The Gibson Victory has just been announced officially, bringing this cult early 1980s guitar back into production.
’80s Cult Classic
The Gibson Victory was a model first released in the early 1980s. It was part of the Norlin era’s answer to the Superstrat phenomenon created by guitarists, including Eddie Van Halen.
It was always a quirky offset guitar, very much a Gibson, with a hardtail design and a guitar of its time. They have a bit of a cult following and are the type of guitar that would pop up in pawn stores for little money up until a few years ago.
Gibson Victory
Now the Victory is back and will be made available in two versions that share the same DNA as the ’80s originals; it now has a plain top or one with an AA-figured maple top. They have the same Tune-o-Matic hardtail bridge and stop bar, so they are still very much Gibson in design.
These almost S-style models have a double cutaway mahogany body, a 25.5″ scale length mahogany neck, and a 24-fret compound ebony fretboard. They also have single-ply binding on the fretboard.
It is an odd-looking model, and so will undoubtedly divide opinion. The standard Victory comes in Dark Green Satin, Gold Mist Satin, and Dark Walnut Satin. In contrast, the Victory Figured Top is available in Smokehouse Burst, Wine Red Burst, and Iguana Burst.
80s Tribute
Both versions come with a pair of 80s Tribute humbuckers and are controlled with volume and tone controls and a three-way pickup selector switch. They have a push-pull on the volume for coil split and a push-pull pot on the tone to select both pickups’ inner and outer coils. This gives plenty of tonal options on this guitar, which could be helpful for guitarists looking to cover different types of music.
Verdict
They are not the greatest-looking guitars to be re-released by Gibson. However, if you want something different and like these specifications, there isn’t much else as ’80s looking and still a Gibson available.
It’s probably not a guitar that I would want, but I can see some players loving it.
MSRP – Victory USD 1999 and Victory Figured Top $2499
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