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

uwe · August 30, 2011, 04:16:20 AM

http://www.ebay.com/itm/81-Gibson-Victory-Bass-Custom-/290602596458?pt=Guitar&hash=item43a943b86a

Sure gives this Victory (one of the comparatively rare Custom ones, i.e. double pups, but passive) a different vibe. Undecided whether I like it though. Also the first Custom I see in sunburst.

PhilT · August 30, 2011, 06:41:48 AM

I like it.

Is it ok to collect for pickguards?

uwe · August 30, 2011, 10:49:04 AM

Silence!!!

Nocturnal · August 30, 2011, 01:17:43 PM

The tort works well with the sunburst, but I've never warmed up to the tort look.

Aussie Mark · August 30, 2011, 05:28:30 PM

That works really nicely.

godofthunder · August 30, 2011, 05:47:14 PM

Pretty sure it is aftermarket.

TBird1958 · August 30, 2011, 07:03:31 PM

That bass kicks A$$!

Denis · August 31, 2011, 05:58:16 AM

That's a beauty!

jumbodbassman · August 31, 2011, 08:11:40 AM

Passive. with all those switches??? was it originally active. being a fender guy Sb and tort is where it all starts for me. love the look.

Denis · August 31, 2011, 08:35:37 AM

Auction's ended... Wonder who, if anyone, got it. Top bid $525 and didn't make reserve. Someone must have made an offer on the side. Even Standards go for more than that.

Dave W · August 31, 2011, 08:42:26 AM

Since it didn't make reserve, nobody got it. Unless you're seeing something I've missed.

It's not likely to sell for a $1200 BIN.

uwe · August 31, 2011, 08:58:01 AM

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.

uwe · August 31, 2011, 09:05:40 AM

Quote from: Dave W on August 31, 2011, 08:42:26 AM
Since it didn't make reserve, nobody got it. Unless you're seeing something I've missed.

It's not likely to sell for a $1200 BIN.

Very true, even pristine Artists go rarely for more than 700 hundred. The Victory, for all its strengths and the ruggedness of its construction, is a non-collectible. Not even a lot of people in this forum have one. I, of course, have to over-compensate for that: I have four: An Artist (sunburst), a Custom (glaringly garish metallic CAR), and two Standards (in greyish silver and a dark burgundy/cherry that might have been another type of CAR at one time, but looks totally different to the Custom today). Wot, sez you, we caught Uwe collecting for fins?!!!

No, you didn't, the greyish silver one is a fretless.

The casualities of The Union with their Red Badges of Courage may forgive me,

but I could see breaking my fin vow for one of those Confederate fin ones though I could not envisage myself playing that in public unless I was asked to join Lynyrd Skynyrd!

Dave W · August 31, 2011, 09:19:19 AM

Around 5 or 6 years ago you could often find a Victory Standard on the bay for under $400 and the occasional Custom for not much more. I did think they were underpriced then.

Denis · August 31, 2011, 10:28:37 AM

Got my Standard for free provided I help a buddy put his motorcycle back on the road. He's never actually asked me to help him with the bike...