Gibson ES Artist With original hard case Ebony finish Made in the USA, 1980 Aside from a lot of tarnishing on the gold hardware, a few lacquer cracks, and some minor buckle rash, it's in pretty good shape. The frets are also in very good condition. The cellulose scratchplate has started to disintegrate. I put some tape on the back of it to take the photos, but it's now safely wrapped in bubble wrap and stored in the case. Back in the '70s, digital electronics were the big thing, and Gibson decided they needed to get on board. Norlin, who owned Gibson at the time, also owned Moog, so they got Bob Moog to design the active electronics in this guitar. It features low-impedance pickups, a volume control, active bass and treble controls with boost​/​cut, plus a compressor, expander, and treble boost. Please note: the expander is not working. This isn’t really a problem—most players don't use the three switches anyway. The treble boost definitely isn’t essential! In fact, many people remove the active circuit and pickups altogether to convert it to a standard passive guitar. Aside from the love-it-or-hate-it active circuit, this is a very good guitar. It has a low action, and the ebony board feels fantastic. It wasn’t one of Gibson’s most successful releases—very few were made between 1979 and 1985—so this is something of a rarity. It’s the only one I’ve ever seen in the flesh. This will almost certainly go up in value in the years to come. Grab it while you can—we’ll probably never see another one. One of the most unusual Gibsons we’ve ever had in stock.