Odds and Ends

When one thinks of the history of the solid body electric guitar, Gibson is one of the first and most important brands that comes to mind. While guitars such as the Les Paul, SG Flying V, Explorer and Firebird were wildly successful either initially or eventually, Gibson also produced many guitars that are not as well remembered.

Just as Fender was known for constructing mostly solid body alder or ash guitars with bolt-on maple necks and single coil pickups, Gibson was known mostly for its set neck mahogany guitars with humbuckers. When Gibson tried to depart from this sales model, they often met with utter failure.

This article focuses on the Gibson guitar models that are not as well known, regardless of their level of quality.

Just as Fender tried to duplicate the success of Gibson’s dual humbucker guitars in the late 1960s, Gibson would also try to emulate Fender guitars and their attributes.

One notable Fender clone was the Gibson Melody Maker III. Originally built as a one single coil Les Paul derivative in 1959, the Melody Maker was changed to an SG body shape in 1961. With the change in body style, Gibson also offered two and three pickup versions of the Melody Maker. The Melody maker III was an SG shaped solid body with three single coils, producing a relatively stratty sound.

Similar approaches were taken with the Gibson Corvus, a guitar which was built by Gibson in the 1980s. For Gibson, the early to mid-1980s were a time of great financial struggle and experiment. As such, Gibson tried to draw more interest to the company with a number of unconventional guitars. First introduced in 1982, the Corvus was offered in three different models; the Corvus I, (with one humbucking pickup) the Corvus II (with two humbuckers) and the Corvus III which had three single coils. The Corvus was a true departure from conventional Gibson guitars in many ways. Firstly, the guitar had a bolt-on maple neck rather than a set mahogany neck like most Gibsons. Similarly, the Corvus had an alder body, giving the Corvus III a very similar configuration to the Fender Stratocaster.

Likewise, Gibson saw an opportunity to capitalize on the success of so-called “Super Strats” built by companies such as Jackson, Ibanez, Charvel and others. Gibson’s entry into this market was the Gibson Victory. Like a typical “Super Strat,” the Victory had a double cutaway body with a dual humbucker or humbucker single humbucker configuration. Perhaps learning from the mistakes of the Marauder, Gibson built the Victory with a traditional set neck design and a mahogany body and a Gibson scale. With these features, the guitar truly varied little from an SG or Les Paul and was not well received largely due to its appearance.

While Gibson built the Corvus and Victory with relatively ordinary configurations, they also built some guitars that were groundbreaking and just plain strange. The Marauder was produced by Gibson from 1974 to 1979 to compete with the Fender Telecaster. The Marauder came in a choice of alder, maple or mahogany body with a bolt on maple neck. Though it was meant to emulate the Telecaster, the Marauder had two humbuckers rather than single coils. The bridge pickup was a strange rail humbucker built in the shape of a single coil pickup and slanted like a fender bridge pickup. The guitar was not quite a fender and a star departure from Gibson’s traditional instruments. Consequently, the guitar was a flop, selling barely over 7,000 units during its entire run.

While most of Gibson’s other commercial failures were oddball guitars with strange looks and unconventional construction, the RD was an innovative instrument that was built before it truly had a large market. Short for research and development, the RD debuted in 1977 with three trim levels; Standard, Custom and Artist. The RD Custom and Artist came equipped with active electronics, a feature now almost standard amongst metal guitarists. Active pickups are known for their ability to produce greater gain for a heavier sound. When the RD was introduced, few players were looking for this feature in a guitar, which would lead to its demise. In addition to this basic feature, the RD also had a switchable bright compression and expansion and a treble and bass boost. While instruments such as the Marauder were meant to throw tradition out the window, the RD was intended as a subtle blend of traditional Gibson design and cutting edge technology. The RD had a traditional set neck design, though it carried a Fender-like 25 ½ scale neck until 1979 and a body made of maple, likely to produce a brighter sound than the traditional mahogany Gibson guitars. Being greatly before its time, most Gibson faithful were confused by its features and chagrined that it did not have a passive mode (except for the standard which was exclusively passive.)

While Gibson has had great success with guitars such as the Les Paul, SG and others, they often struggled when trying to build unconventional guitars.