Ibanez of onknown origin - Johnny Reb

[Robert Hendrix]

EDITamn! Mispelled the title... DUH!!

Ok, so back in 93 I bought an Ibanez from a friend of mine who needed some extra cash for 50 bucks. It was obviously a cheap guitar and he didn't help it any because he has sanded it down to bare wood and used gold Krylon on it, and filled in the two single coil slots. needless to say, it was UUUUUUGLY!
At the time my cousin was dabbling in airbrush art and talked me into letting him do something with it, a couple of years later as I was getting ready to move to North Carolina, I remembered he had it, and dropped by to pick it up. The only thing he'd managed to get done after all this time was put a primer coat on it. Yeah, he's one of those guys that starts things and never finishes. Anyway, that guitar sat in my closet in pieces since moving to the Raleigh area in 2000 until this year. I was doing some spring cleaning and ran across the body and decided to do something with it. Since I've been playing in a southern rock band lately, I figured I would use that for a theme. so this it what I ended up with.

I haven't taken any real pics of it yet, but I played it on stage for the first time at a 911 benefit on...well 9/11.. here are a couple of pics from that show.





I was pleasently suprised, it sounded really good considering I put a Duncan Designed pup in it that I had taken out of my DK2 because it sounded bad in it. Eventually, I'll upgrade the pup, but for now, it's not bad and I only pull it out for a couple of songs anyway.

[RacerX]

Rock out, Gramps!

[Robert Hendrix]

Rock out, Gramps!

Gramps? I'm not that old yet sonny!

[eakinj]

Do dont by chance have family from Bay Arkansas do you? You look familure to me.

[cornstar70]

I can't tell from the pics, but is that cheap trem without the wammy bar or is it an actual hardtail bridge? If it has the cheap trem then it's going to be an EX 140. At least an '89 or earlier based on the headstock.

[Robert Hendrix]

Do dont by chance have family from Bay Arkansas do you? You look familure to me.

Nope. I've got relatives in all kinds of places, but none that I know of in Arkansas.

I can't tell from the pics, but is that cheap trem without the wammy bar or is it an actual hardtail bridge? If it has the cheap trem then it's going to be an EX 140. At least an '89 or earlier based on the headstock.

It's just an old hardtail.

[cornstar70]

I really don't know Robert. You might want to scan some of the old catalogs. They have some at http://www.ibanezrules.com/catalogs. That hardtail is really throwing me off. Could be some kind of custom. Hope this helps.

[charvelguy]

Looks like a low end roadstar body. Probably a 140 series. I can see the other hole for the tone was filled. Ibanez used small inlay dots as fret position markers in the mid 80's and many of their styles have beveled surfaces on the body and varied the different headstocks on the RG's a bit. They also started recessing the trem cavity. The toggle is a bit of a loop thrower - some of the RG's did come with it but that likely is also a replacement from the switchblade since it had 2 singles.

[Robert Hendrix]

Looks like a low end roadstar body. Probably a 140 series. I can see the other hole for the tone was filled. Ibanez used small inlay dots as fret position markers in the mid 80's and many of their styles have beveled surfaces on the body and varied the different headstocks on the RG's a bit. They also started recessing the trem cavity. The toggle is a bit of a loop thrower - some of the RG's did come with it but that likely is also a replacement from the switchblade since it had 2 singles.

The tone hole isn't filled. It just doesn't have anything in it. There's no toggle on it, just a volume. It use to have a blade switch which was filled also. It's definately one of the lower end late 80s Ibanezes for sure. I just thought it was cool that I finally got around to getting back together and, even with the duncan designed pickup sounds pretty good. It doesn't play as well as my Charvies or my Jackson, but it's mainly something to play with. When I get around to it, and get the money together, I want to put a Tone Zone in it and shim the neck a little and maybe it'll be a little more satisfying.

EDIT: From looking through the catalog scans that cornstar posted, I believe you are right about the RG140. That certainly looks like the body and neck and it also had a push pull coil tap when I got it just like the RG140.

http://www.ibanez.co.jp/anniversary/expansion.php?cat_id=169&now=1

[charvelguy]

My mistake, I crossed my pics and guitars. You're right re: toggle (thinking about the catalog pics when I typed that) and the tone hole just looked filled. Well, cool. Nice job on the Reb look - confederate flag paint.