Billy Gibbons Texas shaped Guitar 1979

[Mick_7]

This is very cool, just found it.

www.facebook.com/guitarloungeGalveston

 

[zacknorton]

I'm going to say it again... WTF is going on with the electronics on that thing?

 

[Wally]

As a natural born Texan, I protest!. That does not look like the shape of Texas!!! Eeehaw….

I'm going to say it again... WTF is going on with the electronics on that thing?

Hmm…I don’t know? However, if I were to guess I would say that that is an on/of switch for each pickup along with a switch for each pickup that either a cuts a coil or a switches series/parallel for each pickup. But….looking again at that huge plate covers the Panhandle area, this guitar may be full of active electronic tricks????? There is no reason for that large plate unless there is some complex circuitry there. Unless….Gibbons the prankster wants to keep people guessing.

 

[seafood]

why do i get the feeling,,,,,,that it weighs a ton??????

 

[Gibbons59]

I'm going to say it again... WTF is going on with the electronics on that thing?

I'm guessing some sort of Moog electronics...?

 

[Gibbons59]

Active electronics I have a copy of Billy's book. I'll pull it out when I get a chance, and see if there are any more details in it.

 

[Norton]

I posted in the other thread that I recalled an article from Guitar World that talked about it. I did a little online scouring and found a photo of the centerfold. It's a little hard to read but it references the RD electronics if you zoom in. If anyone has the original issue maybe they can post a better photo of the text.

 

[Wally]

I re@d there that it has a compressor-expander circuit along with other effects that are found in the Gibson RD Artist, which had a bright boost, treble boost and a bass boost along with that compressor/expander.

 

[ADP]

That is one of the coolest guitars ever!

 

[Wally]

I have worked on only one RD Artist…interesting guitar. It also would weigh less than this custom Texas and also would HAVE to be more comfortable. It seems the RD Artist has some pull in the marketplace.

 

[Pat Boyack]

Cocaine

 

[EFLOW]

Strange body shape ....

 

[El Gringo]

This is mind blowing for me as I never ever thought it was made by GIBSON .

 

[Wally]

Cocaine

well! There is that.

Strange body shape ....

as I noted earlier….that ain’t Texas! Maybe it is..as Pat Boyack suggests….the effect of the massive cocaine usage in the late 1970s. distortion on all levels…Sonic, visual, mental……

 

[seafood]

i would like to have one.......but,i would have my tech,take out all that electronic junk,and put in an espresso maker!!!!.....that way....i could a nice cup of coffee....while i'm playing some Texas blues!!!!!!!!!

 

[Norton]

Texas designed by Salvador Dali?

 

[Grog]

I have worked on only one RD Artist…interesting guitar. It also would weigh less than this custom Texas and also would HAVE to be more comfortable. It seems the RD Artist has some pull in the marketplace.

I've had these for quite some time. They were relatively cheap at the time I bought them. I remember an article in the VG years ago....... "RD Artist, Ahead of their time or Timless Turkeys". The price is climbing lately.

 

[IMMUSICRULZ]

Billy Gibbons has always played a lot of Gibson guitars (and continues to play Gibson guitars). My guess is that maybe he pressured Gibson into making a guitar that was shaped like the state of Texas? Who knows.

 

[Wally]

Has anyone ever seen Billy G. Playing one of these live? Imho, that looks like a very uncomfortable guitar.

 

[Mpayne]

I have one of the above mentioned foldouts from Guitar magazine back in the day. The text reads: "In much the same way that Brian Wilson and the beach boys created the ''California Myth," ZZ top fashioned a magical landscape out of their home state of Texas.( it is perhaps no coincidence that that vital components of both visons were girls and cars, two prime objects of the American male fantasy.) What more natural expression for Billy Gibbon's love of Texas than to have the Gibson guitar company build him an instrument shaped exactly like the lone star state itself! The guitar's body and neck are made of mahogany; the fingerboard is rosewood. Of special interest is an active circuit like those in gibson's "RD" line. It consists of a compressor/expander. The guitar also features special switches recessed in the back of the instrument that activate the effects. The easily accessible switches are described by Billy as being located "right behind El Paso". They are concealed to preserve the guitars aesthetic simplicity. Other features are a battery pack, and a headstock sporting a lone star that passes right through the Gibson logo. There is also a brass plate on the back that commemorates the instrument's presentation to Billy, and a brass truss rod cover with the word TEXAS engraved on it. Designed and constructed by C.E. Burge, this guitar is reportedly the last instrument ever made in the Gibson factory in Kalamazoo Michigan, Before the Nashville relocation. In Billy's own words, the guitar is "very loud with tremendous sustain. Of course, it has a sound as big as Texas."