1982 Gibson Victory Custom

• Solid maple body • Laminate maple bolt-on long-scale (34") neck • Rosewood fingerboard • Two type VIIIB humbuckers • Passive circuitry

Candy Apple Red finish was a metallic red, produced with a silver base-coat, with a translucent red above. The Victory Custom bass was also listed as available in Antique Fireburst, Ebony and Antique Gold. Although no shipping figures for the Victory series are available, it would seem that Candy Apple Red was the most commonly shipped of these finishes.

Note the offset position markers on the rosewood fretboard. The Gibson Victory custom is a two pickup version of the passive Victory Standard - both have a series/parallel switch giving two distinct tones. Available from 1982-84.

Victory Custom bass controls are as follows:
[1] Master volume control
[2] Bass control 0 to 10
[3] Treble control 0 to 10
[4] Pickup selector switch
[5] Series/parallel switch
up - coils in series, down - coils in parallel

The Victory Custom was equipped with two type VIIIB humbuckers, upright in the bridge position, and slanted at the neck. The Victory range was fitted with a new bridge TRI-4 wedge bridge, and previously unused Schaller open gear machine heads.

Need to see under the scratchplate? Gibson Victory circuit photos | Gibson Victory Custom schematic

The Victory bass series instruments (all versions) had long-scale 24 fret two-octave necks; reaching these highest frets did require a particularly deep lower cutaway. It is the contrast between long-top-horn and deep-lower-cutaway that makes this bass look so different to every Gibson bass that preceded it.

The reverse side of the Victory Custom has no battery compartment (unlike the Victory Artist, here), as this bass has no active mode. There was a point, during the development of this bass, that the Victory was going to have a set-neck, like the majority of Gibson instruments (see the Victory bass development page), however this never happened. The neck is bolt-on, using four bolts through the neck plate. The neck plate contains the same Gibson branding first seen on mid-seventies basses such as the Grabber and G-3.

Close up of the Gibson series VIIIB humbucker in the bridge position of this Victory Custom bass. The Series VIIIB pickups were only ever fitted to the Victory series of basses, but this is not to say that all three models used the same pickups; in fact with one exception, all Victory pickups, are unique for their required model and position. The exception is the pickup shown here: the bridge pickup (only) of the Custom was the same unit as fitted to the Victory Standard (see here), though the neck pickup is different again, and not used elsewhere. As is the case with the majority of Gibson instruments produced at this time, the pickups are scratchplate-mounted, with three height/tilt adjustment screws. Scratchplate mounting of pickups and controls allowed easier and more cost-effective production, but makes inspection of the electronics a little more awkward.

At first glance, the passive Victory Custom bass has a the same controls as the active Victory Artist, and there certainly are common features (compare with the controls of the Artist here). From top to bottom, the pots are: volume, bass and treble - the same layout as the Artist - but note each speed knob is marked 0-10 rather than the 5-0-5 of the Artist. Passive tone controls are "reductive", i.e. the natural passive sound is achieved with controls at full; turning them down reduces bass or treble respectively. In contrast, active controls have a natural passive sound at the mid (0) point; above this value they are "additive". The top switch, again like the Artist, is a three-way pickup selector switch; the lower switch, unlike the Artist is a two way series/parallel controller. In the up position, the pickup coils are in series for a single coil sound, down and the coils are in parallel for a traditional humbucking sound.

The Victory series was fitted with a bridge previously unknown on Gibson bass guitars, the TRI-4 wedge bridge; also later fitted to the Gibson Explorer bass. It was produced for gibson by Schaller in Germany. Gibson bass bridges had previously utilised their famous "sustain sister" mounting posts; extending deep into the body of the instrument. Sonically these were pretty successful, although many users found them difficult to adjust. A few low-end basses had been fitted with simpler designs, but this was the first bridge to maintain the mass of the high end predecessors, yet do away with the sound posts. This was also the first design to have side-to-side adjustment, to accurately set string spacing.

The pickguard is five-ply black-white-black-white-black, and held in place with 12 cross-head pickguard screws. The dual-pickup Custom was a purely passive bass, unlike the Victory Artist, and therefore had differing controls, but the pickup and control placings were identical; both models used the same scratchplate. Compare this image with an equivalent for the Victory Artist.

A closer look at the reverse side of a 1982 Gibson Victory Custom electric bass guitar. Basses finished in Candy Apple Red or Antique Fireburst had natural-finished (clearcoated) necks; only those instruments in Ebony or Antique Gold had matching coloured necks. The Custom lacked the back battery cavity of the otherwise very similar-looking Victory Artist.

Like all solid body Gibson bass guitars, the serial number is stamped on the reverse of the instrument's headstock. Unlike earlier six digit numbers that were applied sequentially (with exceptions) and had no data coded into the digits, eight digit serial numbers can be decoded. In this case, the number 82642607 tells us that it was stamped on the 21st September 1982 (day 264). 607 means that it was made at the Gibson Nashville plant (Kalamazoo numbers start at 0, Nashville numbers start at 500), and was the 107th instrument stamped that day. This numbering system was only introduced a few years earlier, in 1977, but is still in use by Gibson today. The headstock is, of course, eastern hard-rock maple, clear-coated after the serial number was stamped.

Headstock with Gibson decal logo. The Thunderbird-style headstock shape was about the only design feature taken from earlier Gibson bass models. Victory bass headstock motifs either read 'Gibson Victory' (as seen here) or 'Gibson Victory bass' (see an example here), seemingly at random. Note the brass nut, and rounded triangular truss-rod cover, with model designation.

Just like the Gibson Victory Artist, the Victory Custom used Schaller open gear machine heads. Note the three-piece maple neck, with two extra wings, making a five-piece headstock. The eight digit serial number and MADE IN USA are stamped beside the tuning keys. Victory series necks have no volute; quite unusual for maple-necked Gibsons of this vintage.

Gibson Victory sound clips

These sound clips are recorded directly into a mobilepre preamp. Recorded with round wound strings. Pickup volumes on 10. There are two distinct pickup modes on the Victory Custom bass, coils in series which gives the "most powerful, fattest sound", and coils in parallel which gives a "clean, piano bass tone". See the pickups and Victory Standard Controls sections of the 1981 Victory owners manual - although the Custom is not described, it follows the same basic principle as the Victory Standard.

You can compare these soundclips to the other Victory bass models on the Victory bass soundclip page

Gibson Victory bass for sale

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