Gibson RD Artist - There Is No Energy Shortage
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Gibson RD Artist - The Active Sound Of The 80s
This advert features three Artist series guitars; the RD Artist which had been around since 1977, the ES Artist and Les Paul Artist, which were both new models in 1979 | 
Gibson RD Artist - Passive Active Gibson RD
Advertisement from the magazine Music Life (April 78), which comes from Japan. The functionality of the RD artist guitar is explained in detail (In Japanese) | 
Gibson RD Artist - Power Play - Basses Loaded
This advert for the RD series actually appeared on two consecutive pages. The top half, for the RD Artist guitaron the left, the RD Artist bass on the right |
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 When the RD Series of guitars and basses were first designed, the Gibson Research and Development department wanted to pack their electronic innovations into the most suitable body. The RD guitars were styled at the same time as their active circuitry was developed, in this way the design of this instrument was a completely integral process. The result of this integral design is quite obvious - guitars and basses that are balanced and effective without gadgetry or ornamentation
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Artist
The three versions of the RD artist. Top: the RD 77, middle: the RD 79, bottom the RD CMT. There are a number of differences, in electronics, hardware and also scale. These are summarised below.
| Model |
RD 77 |
RD 79 |
RD CMT |
| Available | 1977-79 | 1979-81 | 1981 |
| Pickups | Gold-plated series VI humbuckers. | Nickel-plated series VI humbuckers, with cream pickup surrounds |
| Active / Passive | Active, 9V |
| Body | Maple | Bound maple with curly maple top |
| Neck | Laminated maple. Ebony fretboard with pearl block markers. Bound headstock with pearl inlay. Neck bound from 1979. | No headstock inlays |
| Width at nut | 1 11/16" |
| Frets | 22 |
| Scale | 25 1/2" | 24 3/4" |
| Hardware | Schaller tuners, tune-o-matic bridge and stop tailpiece. Gold-plated throughout. Black speed knobs. | Schaller tuners, tune-o-matic bridge and TP6 tailpiece. Gold-plated throughout. Black speed knobs. | Schaller tuners, tune-o-matic bridge and TP6 tailpiece. Nickel-plated throughout. Gold speed knobs. |
| Finishes | Antique Sunburst, Ebony, Natural, Fireburst | Antique Sunburst, Ebony, Natural | Antique Sunburst, Antique Cherryburst |
| Notes | Two volume, master treble, master bass controls. 3-way pickup selector, 3-position mode switch
expansion/comp.
neutral
bright/lead
| Two volume, master treble, master bass controls. 3-way pickup selector, 2 mini toggle switches
expansion/comp.
bright/lead |
The RD series consisted of three guitars and two basses, but this was certainly the flagship instrument. All advertisements featured the new active Artist models - which is not surprising as these were certainly very new and groundbreaking guitars
The scale of the RD77 was 25 1/2" - the longest Gibson guitar produced. When it was replaced with the more traditionally scaled (24 3/4") RD-79, the longer-scale RD-77 was still available as a custom order, at the same price. These new RD-77s still had the RD-79 expansion/compression switches.
 | | A fine example of a CMT RD Artist, with a particularly nice top veneer |
In March 1981, Gibson announced to dealers a limited run of 100 RD CMT guitars, for delivery in April. Ths guitars had mixed features; a slab body with a curly maple top, bound and with no contours. Hardware was nickel plated rather than gold, and there were no pearl inlays, just a Gibson decal. The price list released at the same time (April 1st 1981) has no mention of any RD guitars, so these were very definately an end-of-the-line model. Was this Gibsons attempt to shift some RD Artists at a reduced price?
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