The development of the Gibson Victory bass

EvilLordJuju · December 31, 2008, 08:06:42 AM

The Gibson Victory series was the work of the late 70s/ early 80s research and development team. Headed by Bruce Bolen, the majority of the electronics was created by Tim Shaw, whilst the woodwork, and body design were the work of Charles 'Chuck' Burge.

I caught up with Chuck earlier this year, and he told me all about the development of the Gibson victory bass

enjoy....

Chris P. · December 31, 2008, 08:59:02 AM

Thanks Julian! A nice story again!!! Keep up the good work!!

Dave W · December 31, 2008, 09:44:17 AM

Thanks, Jules. Is this the first of many stories to come from your Kalamazoo trip?

EvilLordJuju · December 31, 2008, 10:25:46 AM

Quote from: Dave W on December 31, 2008, 09:44:17 AM
Thanks, Jules. Is this the first of many stories to come from your Kalamazoo trip?

Yeah. I know it's taken me more than 6 months to get anything released, but there is a lot more for 2009.

Chuck also built the RD series prototypes, so theres some good info to come there. He has also promised me photos of the model shop back in the late 70s, and maybe pics of some of the prototypes he built. Hopefully he'll dig them out.

Got a lot of general Gibson (not bass specific) stuff too.

gearHed289 · December 31, 2008, 12:25:51 PM

Very cool stuff! Nice article. So was the RD named in honor of their new research and development department? I'd like to know what Entwistle's involvement was, if any. He says it was originally planned as the "John Entwistle Model" but ended up not liking it.

EvilLordJuju · December 31, 2008, 01:34:52 PM

re Entwistle and the RD... Entwistle basically had no involvement beyond initial talks. He told them what he wanted and asked for 12 of them.

This never happened of course - however Gibson liked to play up the association as it was obviously good for them. They were still calling it the John Entwistle model after it was clear he wasn't going to be using it.

The RD development is something we talked about at length. Hopefully i'll get that page up before we hit 2010!

ilan · January 01, 2009, 02:54:46 AM

Cool story, thanks!

godofthunder · January 02, 2009, 03:46:37 AM

Cool story on a often overlooked bass ! My dad did some work with some suppliers to Gibson back in the 80's, he was going to get me a victory but something happened biz wise and it never came to be. I did get a bunch of cool KISS promo pictures though !

uwe · January 02, 2009, 04:48:47 AM

Very interesting story and great research, Jules.

That said, to me a Victory feels and plays nothing like a P Bass. If that is what they attempted, they failed big time. The Victory feels less agile and aircraft carrier deck neck and body are altogether more massive. Plus the weight. The all maple construction always gives it a touch of Ric to me though the Ric is again the more agile and less massive instrument. Whenever I play a Victory, I feel a baseball stadium and a modest backline of, say, 8 Marhall bass stacks, would be just the right "environment" for it.