic and B.C. Rich, which specialized in lots of switches with fancy electronic options. It’s curious to note that a Norlin subsidiary, the distributor L.D. Heater, of Portland, OR, handled B.C. Rich as well as Gibson guitars in the early ’70s. Early B.C. Riches used Gibson humbuckers obtained through L.D. Heater until Gibson found out. B.C. Rich switched to Guild and then DiMarzio pickups and took over its own distribution shortly thereafter. Maybe the RD was Gibson’s revenge?…
To execute this design, Gibson employed Robert Moog, of Moog synthesizer fame, and the man behind the last mach of the Gibson Maestro effects of that very same era.
The RD series was, admittedly, a little demented. First of all, its shape is sort of a retread Reverse Firebird, maybe the offspring of mating with a Guild Thunderbird (one which unfortunately didn’t inherit the built-in stand!). The maple body is comfortably contoured, though, and the neck solidly glued on for an overall pretty nice feeling guitar, sort of like an SG. Put a pillowcase over the body and you can get down with this baby.
The RD Artist was the top-of-the-line, with an unbound ebony fingerboard (the catalog said bound ‘board, but most if not all were not bound), block inlays, gold hardware, fancy bound pearl inlaid headstock and more comprehensive active features activated by a second large toggle switch. Pickups were two Gibson Series VI humbuckers with a threeway select, two volume controls, individual treble and bass tone controls, and a built-in preamp circuit with compression/expansion and bright/lead functions.
Unfortunately, Moog and Gibson didn’t just settle for a simple preamp switch like the B.C. Rich. Instead, we get another complex switching system on the Artist models. Here’s the skinny; bear with me.
The threeway pickup select and individual treble and bass tone controls are pretty clear and a very nice feature on any guitar. In the center position, the second threeway toggle switch is in neutral, making the guitar active but without the special circuits. In the forward position, the switch activates a bright/lead function which accentuates the treble frequencies. This works for both pickups.
In the back position, the active switch turns on a compression/expansion circuit. The compression function operates on the neck pickup only and reduces the fundamental attack time and “compresses†each note into a longer sustaining signal. In this mode, the output remains stable no matter how hard you play.
The expansion function (we haven’t moved the second toggle yet) operates on the bridge pickup only and “permits the player to play harder and louder without the note collapsing. Expansion offers a very fast, explosive response with a rapid decay,†says the Gibson literature.
Of course, either function works in the middle pickup selector position, too.
To read the full article go to Vintage Guitar Magazine and, look 1/2 way down the page. I too have just learned something as well!