Shipping totals for Gibson RD Artist and RD Standard bass guitars
 |
1977 | 1978 | 1979 | 1980 | 1981 | total |
| RD Artist | 504 | 1402 | 734 | ? | ? | 2640 |
| RD Standard | 388 | 425 | 103 | 916 | ||
| RD-77 | 6 | 6 |
The RD Artist was produced until April 1981, however shipping figures are unavailable past 1979. A batch of RD Artists with a curly maple top were the last to be produced in April '81 (probably numbering 100 or so).
Shipping figures mention six RD-77 basses right at the start of production. Mid 1977 Gibson literature refers to the RD Artist bass shown at the 1977 NAMM show as the RD-77, so presumably these are just prototypes or show models, that were listed with the original name. With the exception of the first prototype(s) which had a bolt-on neck(s), the early samples were no different to the production models; according to Chuck Burge who hand-built these instruments, they did not differ from the regular production models in any significant way. See the RD Artist timeline.
Once the RD Artist bass with second version (RD79) electronics was in production, the name RD77 was sometimes (though not universally) resurrected to differentiate the two variants. In the vast majority of cases the bass was simply called 'RD Artist bass'. The 77/79 designations were far more widely used for the six string guitar version as there was a bigger difference between the RD 77 and RD 79 guitars; on top of the revised controls, these RDs also had different scale lengths.
Gibson RD bass guitars for sale
1980 Gibson RD Artist Bass Sunburst
Antioch, Tennessee, 370**, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
$3999
