Description

Gibson Howard Roberts 1978 Custom Wine Red

Made in USA

GIBSON manufactured the Howard Roberts Custom between 1973 and 1981. It was an archtop with an oval soundhole like the Howard Roberts Artist but less expensive appointments: it a rosewood fingerboard and chrome finished hardware. The tailpiece has a black “Howard Roberts” name plate and the overall design was based on the Epiphone Howard Roberts models of the 1960s, but with a different pick-up, laminated top, and somewhat heavier in weight. A two pick-up version was also available in the late 1970s.

The guitar sounds and plays great. The guitar has had the usual bump and below the volute area has a superficial light fracture in the maple that has been there for twenty plus years. The neck is Maple so it is super strong as apposed to Mahogany and is structurally sound. The Guitar has the original sales flyer and original Gibson case.

Designed for jazz session guitarist Howard Roberts (who recorded the themes for the Munsters, the Twilight Zone and plenty of other TV classics), this signature model was originally built as an Epiphone in the ’60s. In the ’70s, Gibson made two versions of this guitar, the Custom and the Artist. The two were essentially the same with a distinct oval soundhole, but the Custom featured a Rosewood instead of Ebony fingerboard and chrome hardware.

Tony Elder / Steve Jackson