Trade my ibanez for possible 80s mij charvel help with model year? Info inside

[Heavymetal2000]

So I've got this ibanez guitar as a second guitar that I keep in standard to avoid constantly tuning my Jackson.
Long story short, I'm not a big fan of it personally and I'm considering trading it for what I'm being told is a late 80s charvel mij. The ibanez is an EX 3700.
Info is as follows any help is appreciated.
H S pickup style (no middle pickup)
Neck pickup is single coil, says charvel on the pickup
Bridge is a humbucker, blades on top instead of poles, sits on a ~33° angle.
Serial is 6 digits 37xxxx on backplate
Toothpaste charvel logo on headstock, pointed headstock tuners on top, tuners black in color
No pickgaurd, dark blue in color
One volume knob, no tone, 5way blade selector?, volume control looks chrome in color.
Maple neck, rw fretboard, white dot inlays

Blowing my mind atm

Has a double locking floating bridge but for the life of me I cant find a listed model that has 22f bolt on, H S, double lock tremolo that isn't a jt6.
The bridge appears to be un stamped / no markings.

Most list the 570 or jt6 and this one has neither....

[Heavymetal2000]

Think I tracked it down.
From what I can see on the guitar as well as pictures on the web and info it looks to be a 1990 275 classic deluxe that some installed an aftermarket bridge pickup in.

[MountainDog]

The 275 deluxe originally came with 2 single coils mounted side by side at the bridge that no one cared for, so a swap to a true humbucker would be a good thing, but the swap may have required some cutting of the body wood to fit. Also these came with what at first glance looked like a double locking trem, but was really single locking only at the nut, you left the ball ends on the string and ran the string thru a tube that looks like the bolt of a double lock trem., If the one you are looking at really has a double locking trem, then that would be a plus.

Here's an old reverb auction that has good pics and a pic of the catalog (but sold for way too much):

https://reverb.com/item/492584-charvel-jackson-275-deluxe-1990-black

Here's your EX 3700:

http://ibanez.wikia.com/wiki/EX3700

To me, they are worth about the same, maybe $250~$300 in today's market. You don't like your EX 3700, so I suggest you play the Charvel and decide if you think it plays and sounds better. Also double check on how well the humbucker was installed and make sure the floyd is double locking.

[Heavymetal2000]

I messaged the seller and got him to send me some close up shots of the bridge cause zooming in on the pics was too grainy to really tell what type it was.

The bridge pickup is now indeed a real humbucker, and like you said it must have involved cutting cause there is now an aftermarket binding around said humbucker as well.
The neck pickup is a charvel identical to the one in your reverb link.

As for the bridge after seeing it up close it looks like it's the 580 model.


Does that mean the bridge was swapped?
It's stamped charvel, as well as floyd rose licenced and has the threads for the bar on the inside.
It's basically the exact same bridge I have on my jackson only this one says charvel instead of Jackson.

[paranoid]

The charvel branded part came on Charvette guitars. possibly a Charvette with a neck swap.

[Number Of The Priest]

275 is the most likely model, but personally I would like to see pics of the whole guitar to make a proper identification and diagnosis of the modifications before deciding if the trade is worthwhile.

From the one photo you shared so far, here's my limited analysis.

The route under the tremolo looks original and not hacked up, indicating that that bridge is very likely original to that guitar. Here is the peculiar part. According to http://charvelusa.com/models.html, if you search "275", you get two results: the 1989 model comes with a JT6 and the 1990 model comes with the single-locking JT570. The bridge in your photo is clearly neither the JT6 nor the JT570, and actually looks more like a JT580 as evidenced by the true locking saddles and the angled baseplate corners. The trem route underneath follows those angles as I would expect on a guitar factory-equipped with a JT580 bridge. Your Ibanez EX3700 comes with a bridge similar to the JT580, except in low profile configuration.

The bridge pickup looks like a DiMarzio X2N, X2N-B, or D Activator-X. Won't know for sure unless the seller dismounts the pickup from the guitar and looks for the pickup's model number etched on the underside of the baseplate. While the pickup is lifted, the seller could take the opportunity to shoot a photo of the pickup cavity to see what was carved away to accommodate that full-sized humbucker, and how well the routing was performed.

[Heavymetal2000]

https://www.kijiji.ca/v-view-details.html?adId=1379335174

I'll post the link to the add.
I like it, but theres no way I'm going for it if I cant make sure it's an actual mij.

Apparently like paranoid mentioned, the charvettes came with a 580 like the one in my Kelly right now.
Curious if it's been modified...

If the routing for the pickup isn't a disaster it's a bonus cause I know myself I'd want a real humbucker in the bridge no question.

Lmk what your thinking Number of the priest

[Number Of The Priest]

OK I've seen that ad. I quickly looked away after I saw the price, especially since I'm used to seeing far better deals on a regular basis. I'm spoiled. Since you're Canadian, watch the https://www.jcfonline.com/forums/16-E-fraid-of-E-bay subforum for all the Canadian deals I find and share there. My bread and butter deals seem to be sub-CAD$300 Japanese Jacksons/Charvels, particularly the 80s Charvel Model Series, 90s Jackson Professional Series, and 2000s Jackson Pro Series.

Anyway, back to the subject. It's undoubtedly a 275. No Charvette guitars ever had angled bridge humbuckers as I recall. A quick check on the Charvette section of http://audiozone.dk/index-filer/char...apan_1986-1991 confirms this.

For comparable money, you can score an objectively better guitar, such as this 650 that Hired Goon bought because of me https://www.jcfonline.com/threads/15...-HSC-(CAD-425), or if I'm reading you right and you're in Toronto and you were a few days quicker, you could have bought this Fusion Professional Pro that just sat untouched on Kijiji since July until earlier this week https://www.jcfonline.com/threads/15...OHSC-(CAD-500).

[Heavymetal2000]

Firstly, thanks for linking me to that thread! I would have never know.
I'm not from the Toronto area I'm actually about 6 hours north of Toronto. But for a great deal I'll take a drive that way or even into Quebec a bit. (Bout an hour away from the border to Quebec.)

Full honesty, I'm far from a fan of strat body guitars, but I'm also really not a fan of my strat body ex3700. Theres just something about it. I don't play it barely at all and I hate seeing it sit there. I'm kind of at the point where I'd trade it for anything equal value that I can try out.
I'll grab the Kelly 49/50 times when I plug in.
I really really really want another mij jackson that is either an RR style V or a KV but I'd settle for a dinky/charvel just to have another guitar I'd want to play.

Money wise atm I'm not looking to spend any if I can help it. I'd just like to swap the ibanez even trade for one of the above mentioned guitars.

Just to clarify, in regards to the ibanez if this makes any sense.
The Kelly has a deeper sound to me, it sounds more aggressive for crunchy rhythm which is all I'm playing/practicing atm. Its heavy which I sorta like lol.
And the neck is really comfortable to me.
Also it's just simple, volume at 10, bridge pickup, enjoy.
The ibanez is brighter, not as aggressive sounding or thick, super light and feels really small to me.
And holy cow can I live without gold hardware.
It's a shredder of sorts though I guess? Super low action, fast thin neck, lp tremolo bridge, 24 frets.

Thanks for helping me identify that guitar and I'm definitely gonna keep an eye on the classifieds thread you linked.
One day I'll find a willing trade partner and get me another Japanese jackson!

[z1n]

That ex3700 is pre RG I believe. Cam you post pics of it?

[Heavymetal2000]

I'll post one up for you yeh.
It's not super early but they were made only in 92 and 93 and sold only in the states I think it was.
I also read something along the lines of Ibanez wanting to explore Korean manufacturing but they used the EX name to avoid branding the higher end Ibanez RG series as Korean maybe?



Pictures for dime reason don't do it justice
Maybe its my camera?
The finish on this is very see through and it's like glass, super clear and very bright/glossy

This link better shows the finish on the body.

https://www.google.ca/search?q=ex3700+ibanez&client=ms-android-bell-ca&biw=360&bih=564&tbm=isch&prmd=svin&source=lnms&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjR7Lqrl5jdAhXNmOAKHVVABXUQ_AUICCgD#imgrc=U716AX90qG7_pM: