Gibson Victory

[sunshiner]

I've never seen or heard of this guitar before
ebay

[dezb1]

Looks like this and a strat had a Gibson baby...

[Sloan]

I wanna say it's 70's era. don't worry about it.

[westtexasred]

I wanna say it's 70's era. don't worry about it.

Yeppers:

"The Gibson Victory MV range of guitars comprised just two models: the Gibson Victory MV2 (or MVII), "designed primarily for the discerning country player", and the Gibson Victory MV10 (or MVX) that "produces a myriad of separate and distinct electric guitar tonalities; those voices that fill all the needs and requirements of the dedicated guitarist"

MV stood for multi-voice. They were created by the Gibson research and development team in Kalamazoo, MI, with the body work by Chuck Burge, and the multi-voice electronics by Tim Shaw. The period of production was short: mid 1981 - 1983/4. Early models were Kalamaoo-built, but by the end of 1981 they were being produced at the Gibson Nashville plant. There were also three Gibson Victory bass models (See Chuck Burge's interview with FlyGuitars on the development of the Gibson Victory bass), and these went on to outlast the guitar versions by several years. The Gibson Victory MV2 and MVX were last listed in Gibson prices list of January 1984, whilst the Gibson Victory Standard and Artist basses remained until 1986.



According to the 1981 pre-owners manuals, they were attempts to add "in-demand" tones, to Gibson's classic sounds. Direct competition for the Fender Telecaster (MV2) and Fender Stratocaster (MV10). As well as the Fender-esque shape, these guitars were fitted with pickups and circuitry that could give single coil tones. This was not the first time Gibson had created guitars to directly take on Fenders sound; the Gibson Marauder and Gibson S-1 had done much the same thing 6 years earlier, but with more traditional Gibson body styling.

But to say the Victory series were just Fender copies would be very wrong indeed. Although they could produce single-coil sounds, these guitars were actually fitted with humbuckers for the fatter tones associated with Gibson, and along with a hard rock maple body and a set (glued-in) maple neck, they owed a lot more to Gibson tradition than might seem obvious at a first look. In many ways they are descendents of the all-maple Gibson RD series guitars; the design teams previous effort.

Gibson 1983 catalogue
The Gibson Victory Standard bass and Gibson Victory MX guitar were the only Victory models to appear in the 1983 Gibson catalogue
The Victory guitar series were available at dealers from late summer 1981, however bass models may have been available slightly earlier in 1981; only Victory basses were listed in the April 1981 price lists, with the guitars added in the next list.



By this time Gibson were having serious financial problems, and unprofitable models were being discontinued. The Victory MV guitars were good quality instruments, with wide tonal palettes. So why were they a commercial failure? It was a time of falling guitar sales in general, and perhaps Gibson buyers wanted Gibson classic styling? Price may also have been a factor: in 1982 the MV2 cost the same as the SG Standard, with the MVX a shade below the Les Paul Standard. Another factor may have been insufficient advertising. The MV2 never appeared in a Gibson catalogue, whilst the MVX just made it into the 1983 catalogue. Marketing the MV2 as a country guitar was perhaps a bad idea - although useful in alikening the instrument to the Telecaster, the Victory body shape was probably too 'rock' for country players, whilst the country tag must have put off may rock players."

[sunshiner]

Wow, thanks for the information. It looks like the body has a full thickness of Les Paul and if it is made of maple I guess that the guitar is quite heavy

[sunshiner]

Oh, the same seller has this! ebay

What a beautiful guitar!

[timhulio]

Any Nirvana fan will tell you what MV really stands for.

These guitars- super odd, love them.

[61fury]

I was all hot for that Victory bass back then, didn't remember it until I saw this post.

[61fury]

Here it is, no use for it but it's still hot, thanks for the memories OP and West Texas Red

[sunshiner]

Thank you for posting the photo of this rare bass

[LizardKing]

Oh, the same seller has this! ebay

What a beautiful guitar!

I've never seen a contour like that before, wonder how it feels.

[markarkark]

Reminds me of a Travis Bean

[Din of Win]

Here it is, no use for it but it's still hot, thanks for the memories OP and West Texas Red

The only Gibson bass i've ever owned was a Victory Artist! It'e the 2 pickup version of that Victory.

It's in that "wish i never sold it" pile

Here's what mine looked like:

[61fury]

Really nice bodies on those.