Gibson Victory bass

The Gibson Victory bass series was manufactured for 5 years, between 1981 and 1986. The range consisted of two passive (Standard and Custom) and one active (Artist) model.

The basses were all maple bodied, with bolt-on three-piece laminate maple necks, 24 fret rosewood fretboard, and one (Standard), or two (Custom and Artist) humbucking pickups. They were all long scale (34 inch) instruments.

The combination of materials and construction style made for very versatile (but also heavy) bass - and when combined with active electronics, this versatility only increased, giving the rich bass mellow sounds that Gibson bass guitars are famous for, but also the bright twangy sounds so popular in the late seventies/early eighties.

The Victory bass had a number of features previously unseen in Gibson bass guitars: a brass nut, sloped front pickup, reinforced neck (steel bars either side of the truss rod) and pickups that could be switched to offer coils in series or parallel. Its extreme asymmetrical shape gave access to all 24 frets.

Available with fretted or fretless neck. Finishes include Silver, Ebony, Candy Apple Red, and Antique Fireburst.

Notable Victory players