‘77 Ibanez Professional in the house.

[Jakedog]

Just went and picked this up. It belonged to a very dear friend. He ended up with it back in the 80’s when his cousin, who was a touring musician, passed away. He says he’s “pretty sure” his cousin was the original owner. My friend John has had the guitar since then. He doesn’t really play, he just liked having it around. As result it’s largely sat neglected for almost 40 years.

About a month ago John had a massive heart attack. We almost lost him. Thankfully he’s still here, but he’s been taking stock of some things and doing some re-assessing. A couple weeks ago he told me he wanted me to have the guitar when “the time came”. Well yesterday he had a basement flood and the guitar barely got saved. He called me last night and said “come get this thing before something bad happens to it!”. So today I went over and picked it up.

It’s going to need a lot of TLC. It was obviously a road dog in its professional life, and has been neglected for a long time.

It’s got some impact damage on the lower volume control. It’s got some rust and corrosion on the jack, jack plate, and control cover. It’s missing it’s strap buttons, and it looks like it had one added inside the upper horn at some point.

The good- the neck is straight as an arrow. The frets are in surprisingly great shape, and the it retains 100% of its original parts and electronic components aside from the strap buttons.

I’m hoping a good cleaning gets it all up and running again, and that I don’t have to replace much, if anything. My buddy John says he’d just like to see it played on stage again, and he’ll feel plenty good about it having a new home.

 

[charlie chitlin]

I remember these, Greg... I'm older than you
That was the guitar that woke me up to tje fact that Japan was becoming a force to reckon with in guitar land.
Santana noticed.
So did Bobby Weir.
On second look, though, I do not recall that headstock!
Zoot!

 

[Jakedog]

I remember these, Greg... I'm older than you
That was the guitar that woke me up to tje fact that Japan was becoming a force to reckon with in guitar land.
Santana noticed.
So did Bobby Weir.
On second look, though, I do not recall that headstock!
Zoot!

Oh, I remember them too. I’ve wanted one of these for a very long time. This is the one they call the Bob Weir model. His was actually the one with the fancy tree of life inlay, but other than that the guitars were the same.

This one is gonna be a lot of fun. I’m really glad it retains its original Super 58 pickups. So many of them got changed out for DiMarzios back in the day.

 

[ale.istotle]

That is cool. Interesting headstock. Kind of has an old banjo aesthetic to it.

 

[skunqesh]

Beautiful! & glad to hear your friend is doing okay. that's a lot of S-hits-the-fan all at once.

i used to have an Ibanez 2671 (Scruggs model, same headstock) - take care of those scrolls! they can snap pretty easily.

imho - keep it original as much as possible - those flying fingers pups are a prize unto themselves. Cheers!

 

[gitold]

Always wanted one of those!! Luccckkkyyyy!

 

[StrangerNY]

Oh, I remember them too. I’ve wanted one of these for a very long time. This is the one they call the Bob Weir model. His was actually the one with the fancy tree of life inlay, but other than that the guitars were the same.

This one is gonna be a lot of fun. I’m really glad it retains its original Super 58 pickups. So many of them got changed out for DiMarzios back in the day.

Weir went through a couple of different ones as his sig model - by 1980 he had what's commonly referred to as an Artist (AR-500, with the extra electronics) with the fancy inlays.

Just a heads up - careful with those tuning pegs. I've got 'em on my Artist, and the pegs actually can disconnect from the tuner housing! I've had the pegs fall out of the tuners from time to time. It hasn't happened a lot, but it happened once on stage and I almost didn't find the stupid thing.

Good luck with it! Those old Ibbys are damn solid guitars.

- D

 

[middy]

So cool! It looks like it smells like patchouli.

 

[Toadtele]

That is awesome. Take care of it. Congratulations.

 

[schmee]

They made some nice stuff back then, I had the Artist Deluxe for a while. And another later on.

 

[backporchmusic]

A well worn beauty. Ready for Dead I imagine. I had a 78 musician. Heavy...how's the weight on this one?

 

[hemingway]

That's a stupidly cool guitar.

 

[Short on cash]

I would do the absolute minimum. Don't polish all the patina away.

Nice collector piece.

Good luck.....enjoy !

 

[String Tree]

Ibanez made some Beautiful Guitars.
That is but one of them.

 

[Jakedog]

A well worn beauty. Ready for Dead I imagine. I had a 78 musician. Heavy...how's the weight on this one?

I haven’t weighed it, but seems like it’s pushing 10 lbs.

 

[Short on cash]

A true part of history. Those Ibanez guitars from that era were probibly
some of the best guitars from the far east at that time. I think the fit and
finish is as good or better than any other builders out there with the exception
of perhaps a few custom builders.

I'd be happy to have that one in my collection.

The whole Ibanez involvement in the guitar field in the 70's is
quite an interesting part of history. One to be remembered.

Really like some of the hollow body guitars from that era.

Play on !

 

[Jakedog]

I would do the absolute minimum. Don't polish all the patina away.

Nice collector piece.

Good luck.....enjoy !

It will be a working instrument for me, I don’t believe in collector pieces. That said, it’s a survivor, and I don’t want to change ANYTHING that isn’t absolutely necessary to make it function properly.

 

[Joefish]

Awesome guitar … all the best!

Got to play tons of Artist’s back in the day.

Hoshino was around the corner from my high school and a few of friends worked there.

 

[drmordo]

Very, very cool. I'm so glad it survived the flood!

 

[knopflerfan]

Very nice - cool looking Ibanez.