The bridge pickup looks really close to the bridge... how does it sound solo'ed?
Good eye, Ilan. Both the neck and the bridge pup on these are about half an inch closer to the bridge and farther away from the frets (I measured from the 19th fret on both a IV and a TBird) than they would be on a modern day TBird (rereleased at around the same time) which explains why a TBird sounds fatter, but a IV perhaps a little more focused. The bridge pup solo'd sound nasal, but not thin, you could certainly still play fusion with it and be recognized as the bass player! Overall, these basses have a warm and fuzzy sound.
There were only three non-custom colors: ferrari-red, white (which would yellow quickly) and natural (which brings out the maho texture nicely and complements the anodyne body shape better than the more garish colors).
The headstock was a conscious move to avoid the nut pressure issues (the stringholder as the source of all evil!!!
) of a Fender type headstock (with a nod to Gibson history: Flying V and Grabber), but of course there was no way it could look right with that type of a body. Phil Jones, the designer at the time (it was one of his earliest creations), was very unhappy with the outcome (forced on him, he initially wanted "to bring the TBird into the eighties and make it affordable" with it).
I've never seen one that was not produced in 1987 though I can't rule out that a few crept out in 1988. Essentially, they filled the gap between the death of the Victory turns Q-80 turns Q-90 line and the TBird reissue in late 1987. There was little sense in keeping them around once the new TBirds were out, cannibalizing sales beckoned.
The IVs and Vs have a place in Gibson history for being the first new full maho bass models after a ten year reign of maple with Gibson bass building and for being the first Gibson five stringers (and not bad ones at that).