Herr Squid
I was severely impressed
- Joined
- Aug 19, 2012
- Messages
- 2,111
Well, the thread title may be a little out there, but I accept the fact that I'm lousy at naming things, so what the hey...
I was blundering around the interwebz as one does late at night some times, and came across a guitar for sale at Reverb. I had a moment of confusion about what I was looking at, but while it's an early 80's Ibanez, darned if there aren't a lot of cues on this thing that aren't at all out of place on a late-model PRS. I mean, look at it:
What do we see here that looks really familiar?
Double cut: check.
White pickup rings: check.
PAF-style pickups: check.
Two piece squared-off bridge with slotted tailpiece: check.
Enhanced knobbage: check.
Coil-switching on both pickups: check.
I'm just really struck by some of the things that they were doing back then that seem really relevant and on-point today. One of my early formative guitar experiences was sending a few bucks in an envelope to Ibanez for their 1985 electric guitar catalog, and when I got it, I spent an awful lot of time ogling those guitars, wondering if I could ever afford one. There were so many things in that catalog that I coveted and still appreciate today: the Marine Sunburst finishes on the Lukather guitars, vintage-styled Artists with and without F-Holes, PAF-inspired pickups, coil-switching that a lot of makers didn't offer at the time.
I mean look at these and tell me you don't see strong resemblances to the guitars we appreciate so much today (OK, aside from the battleaxe tremolo bridges). I think these guys were seriously ahead of their time:
https://www.ibanez.com/usa/support/catalogs/news_file/file/1985_String_Instrument85_08.jpg
https://www.ibanez.com/usa/support/catalogs/news_file/file/1985_String_Instrument85_09.jpg
I was blundering around the interwebz as one does late at night some times, and came across a guitar for sale at Reverb. I had a moment of confusion about what I was looking at, but while it's an early 80's Ibanez, darned if there aren't a lot of cues on this thing that aren't at all out of place on a late-model PRS. I mean, look at it:
What do we see here that looks really familiar?
Double cut: check.
White pickup rings: check.
PAF-style pickups: check.
Two piece squared-off bridge with slotted tailpiece: check.
Enhanced knobbage: check.
Coil-switching on both pickups: check.
I'm just really struck by some of the things that they were doing back then that seem really relevant and on-point today. One of my early formative guitar experiences was sending a few bucks in an envelope to Ibanez for their 1985 electric guitar catalog, and when I got it, I spent an awful lot of time ogling those guitars, wondering if I could ever afford one. There were so many things in that catalog that I coveted and still appreciate today: the Marine Sunburst finishes on the Lukather guitars, vintage-styled Artists with and without F-Holes, PAF-inspired pickups, coil-switching that a lot of makers didn't offer at the time.
I mean look at these and tell me you don't see strong resemblances to the guitars we appreciate so much today (OK, aside from the battleaxe tremolo bridges). I think these guys were seriously ahead of their time:
https://www.ibanez.com/usa/support/catalogs/news_file/file/1985_String_Instrument85_08.jpg
https://www.ibanez.com/usa/support/catalogs/news_file/file/1985_String_Instrument85_09.jpg