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Gibson RD Artist

Gibson introduces the redesigned RD Artist, featuring a curved reverse-body design inspired by the Firebird shape.

Gibson RD Artist

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This redesign is part of Gibson’s 120th Anniversary celebrations, refreshing the RD model which was first released in the ’70s.

The RD Artist’s outer appearance was not the only thing that was changed, electronics and consequently the tone of the guitar is also changed because Gibson equipped the guitar with two new active humbucking pickups. The official description says that “The RD Artist hits the ground running as one of the most versatile and powerful models in the Gibson stable.

Contrasting its exotic shape, the guitar’s body and neck are all built using familiar mahogany wood. The body is carved from solid mahogany while the guitar’s glued-in mahogany neck is topped by a one-piece rosewood fingerboard with pearloid block inlay.

The fretboard has a 1.695″ wide tektoid nut, 22 frets, and white binding. Like many of their 2014 release, the 12th fret of the guitar has a 120th Anniversary inlay. The multiply bound headstock continues the elegant theme of the instrument, featuring pearloid Gibson logo and “flying f-hole”.

More than its unique shape, the two active pickups of the new RD Artist is quite interesting. This is what Gibson had to say about them, “The key to the RD Artist’s performance, though, lies in its innovative new GEM Gibson Active humbucking pickups, made with traditional Alnico II magnets and 42 AWG wire, but in an active design that offers unprecedented power, fidelity and sustain. They are routed through independent volume controls, a master tone, and three-way selector toggle.”

Wrapping up the features of the guitar are gold plated hardware, which include pickup covers, Grover locking tuners, Tune-o-matic bridge, and TP6 stopbar with fine-tuning.

The new RD Artist is currently only available in Alpine White nitrocellulose lacquer finish, with an MSRP of $2,299. Head over to Gibson for more information.

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