Old Japanese guitars appreciation thread

Loobs

It was a 2618, I think. It wasn't heavy at all: the neck was pretty thin, but I like to bend the neck a bit to add vibrato to chords ala Bill Frisell, so it was cool. It was a really well-made guitar, and those pickups are surprisingly versatile. I mostly used it in quite a heavy-sounding band. 

They also often suffer from 'binding rot', especially at the cutaways. Luckily this one had all its binding intact and in relatively good condition. The locking tuners are another nice feature. 

Philly_Q

Loobs said:

It was a 2618, I think. It wasn't heavy at all: the neck was pretty thin, but I like to bend the neck a bit to add vibrato to chords ala Bill Frisell, so it was cool. It was a really well-made guitar, and those pickups are surprisingly versatile. I mostly used it in quite a heavy-sounding band. 

They also often suffer from 'binding rot', especially at the cutaways. Luckily this one had all its binding intact and in relatively good condition. The locking tuners are another nice feature. 

I have seen pictures of some with cracked/damaged binding but didn't realise it was a known issue.  I also didn't realise they had locking tuners, I know the '80s ones had slotted string posts like vintage Fender tuners, which I think is a nice touch.

One thing I really like about these old guitars is that they all had unique hardware.  Of course it makes it difficult to get  replacements, but guitar manufacturers nearly all use generic parts nowadays.  Like the Yamaha SG1820 - TonePros, Grover, Seymour Duncan - all quality stuff, but the old SGs with Yamaha's own hardware were much more interesting.

Loobs

Agreed, the hardware is really cool. Especially nice was the 'cloud' tailpiece, and my Artist also had those 'flying fingers' pickups on it, from what I remember. I would like to own another one of these guitars someday.

There's a little thumbwheel on the tuner shaft to tighten, next to the button.



My ultimate vintage Ibanez would be this, though, a 2680. There's also the 2681 'tree of life' Bob Weir model, with the vine inlay. Super cool guitars, I've only come across one in the flesh and should've bought it! Unfortunately a lot of these suffer from the dreaded binding rot, they have very thick binding in the cutaways due to the carved tops. 

Philly_Q

I remember having an early-80s Ibanez catalogue that opened out to a big poster on the other side, with pictures of lots of Ibanez players, including Bob Weir.  I bet that guitar of his weighed a ton.

A friend of mine swapped me a Rush programme for that poster.  I can't remember why he wanted it so much, perhaps because there was a picture of Rik Emmett with his Artist doubleneck.

Loobs

Well maybe you got the better end of the bargain. And yeah, I think they're 11-12 lbs. 

pigface

My Casio PG-310 MIDI guitar which I got new in 1992. It was my main guitar in my gigging days and I still have it.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/yqceg4hxlm1a35i/Casio_noflash1.jpg?raw=1

J.J. Cale used a PG-380, which is essentially the same guitar with a Floyd-like trem, although he put a HB in the neck position:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/5ahom8vgosvus5n/J.J._CALE.jpg?raw=1

Loobs

Nice Marshall beer fridge. 

pigface

Loobs said:

Nice Marshall beer fridge. 

Eagle Eye Loobs :-)

Loobs

You had no one fooled. 

Philly_Q

Loobs said:

You had no one fooled. 

It did fool me....

octatonic

Aria PE-160 that I stripped many years ago, put a PRS Mann term and pickups and a Warmoth neck on.

Philly_Q

octatonic said:

Aria PE-160 that I stripped many years ago, put a PRS Mann term and pickups and a Warmoth neck on.

Did you do the carving yourself?

PhilKing

I used to have one of those back in the 70's.  I had a DiMarzio SDS in the bridge.  At the time I was in a cover band and used it a lot, with a 61 TV White SG Junior and a Blonde 63 Fender Tremolux.

octatonic

Philly_Q said:

octatonic said:

Aria PE-160 that I stripped many years ago, put a PRS Mann term and pickups and a Warmoth neck on.

Did you do the carving yourself?

Nope the carving is from the factory guitar.
I stripped the extremely thick finish off until the stain looked like shading and then left it.
This is how they looked new:

musicalstash

Loobs said:

Agreed, the hardware is really cool. Especially nice was the 'cloud' tailpiece, and my Artist also had those 'flying fingers' pickups on it, from what I remember. I would like to own another one of these guitars someday.

There's a little thumbwheel on the tuner shaft to tighten, next to the button.



My ultimate vintage Ibanez would be this, though, a 2680. There's also the 2681 'tree of life' Bob Weir model, with the vine inlay. Super cool guitars, I've only come across one in the flesh and should've bought it! Unfortunately a lot of these suffer from the dreaded binding rot, they have very thick binding in the cutaways due to the carved tops. 

I've got the Antorias take on the Ibanez Artist ,    with the love or hate headstock . 

blobb

Oh go on then...

Ibanez Musician MS500DS 1978 (so early, non MV version) with tri-sound and active EQ:

https://live.staticflickr.com/866/41930941181_bedf97eb05_k.jpg

Ibanez 2404 4/6 double neck:

https://live.staticflickr.com/4468/38213050931_5e82b0c395_k.jpg

Loobs

Last 3 guitars are all immensely cool! 

Neilybob

Oooh wow there some history in this thread.  Beautiful examples of Japanese twangers. 

I stumbled across the amazing quality of MIJ guitars of yesteryear by chance when I was getting back into playing guitar and a friend had a Burny Les Paul for sale at a reasonable price. He said it plays well and sounds amazing so I went for it. It was a early 90's Burny Les Paul Joe Perry signature copy, black flame top with a white pick guard. I sold this to fund another guitar. 

Over the last 10 years I've built up a nice collection of these guitars from 70's, 80's and 90's. I'll share them over the week or so. 

Guitar 1 - Burny LG75-GR "Slash" model from early 90's. I purchased this from eBay Japan and got it sent to the UK in 2001 I think?! Beautiful flame top, rosewood fingerboard and in great condition. I'm about to upgrade the pups and capacitors which I've been thinking about for a while. 

:Edited with images

LastMantra

My first guitar was a westone. Spectrum, I think. Strat type thing in dark blue. 
Pretty sure it was Japanese. 

GuyR

My 84 jv Squier Strat, owned about 30 years. Super light. Perfect neck shape. Just lovely.

https://i.imgur.com/ZVOMBg3.jpg

82 first series jv Jazz bass, owned since 83.

https://i.imgur.com/2JIG3f1.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/0McM77E.jpg

84 jv Jazz, owned from new, but now passed on to my son. I tried every jv Jazz on Denmark St. This was easily the best. Next to the bass it is a copy of.

https://i.imgur.com/dTMArCt.jpg

Mid 80s Tokai Jazz Sound. Bought around 2000. Sounds immense. Cost slightly more than nothing.

https://i.imgur.com/fRUwwH2.jpg