bought another guitar

[Say No To Vorderman]

just bought this...left it till monday to pick it up so i can get it in the house and hide it with the others so she doesn't notice.been pestering the guy for a while and he accepted my offer....yippeee...total bargain







can any of you remember what the original Rik number was for the six string guitars? was it 410? or 4010? or something completely different?

[Bassassin]

Hi - that's really very pretty - and rare! The Rick guitar it's derived from would be a 480 - although yours is like a halfway-house between the 480 and the odd slanty fretted 481 - which had binding and full width inlays, instead of dots.

Your Ibanez looks quite interesting - do you know if it's been modded? The Ibanez 2388 model would have had "toaster" type pups & a big chrome tailpiece, like the Rick original:



If it is a modification, it looks well-done, though.

Does it have a serial number? Ibbys from 1975 onward had a serial, with the first two digits being the year.

Anyway more pics & info when you get your hands on it, please!

Jon.

[Say No To Vorderman]

went in and paid for it today and had a closer look now i have more idea of what to look for. it's become a mystery now. there is absolutely no sign of any modification on it. the inlay around the front of the body is very ornate. there's no bolts or metal plate(neck's glued on) on the back and no serial number anywhere that i can see. no marks whatsoever that would indicate the tailpiece having been removed.i'm beginning to think it isn't an ibanez? but why would anyone have put an Ibanez name on it rather than a rickenbaker one?been looking through the ibanez pages but can't see any earlier version anywhere, or a later version that looks like this either.any ideas anyone?
i'll pick it up on monday or tuesday and take some more photos to post
for the price i'm happy no matter what it turns out to be

[Bassassin]

This is very odd indeed. I have no doubt it's an Ibanez - these guitars were made at the Fujigen Gakki factory, and the sparkly full-width inlays & very small dogtooth binding seem to be unique to their Rick copies. Also, as you say, there's no reason why someone would pretend it was an Ibanez if it wasn't!

So yes - very strange! I'm not an expert on these guitars, having never seen one in the flesh - but as far as I know, the Ibanez 2388 had a bolt-neck construction, while yours is glued-in. This is made even more odd by the fact that the original Rick 48- series had bolt-on necks:

http://www.rickbeat.com/modelslibrary/480/480.htm

http://www.rickbeat.com/modelslibrary/481/481.htm

I still think there's a possibility that it's been modded - someone with decent woodworking skills & tools could add the LP style bridge & tailpiece, and the scratchplate could be cut to take a humbucker. If this is the case, I think there would be some visible sign of where the original tailpiece was fitted, though, regardless of the modifier's ability.

More interesting is the possibility that this is a rare, hybrid or prototype model - these do turn up, very occasionally. I recommend you go over to the Ibanez Collectors World forum:
http://www.ibanezcollectors.com/cgi-bin ... discus.cgi

& post some pics & info on the Replicas (Ibanez Brand Only) board. There are some very knowledgeable enthusiasts, and even some former Ibanez/Elger employees who post over there.

J.

[Say No To Vorderman]

cheers for that...just applied to join that forum and will post on there as soon as i pick the guitar up and take some better photos
i had a pretty good look yesterday in the shop with the guy who does the work on their guitars and neither of us could see any signs of modification. the general feel and look of it is much better than any of the other copies i've seen of the bass version and i've never seen a copy of the six string guitar by anyone else

[Bassassin]

The only other copy of this guitar I'm aware of is by Greco - and it's exactly the same as the Ibanez I posted earlier - made in the same factory at the same time. It was probably also sold under other brand names too, but I'm pretty sure I've never seen one.

The basses were a mixed bunch, pretty much every Japanese factory (plus some Korean, Brazilian, Italian, Czechoslovakian & even English makers!) had their own version. The early Ibanez/Fujigens were quite inaccurate but very well made, like most instruments from that builder. Of the others, some were good, some were rubbish - I have a Kasuga 4001 copy, and it's excellent.

Anyway, with any luck you might get some answers about your guitar on the Ibanez board!

J.

[Say No To Vorderman]

got it here's some more pics..definitely no sign of a serial number or any removal of tailpiece. an old guy in the shop thought the pick ups were like the telecaster hollowbody ones ones but i've not yet had a look through my books..first port of call is here..machine heads are pretty new(still got protective plastic on a few of them but it's not been used for a good few years)..safely got it in the house without her seeing it(she's at work) and it is a perfect fit for a hard case i bought a month ago (yippee) so there's not even an extra case for her to notice..shocking a man of my age having to hide stuff

[VintAxe]

What a beautiful guitar and an interesting find. When I get a little time, I'll look through some of my literature and see if I can find any similar instruments. sb

[Say No To Vorderman]

all i can find so far is the same pics of the 2388 above with the different bits..however, i was just checking in the Blue Book and in the text on Ibanez it mentions they did Rickenbacker copies with bolt on AND set necks...it doesn't actually go on to list any 2388s in it's price lists though

[luxdeluxe]

Wow - what a beautiful guitar.

I'm very keen to get hold of a Ibanez/Greco Rick. If your wife finds it let me know and I'll take it off your hands...

Those are Fender style 'Seth Lover' pickups as used on Telecaster customs, deluxes and thinlines. If they are those used on Greco teles (and I assume they are) it's a lovely warm sounding humbucker - not sure if it would make it sound like a Rickenbacker though!

As I said, if your wife finds out and (rightly!) complains I'll take it.

[Riotonsunset]

Too bad the OP's photos are gone. Here is a 2388 owned by Simon Graydon

[crowhue]

Gorgeous axe and nice pose!