andysleigh Posted February 17, 2011 Share Posted February 17, 2011 Does anybody know what the finish on Gibson bass headstocks is. e.g. RD artist, ripper etc I assume its an ebony veneer/ top, but you can never see any grain. jsut a straight black finsih . Is it painted? cheerz Andy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shaggy Posted February 17, 2011 Share Posted February 17, 2011 [quote name='andysleigh' post='1131593' date='Feb 17 2011, 09:50 PM']Does anybody know what the finish on Gibson bass headstocks is. e.g. RD artist, ripper etc I assume its an ebony veneer/ top, but you can never see any grain. jsut a straight black finsih . Is it painted? cheerz Andy[/quote] I think the ones with the painted / transfer gold logo are usually just painted black, but the ones with an inlaid MOP logo are a black stained veneer with a clear lacquer topcoat. You see them as pre-cut sheets for Les Pauls etc on ebay. but never seen one for bass. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ou7shined Posted February 17, 2011 Share Posted February 17, 2011 (edited) The Victory Artist that I recently did a restoration on for Neepheid has a painted headstock. edit : with lots of clear laquer on top. Edited February 17, 2011 by Ou7shined Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andysleigh Posted February 18, 2011 Author Share Posted February 18, 2011 (edited) ok, cool, cheers guys. I'v got a gibson neck for my homebuild RD artist that needs somthing ontop of the head, i have some ebony but maybe thats a bit nice to paint black.. Edited February 18, 2011 by andysleigh Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
evilLordJuju Posted February 18, 2011 Share Posted February 18, 2011 The 60s Gibsons had a veneer made of wood - holly in fact - painted black. By the late seventies (certainly for the RD series) it was a black resin - I can probably find the exact name they were calling it - but can't remember off hand. I interviewed the guy who designed the RD series (including the flying f-hole inlay) - the late Chuck Burge - and he told me all about it. I'll try and get that interview transcribed at some point. I can not tell you the exact date they changed, but they were still using holly in 1972 or so. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andysleigh Posted February 18, 2011 Author Share Posted February 18, 2011 (edited) ahh, thats interesting to know. thanks. I'l stick to a wooden veneer. tho slightly anoying that the heads slightly over 8" long Edited February 19, 2011 by andysleigh Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shaggy Posted February 19, 2011 Share Posted February 19, 2011 [quote name='evilLordJuju' post='1132164' date='Feb 18 2011, 01:16 PM']The 60s Gibsons had a veneer made of wood - holly in fact - painted black. By the late seventies (certainly for the RD series) it was a black resin - I can probably find the exact name they were calling it - but can't remember off hand. I interviewed the guy who designed the RD series (including the flying f-hole inlay) - the late Chuck Burge - and he told me all about it. I'll try and get that interview transcribed at some point. I can not tell you the exact date they changed, but they were still using holly in 1972 or so.[/quote] The replacement sheets, and what Gibson currently use are "fibreboard" (a kind of thin MDF I guess). Interesting they used to use holly - stained holly-wood has been used as an ebony substitute since the Renaissance. I recently tried to patch a missing piece on my '58 EB-2, but in the end gave up and left it mojo'd. The "winged note / flying shrimp" logo-ed RD Artist headstock probably the classisest headstock ever IMO. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
evilLordJuju Posted February 19, 2011 Share Posted February 19, 2011 [quote name='Shaggy' post='1133129' date='Feb 19 2011, 10:10 AM']The "winged note / flying shrimp" logo-ed RD Artist headstock probably the classisest headstock ever IMO.[/quote] Apparently there were two versions - the lightning bolt through the middle signifies that it was an active instrument (for the RD Artist). There was also a flying f-hole (an f-hole with wings) but no lightning. That was for passive instruments. Chuck designed both, but the passive version never got used. But you never know, there may be an early RD Standard with this other version - Chuck made all the show models that were taken to NAMM etc in '77... would be interesting to see one of those if it ever came up Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andysleigh Posted February 19, 2011 Author Share Posted February 19, 2011 It is a pretty classy inlay. a bit hard to replicate... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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