The Last Bass Outpost

Gear Discussion Forums => Guitars Etc. => Topic started by: Blackbird on December 04, 2013, 06:39:47 AM

Title: Odd Gibsons from the early 80's
Post by: Blackbird on December 04, 2013, 06:39:47 AM
Never saw a lot of theses before, at the bottom of the page....even one in Uwe's clownburst??

http://rumbleseatmusiccbs.com/gibson%20page.html
Title: Re: Odd Gibsons from the early 80's
Post by: amptech on December 04, 2013, 06:50:50 AM
Strange to see that many V2's in custom colour. I remember the V2 from the 80's Norwegian teen rock band 'The Kids' debut album.
It was a white one. The bass player was holding a white G3 bass.  
Title: Re: Odd Gibsons from the early 80's
Post by: chromium on December 04, 2013, 08:24:17 AM
I like the E2s

Does anyone know of a comprehensive resource that describes all of the less common(?) guitars of that era?  E.g. stuff like the 335S, Firebrands, "The Paul", Victory...
Title: Re: Odd Gibsons from the early 80's
Post by: Dave W on December 04, 2013, 08:35:22 AM
I've played a couple of V2s. Those pickups were really bright. Not in a bad way, just not what you'd expect from a V-type.
Title: Re: Odd Gibsons from the early 80's
Post by: amptech on December 04, 2013, 08:50:29 AM
I've played a couple of V2s. Those pickups were really bright. Not in a bad way, just not what you'd expect from a V-type.

I have an all walnut gibson (the paul) , It's the muddiest guitar I got. Had to replace the pickup's.
Not sure if it was all due to the woods, though. The V2 was a walnut/maple sandwich, no?

Never heard the sound of those boomerangs, but they are not the first choice when you're replacing a humbucker I guess :)
Title: Re: Odd Gibsons from the early 80's
Post by: Granny Gremlin on December 04, 2013, 09:06:55 AM
Wow, that is a shit-tonne of V2s.  Love that Sunburst CMT LP Artist about half way down.  Nice L5S (LoZ version) too.

Don't see the instrument the OP mentioned - bottom of the page is a Lucille when I look.
Title: Re: Odd Gibsons from the early 80's
Post by: Blackbird on December 04, 2013, 10:51:49 AM
Wow, that is a shit-tonne of V2s.  Love that Sunburst CMT LP Artist about half way down.  Nice L5S (LoZ version) too.

Don't see the instrument the OP mentioned - bottom of the page is a Lucille when I look.

Sorry Gremlin...I just meant the bottom 1/4 of the page in general.  There's an Explorer in a finish called "Blue-burst" that made me think of Uwe's Clown burst.
Title: Re: Odd Gibsons from the early 80's
Post by: Granny Gremlin on December 04, 2013, 11:38:04 AM
Ah.  It is interesting.  Dig the idea but I'd like it more with a better fade vs what appears to be a rather "abrupt" (as someone else described this sort of thing in another thread) burst.  Could be the photography/lighting though.
Title: Re: Odd Gibsons from the early 80's
Post by: amptech on December 04, 2013, 11:43:54 AM
More interesting is the L5-S. Gold pickups...
Title: Re: Odd Gibsons from the early 80's
Post by: gearHed289 on December 05, 2013, 08:38:11 AM
L5-S is cool. The V2 is even uglier in solid colors than the old hippie sandwich look.  :-\
Title: Re: Odd Gibsons from the early 80's
Post by: Granny Gremlin on December 05, 2013, 09:02:15 AM
More interesting is the L5-S. Gold pickups...

And those are indeed some sweet pickups (I suspect the main reason they ended up redesigning the pup for the LPSig, vs using a white/cream version of these guys is that they are so bass-rich, you really need the passive bass control as on the LP Recording/Personal/Professional/Jumbo guitars or it can be too overbearing .... so they totally work perfectly well for bass as Rob can attest).

(http://grannygremlin.com/images/GGA/Maude/Maude%20001.jpg)

(more pics/info here: http://bassoutpost.com/index.php?topic=7995.0)

Maude is by no means a bassy axe (acoustically - nothing like a standard dreadnaught such as the LP Jumbo) and I find I still have to turn the bass tknob on my amp down near all the way to get a reasonable tone, and I use it in a solo singer/songwriter way mostly so there aren't even any drums or bass to compete with. ... yeah, yeah, the neck position doesn't help, but that's where Gibson put it on the LP Jumbo (and that's how I roll - I'd rather have to cut bass than add some with EQ).
Title: Re: Odd Gibsons from the early 80's
Post by: Grog on December 05, 2013, 05:13:56 PM
I still have my 1985 Futura, possibly the oddest & ugliest guitar Gibson ever produced. But interesting in it's own way.

(http://i999.photobucket.com/albums/af119/Grog_03/1985GibsonFutura.jpg) (http://s999.photobucket.com/user/Grog_03/media/1985GibsonFutura.jpg.html)

I rescued a V-2 about 16 years ago. The bridge pickup was routed for a humbucker & all of the electronics were modified. I restored it as close as I could, but I wired it like a Les Paul with two tone controls to fill an extra hole the previous owner had drilled in it. When I bought the Les Paul Personal last spring, I decided the V-2 would go. I ended up giving it to my son. It sparked a love of guitars and a lot of GAS in him. I think he has my worst genetic defect! I hope he can be saved...

(http://i999.photobucket.com/albums/af119/Grog_03/1980GibsonFlyingV-V2.jpg) (http://s999.photobucket.com/user/Grog_03/media/1980GibsonFlyingV-V2.jpg.html)

Both of these guitars are rare. 200 of the Futura's are said to have been produced. 157 Flying V-II's were produce in 1979, no record for 1980. The Futura was slated to be a headless guitar, with Steinberger type tuners in the can opener shaped opening. It was said that Gibson's marketing staff insisted that it needed a headstock, creating an odd model that was confusing as to why it was shaped like it was...........
Title: Re: Odd Gibsons from the early 80's
Post by: Basvarken on December 06, 2013, 01:41:51 AM
I still have my 1985 Futura, possibly the oddest & ugliest guitar Gibson ever produced. But interesting in it's own way.

I always thought that one was called the Corvus.

And I thought the Futura looks like this:

(http://www.musicarius.com/blog/Images/Guitare/gibson-explorer/Gibson1957KorinaFutura.jpg)


 ???
Title: Re: Odd Gibsons from the early 80's
Post by: amptech on December 06, 2013, 04:58:53 AM
I always thought that one was called the Corvus.




 ???

That can opener is called a corvus in the ultimate guitar book. Maybe they changed the name to sell more :)

Title: Re: Odd Gibsons from the early 80's
Post by: Grog on December 06, 2013, 05:23:04 AM
There were three different versions that were called the Corvus. All had different pickup configurations. The Corvus's all had bolt-on necks. The Futura had a neck through the body construction, like the Firebird/Thunderbird.
Title: Re: Odd Gibsons from the early 80's
Post by: Granny Gremlin on December 06, 2013, 07:18:18 AM
I still have my 1985 Futura, possibly the oddest & ugliest guitar Gibson ever produced. But interesting in it's own way.

I've always liked them .  Not nearly as stupid looking as, say , a Guild 701.  ... or anything with a reverse V headstock (like Rob posted).
Title: Re: Odd Gibsons from the early 80's
Post by: Dave W on December 06, 2013, 09:34:37 AM
George, did you get that V2 locally? One of the two I've played was for sale either at Encore or that short-lived Guitar Diner place.
Title: Re: Odd Gibsons from the early 80's
Post by: Grog on December 06, 2013, 10:25:27 AM
George, did you get that V2 locally? One of the two I've played was for sale either at Encore or that short-lived Guitar Diner place.

I bought it at Music-Go-Round in Roseville...............
Title: Re: Odd Gibsons from the early 80's
Post by: Grog on December 06, 2013, 03:54:33 PM
I know I've posted this photo somewhere before, but this is close to what Gibson had in mind when they came up with the Futura/Corvus model......... It was built by John Mcgee, not Gibson........................ :vader: :vader: :vader: :vader: :vader: :vader:

(http://i999.photobucket.com/albums/af119/Grog_03/john_mcgee_corvus.jpg) (http://s999.photobucket.com/user/Grog_03/media/john_mcgee_corvus.jpg.html)
Title: Re: Odd Gibsons from the early 80's
Post by: Dave W on December 07, 2013, 09:22:09 AM
Is it any wo0nder that these are former Gibsons?
Title: Re: Odd Gibsons from the early 80's
Post by: Granny Gremlin on December 07, 2013, 09:47:28 AM
I like the rounded edges, but the diminutive/nonexistent  headstocks of instruments with the tuning machines at the butt end never looked right to me. 

Also in reference to this , about the (gold geetar version) Gibson LoZ pups:

I suspect the main reason they ended up redesigning the pup for the LPSig, vs using a white/cream version of these guys is that they are so bass-rich, you really need the passive bass control as on the LP Recording/Personal/Professional/Jumbo guitars or it can be too overbearing .... so they totally work perfectly well for bass as Rob can attest...

I find I still have to turn the bass tknob on my amp down near all the way to get a reasonable tone, and I use it in a solo singer/songwriter way mostly so there aren't even any drums or bass to compete with. ... yeah, yeah, the neck position doesn't help, but that's where Gibson put it on the LP Jumbo (and that's how I roll - I'd rather have to cut bass than add some with EQ).

I plugged her in yesterday for the first time since moving out of my old studio (all the gear minus this guitar and my Triumph were in storage, just grabbed the amp from the lockler the other day).  Didn't have to turn the bass down at all.  I think I had the amp more in a corner in the studio (LoZ input amp, don't use it often) but when I brought it home I had it away from walls.and nowhere near a corner. Also, in the studio I may have been using a (guitar/fullrange) 15 vs the old school hifi 12 (fullrange w whizzer cone) I brought home to plug in to.  Since I was just jamming alone I left the bass flat and it was rather satisfying (especially at lower volume,  with the amp just noticeably louder than the guitar acoustically, chopping at some blues riffs).  I suspect you'd still need to roll off some bass in a band setting or at higher volumes where the upper mid/trable reinforcement of the acoustic tone is less of a tone factor, but I may have slightly overstated the issue earlier. Still, I don't think this is a pup that is well paired with a typical 4x12 stack, barring niche purposes.
Title: Re: Odd Gibsons from the early 80's
Post by: TNF on October 11, 2014, 11:45:55 PM
Necro!

Here's one or two you don't see...   

Gibson Professional 335s Deluxe
(http://i1039.photobucket.com/albums/a478/Thepeopleofcolin/1981335sSilverburst2_zps61beb853.jpg)

Gibson SGR1
(http://i1039.photobucket.com/albums/a478/Thepeopleofcolin/IMG_2262_zps476c26c8.jpg)

Enjoy!