Gibson has re-launched one of its weirdest ever guitars

The Gibson name may make you think of the Les Paul or the SG, but one of its stranger creations has just joined the guitar-maker’s Custom Shop line-up: the RD.

Gibson first released the odd-looking RD in 1977. But it didn’t last long. Following low sales the series was discontinued in the early 80s.

But it’s back. The Gibson RD Custom is going to be available from the Gibson Custom Shop in London, as well as its Nashville branch and from the Gibson website.

It costs £4,999, a similar price to that of a Firebird Custom, which it roughly resembles.

The Gibson RD body shape is kinda a mash-up of the Firebird and the Explorer, and over the years has been seen in the hands of rock stars including Jimmy Page, Dave Grohl and metal cheese-churners Ghost.

It has a scale length of 25.5 inches — longer than the norm for Gibson, a scale more common among Fender guitars.

A Gibson RD has block inlays, Gibson’s book-style headstock, and comes in one pickup config only — two humbuckers. These are 490R and 498T pickups, found in the Les Paul Modern Studio and some models of the Gibson SG. The bridge pick-up is higher-output than most Gibson uses, suggesting higher gain players may be in mind for this one.

For now at least, the Gibson RD only comes in Ebony with gold hardware, a style also offered in the cousin Explorer and Firebird models.

So. Were people calling out for a re-release of the Gibson RD?

Not as far as we can tell, but this isn’t the first of Gibson's old oddball models to have been brought back recently. The Gibson Victory superstrat made a return in late 2024. It’s another funny-looking beast, one released in 1981 before being canned a few years late.

You can see the folks from Andertons trying out that re-release here:

Gibson CEO Cesar Gueikian teased the return of the RD in January, posting a video of him playing the revamped guitar on Instagram.

The £4,999 Gibson RD is available to order now, and should appeal if you want something out of the ordindary but still from one of the guitar’s biggest and greatest names.

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