Wonder if that tort guard is after-market ...

[uwe]

Sometimes, having a friend with a bad back is a great thing!

[jumbodbassman]

The switches are a mini three-way toggle for the pups plus a two-way mini toggle for series/parallel pups (or some midboost, what do I know about stuff like that!). Vol, bass and treble knobs. (Not 2 x vol for the two pups as one might think plus master tone.)

I guess it was the bass for people who wanted a two pup bass and perhaps one with the neck pup upfront, but sans battery. (Unlike the RD Artist's active electronics, the Victroy Artist's active electronics have held up well, it's an aggressive, early Stingray'ish type pf sound, not as hifi as the RDs.) And the passive Custom sounds a bit more refined than a one-pup Standard would, due to the pup of the Standard being wound more to P Bass mode and placed in the middle.  

Of course, the tort guard on this specimen visually reinforces what the Victory Custom was in fact aiming to be all along: A new Jazz Bass, only better. It fell between the crevice of the passive single pup Standard and the active dual pup Artist though, sold in small quantities and had the shortest production span (came in late and left early). I am not aware that Gibson (unlike with the other two) ever even advertised it. Took me a while to find mine in fact.

i have an active ,  sounds great  - should come with a chair...  never noticed the switches on the passive ones.

[EvilLordJuju]

I suspect the guard is aftermarket - based purely on the lack of other examples - but seeing as this comes with all the original paperwork, had it been a special order, it would probably be mentioned there.

I think this looks really nice actually.

[Dave W]

Have you ever seen any Gibson electric with a tort guard? I can't think of any offhand. Some acoustics and mandolins have them, but that's not the same division or factory.

[Nocturnal]

Didn't some Rippers have tort, or something like tort on them?

[ramone57]

some Rippers did have a tort guard but it almost looked black.  that looks like the same material as the aftermarket guard I used on my Ripper.

[uwe]

Early Grabbers had that blackish tort stuff that tended to fall apart after a few decades. True, it's untypical for Gibson to use.

[Denis]

Early Grabbers had that blackish tort stuff that tended to fall apart after a few decades. True, it's untypical for Gibson to use.

They were also a single ply affair, I believe. Some months ago I scored an original, unbroken torty-almost black pg for an early Ripper. You can't even tell it's torty unless you hold it up to the light...

[uwe]

Yes. And it turns all brittle over time. On my old Ripper it fell apart, just atomized.

[PhilT]

There was a single ply tort guard under a WD Music black guard on my early Ripper. I thought it might be original, but it looked more tort than black. Not as red as the one on Ramone's, or the one I had to replace it with, more a dark brown. A previous owner had sprayed it black, along with the rest of the body, and my inept efforts to remove the paint destroyed it.