Ibanez 1976 Les Paul "Black Beauty"

Eddy--

Anyone ever played on one? Any opinions?a

AlanRatcliffe

In a word - overrated. Construction quality was not up to snuff.

Eddy--

Alan Ratcliffe wrote: In a word - overrated. Construction quality was not up to snuff.

Really? From what I heard people like it?

AlanRatcliffe

The perception of them being good comes from the fact that they were sued by Gibson for using the Gibson "open book" headstock (the one thing that is trademarked on an LP). People seem to assume that means they were as good as the Gibsons (or better - a lot of the big G's guitars were not great at the time either).

In reality they were cheaply constructed - bent instead of carved tops (with a gap between the body and the top), pancake bodies, bolt-on necks and cheap electronics. Oh, and those damned "finger shredders" under the controls...

In their day, the Ibbys were a cheap way to get something that looked like the real thing, but these days there are dozens of better alternatives like Gibson's own Epiphone line and even guitars like Tokai that can compete with the US Gibsons at half the price. If you're looking for something a little more collectable, the older Tokais or Burny guitars are worth seeking out.

Eddy--

Alright ?

singemonkey

I agree with Alan. Ibanez LPs were more lookalikes than copies. A number of Japanese brands made very serious copies of '50s Gibsons from the time. Apart from the ones Alan mentioned (and Tokais are available in SA and are as good as ever) there was also Greco and Navigator making very high quality LPs.

VellaJ

Why the interest, Eden? Have you found one & are considering it?

raithza

76 should be post-lawsuit - meaning the headstock shape is not like gibson's "open book" one. That means that guitar is NOT a "lawsuit" guitar and some of the popular opinion pertaining to the so-called lawsuit guitars doesn't apply to that one. The build quality actually improved as years went on and the mid seventies ones aren't bad players at all - in fact some of the LP copies made around 76/77 actually have set necks rather than the bolt-ons. Depending on price and condition it might still be a worthwhile buy but spend some time with it first. Don't buy it if you want an authentic sounding LP thought, these guitars have unique characteristics. Do you have some more info on the guitar? pics etc?

I have an older one - 70/71 model. I really like it - it's my favourite guitar - but mostly for sentimental reasons rather than it being an awesome player ? it has an awesome dirty/gritty sound that works perfectly for blues, although it's much brighter than an LP should be. Most of what Alan said applies to my guitar though - it's not the best player. I had the electronics replaced and some work done on the neck but it still has a few niggles (I like to refer to them as "personality traits") but it has a hell of a lot of MOJO!!

The best resource for researching these guitars it the ibanez collector's forums: http://www.ibanezcollectors.com/forum/index.php/board,11.0.html

kapepper

I also have heard that these look good, but soundwise not waht you would expect...cheap construction and materials

I do have an ibanez hummingbird copy acoustic guitar from 1975 and I have to say these do sound extremely good

guidothepimmp

it depends.

i agree with raith

not all are as crap as theyre made out to and it is usually quite easy to see if its good or a lemon.

as alan says.. if it has a bolt on neck.. take it off or lift out a pup and check for the gap. if there is a gap its rubbish.

if its solid wood its not too bad but not as good as most guits.

the set necks were the higher end models in that range and were around in the late 70s.

if it is a pf model like a pf400 for instance.. those are quite nice but same principle as above applies.

also check out the pups models. higher end came with super 58s and 70s if memory recalls..

just do some homework.. ibanezcollectors is a great resource. speak to johnS

Eddy--

VellaJ wrote: Why the interest, Eden? Have you found one & are considering it?

Yeah, someone offered me to buy his one with a case for R4500 ..

ZarK

The set-neck version I played was at least on par with a Gibson LP with regards to quality and workmanship. But as much as I hate saying this, it's not very difficult to match a Gibson's quality in any case... (Gibson hollow bodies excluded) The tone wasn't spot on but I would have liked to have heard what it would have sounded like with Gibson pups as reference...

I like them a lot but wouldn't go for the bolt-on version unless at a crazy price.

AlanRatcliffe

The vast majority in SA seem to be the bolt-on versions. I can only remember having seen one set neck (and literally dozens of the bolt-ons) - and that had been played into the ground. I even know of two examples of the LP Recording model floating round - the one I've seen is also a bolt on/bent top model.

I know a lot of guys like the Super 70 pickups, but I always found them to be too hot.

slyd

well my brother had an Ibbo (not sure if it was maybe earlier than 76, but was about there) black les paul custom. . . .
O.M.G. what an awesome guitar I "stole" it from him while he was in the army to play my school band (Electric Fungus), and I still yearn for that sound and feel . . ! 8) It really was great!

IMHO . . .don't pre-judge any guitar, before playing it . . . :-[ .. . . ..

(Maybe it's not the same model as you all r referring to . . . so take this with a pinch of cayenne pepper)

<edit> He still has it . . . . . maybe I can con him into a little sale . . .mmmwwwwhhhaaaa hhaahhaaa

raithza

Eden wrote:
Yeah, someone offered me to buy his one with a case for R4500 ..

If the guitar is in pristine condition, has a set neck and gels with me... I would pay R4000 for it. In all likelihood 4.5k is a bit steep. You could probably get more LP for the same price but I do believe that these guitars (the good ones) have something special about them. I think it does say something for the build quality that so many of them have survived this long. Remember to check fret wear.

I would love to see some pics though ?

Eddy--

raithza wrote:
I would love to see some pics though ?

Seems as bolt-on cause of the neck pate at the back