1975 Ibanez Vintage 627 Dreadnought

wern101

I love guitar stories, and now I have my own. My wife’s friend phones and says ‘hey, how much can I get for a 2nd hand guitar?’ Me ears are tingling immediately. Long story short, I figure out what it is and after some digging, checking serial numbers and verification through the local music store, it’s a verified 40 year old acoustic guitar. This lady was built in 1975 by Ibanez, as a copy of the Martin D-18. Martin sued Ibanez and they started changing their guitar shapes to original designs. This guitar has, regrettably, not been taken care off. I don’t think anyone has changed the strings in 8 years. The previous owner never played it, never got a case for it and basically bumped it around, used it as a door stop etc. (I know…) She gave it to my wife’s friend who had it for a few weeks and basically needed some cash as it was ‘in the way’ (score for me) I struggled for about a week to get it tuned up with the strings it had on it. Was scared I might break the neck…. Eventually got it tuned and it has a nice, deep, crisp sound. The neck is nice and small and plays easily, compared to my other acoustic. I can’t wait to hear what she sounds like with new strings. It needs a lot of work though. Neck is ‘slightly’ bent, needs a new saddle, new nut, new string pegs, neck polish, machine heads need to be cleaned etc. She also has some dents and nicks from years of neglect. Nothing too serious though. But it also has some nice features: • 40 ¼” Body Length • 4 ½” Body depth • 1 ¾” neck • Spruce top • Aged mahogany back and sides bound with black celluloid binding • Rosewood fretboard • Non-adjustable bridge • Black and white purfling trims • Chrome plated machine heads I paid R1500-00 for it, based on the fact that I would have to spend some money fixing it up. The local music store reckons they’ll charge me around R900 to spruce her up. What do you think? I am not sure what this guitar would be worth, ‘restored’. Would it be worth spending almost another R 1 000-00 or is going the DIY option better? Would love to hear your opinions… Pics attached....

wern101

Bumpedy bump bump...

I know she aint the prettiest lady out there but she's mine and I want to make her beautifull again.

Please people. Any advice would be appreciated.

Thanking you!!

Gearhead

My opinion: it is hard to get anyone to put in all the love the guitar will need for only R1000. New nigglies will pop up every time you check again, and you do not want to wind up having spent Martin money in the end. If you feel up to trolling forums until you find the answer, putting in silly amounts of time, R1000 in materials it will be worth it in the long run. You'll learn more than you thought there was to know in the first place, be able to say it was you who fixed her up and be able to look after almost any guitar properly.

wern101

Gearhead wrote: My opinion: it is hard to get anyone to put in all the love the guitar will need for only R1000. New nigglies will pop up every time you check again, and you do not want to wind up having spent Martin money in the end. If you feel up to trolling forums until you find the answer, putting in silly amounts of time, R1000 in materials it will be worth it in the long run. You'll learn more than you thought there was to know in the first place, be able to say it was you who fixed her up and be able to look after almost any guitar properly.

Thanks gearhead!

Yes this does make sense. And it's kinda what I was leaning toward, and more rewarding in the end. This might just be the little project I was needing. I don't think she has 'that' much work that I need to get experts involved (save for the bent neck), and I am pretty handy, so maybe I'll do it.

Interestingly, I posted the same question on the Ibanez collectors world forum and got pretty much the same response.

Decisions.... Decisions...

wern101

Didn't want to start a new thread, just an update if anyone is interested. ?

I started to clean her up, 'washing' the fretboard, removing the tuners and 'de gunking' what I could. I decided to take her in to the local music store (the only one in the area...) for them to do the nut and saddle and straighten the neck. I opted to go with normal 11 gauge strings as I wasn't sure what the heavier gauge would have done.

The tuners had to be oiled as well as they were really 'sticky'. Now she's all done up and sounding nice again. I don't think this guitar has been played in 5 years so what a thrill to take her for a spin when I got her home. Definitely a step up from my other acoustic. A very 'deep' and warm sound, especially on the E and A strings.

Interestingly she sounds better with a 'soft' plectrum than a hard one. The hard plectrum tends to just make 'noise'. Its hard to hear the individual sounds with it. Anyone know why that is? (was never a problem on my other acoustic)

Thanks for listening!

Cheers

Stoffeltoo

Love the tale. Sometimes abused and mistreated guitars tend to find loving owners. Seems like you are one of them 8)
Enjoy