Vick
So guys, how good are these guitars....the lawsuit SG's have really good rep.
But there's not a lot of info on the pre-lawsuit models...?
I'm not expecting it to be able to compare to a Gibson SG standard or sum thing like that...but do you guys think its worth the effort to take a 100km round trip to go check out or what?
Thanx a lot ?
aja
Depends on price.
These guitars often have little or no resale value. But I like them!
raithza
I have a pre-lawsuit ibanez LP... Definitely not for everyone but I love it. I don't know about the SG's specifically, but common opinion is that the later the model, the better the quality. See if you can find the serial no of the guitar, should help in dating it. I have one of the earliest LP's (no serial). Find out if the pickups are original - best part of these guitars. They have a very bright sound for humbuckers.
The best resource for finding out about the guitars is the ibanez collectors forum at
http://www.ibanezcollectors.com/forum/
singemonkey
Ibanez Gibson clones are highly variable. A buddy once had a 6/12 double-neck that was pure dynamite. But the bolt on LPs are not the greatest, for example. If you have to go a long way it's probably not worth it. Let them send you pics first.
+1 on the Ibanez forum.
Btw, the lawsuit was instituted against the American distributor selling the Gibson clones with the "open-book" headstock. Unfortunately, Ibanez had already changed its headstock by the time Gibson sued.
Also an FYI, this was the only law suit instituted by Gibson that gave rise to this whole "lawsuit" concept. It's really more of a marketing term than anything real. Gibson did recently sue a Tokai distributor in Sweden for using the term Les Paul in their literature, but the Swedish court ruled against them after evidence was submitted showing that Gibson marketing literature also used the word "Les Paul" to describe a generic type of guitar. ?
raithza
Maybe if gibson spent less money on lawyers suing people they'd be able to make their guitars affordable... ?
Vick
Oky,interesting....coz the dud from the black keys plays a lawsuit SG? Soooo then my tout were,its gota be at least a oky instrument...?
And I also tout that I'd have to replace the pickups,pots and wiring, I tout the best part of the guitar would probably be the aged wood?
but yea,I'll do sum asking on that forum...and thanx guys
raithza
I think Dan from black keys plays a few 'lawsuit' guitars. My LP also has that kind of rough sound to it... which is what I like about it and why i say not everyone will ?
flatfourfan
Vick wrote:
So guys, how good are these guitars....the lawsuit SG's have really good rep.
But there's not a lot of info on the pre-lawsuit models...?
I'm not expecting it to be able to compare to a Gibson SG standard or sum thing like that...but do you guys think its worth the effort to take a 100km round trip to go check out or what?
Thanx a lot ?
100kms?.....................so i.e. JHB and back?
I'd ask for a tonne of pics.................and then go it.
guidothepimmp
if its the one sale in elardus park... check whether its set neck or bolt. the guys from ibanezcollectors reckon the set neck models were better. also dont get duped pricewise. in the states they go for between 300-700 dollars tops because they arent particularly collectable. large numbers were made. i know the guy. enthusiastic and niceguy. sometimes though you need to make the call on whether its worth it or not. looks bloody nice though
flatfourfan
guidothepimmp wrote:
if its the one sale in elardus park... check whether its set neck or bolt. the guys from ibanezcollectors reckon the set neck models were better. also dont get duped pricewise. in the states they go for between 300-700 dollars tops because they arent particularly collectable. large numbers were made. i know the guy. enthusiastic and niceguy. sometimes though you need to make the call on whether its worth it or not. looks bloody nice though
I spoke with him a few times when I was looking at buying my ARX300.
I think Elardus park in pretoria is less than 100km round trip from where Vick is from though C?
There's a guy in Boksburg who seems to have quite a few IB's........maybe it's him.
guidothepimmp
thats true. didnt know there was a guy in boksburg. yeh the elardus park guy comes up with some good finds but sometimes the guits nice as they are arent worth the bucks. i personally refuse to pay more than the us prices even though we are in a smaller market..
Vick
Screw it,I'm gona go check it out... ? thanx for all the help guys
aja
To give you an idea - I payed R500 for an Ibanez les paul recording (from a music shop) and R1000 for an Ibanez 335 type hollowbody. Both needed some new pots etc but generally not too bad.
So be careful to lay out too much on a guitar like this because you may not be able to get your money back...
chris77
Aja - do you still have the 335 copy?
aja
chris77 wrote:
Aja - do you still have the 335 copy?
Indeed I do. It has split pickups and mono/stereo out so you can send the upper three and lower three strings to different amps or select combinations of neck/bridge.
This is what it looks like: (before any work was done on it...)
Girlfriend's purple bed, not mine hehehehe ?
singemonkey
Presumably that's one of the very early (1960s?) models?
Vick
Its bolt on.... :`( but its got a bigsby....but yea...he wants 4500 for it,so I kinda rather finally finish up my pedal board and get sum duncans for the new start B) oky,sorted.....
singemonkey
Good decision, I think. MIJ clones are best from 1978 onwards. And even then, there are a couple of clunkers out there. It's quite a confusing market. Most simply, anything from Tokai, Greco, Burny, or Navigator between '78 and '85 is almost certainly worth having.
Ibanez made some good clones, and even some of the bolt-ons aren't bad - but those aren't worth paying a lot of money for IMO.
guidothepimmp
Vick, good decision. You'll see from ibanezcollectors those go for about $500 dollars max with a case. So asking more than double for that is chancing it really.
I agree with Singe. the really good Ibbys are prob between 76-85. The bolt on models according to the collectors aren't as sought after as the set necks.
Vick
+1 to both you guys,thanx for all the input... :?
