Gibson Howard Roberts Fusion 2005 Blonde w/Case - Used

Gibson Howard Roberts Fusion in excellent condition with typical playing wear for it's age. Patina on gold hardware. Setup instore and plays beatifully. Some interent specs and description below:

The Gibson Howard Roberts Fusion III, the last iteration of the Howard Roberts models, appeared in 1991 and was built until the model was discontinued around 2010, though it went out of production between 2003 and 2005. The first Fusion models appeared in 1979.

Howard Roberts was a prominent American jazz guitarist, session player and teacher, born in 1929 and died in 1992. As part of the key LA session crowd The Wrecking Crew, Roberts played on many recordings, TV show and movie scores.

The Howard Roberts Fusion model has a thinline semi-hollow construction; the body has F-holes and has a center block of ‘Chromyte’, a Gibson marketing term for what’s basically lightweight balsa wood. This adds significant feedback resistance without also adding a lot of weight. Humbuckers are the 490R and 490T models. The body is laminate Maple, with a Maple neck and an Ebony fingerboard.

Early models, the Fusion and Fusion II, used a combination tune-o-matic bridge and TP-6 fine tuning stop tailpiece, though some models use a basic stop tailpiece. The Gibson Howard Roberts Fusion III added a gold-plated Oettinger-style ‘finger’ tailpiece with an adjustment screw for each finger. This tailpiece also appears on Le Grande models. However, the adjustment screws on this tailpiece are for string tension, not pitch; they allow balancing of the ‘feel’ of each string. The Oettinger style tailpiece dates back to the 1920’s when it was a relatively common but higher end banjo tailpiece.