'81 Ibanez Blazer BL-350

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Washington Irving

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Dec 26, 2008
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Hi
I've had this guitar for a while now, so it's no NGD, but I guess it's always good to share some pics ;)

As far as I know it was made in 1981 in the Dyna Gakki plant in Japan. It had a stock brass (including the toneblock) bridge and brass pot knobs. I had them polished some time ago, and they looked pretty impressive, but now they're tarnished again. It also has a stock phase inverter switch for the pickups. The original pickups had plain black plastic covers, so it looked pretty cool with the black scratchplate. Now it has a set of Texas Specials and looks more SRV-ish ;) I also replaced the tuner to locking shallers, and removed the string holders from the headstock. Now it stays in tune for weeks (unless I use the tremolo.. :roll: ). I had a hard time fitting those tuners without drilling in the wood. I had to extend the screw holes in the tuners and install them a bit turned to the side. Looks strange, but works fine.
The body is a shameful 4-piece, the neck is 1 piece, the nut is bone.

I also had it refretted. While doing the job, my luthier thought it would be a great idea to refenish the guitar. The only thing he didn't think about was that he should have my permission (idiot!!). On the other hand - he did call me and ask me - but that was after he started the job
:lol: . Man, was he suprised then I said NO! In the end I actually like the way it looks now (it's exactly the same colour, and the finish is very thin - you can even see the wood grain through it on the photos. Only difference - now it's glossy), and the guitar has no value as a collectible, so there's no loss on my side as he didn't charge me anything.

ok, too much talking, here are the pics:







 
Washington Irving said:
Hi
I've had this guitar for a while now, so it's no NGD, but I guess it's always good to share some pics ;)

As far as I know it was made in 1981 in the Dyna Gakki plant in Japan. It had a stock brass (including the toneblock) bridge and brass pot knobs. I had them polished some time ago, and they looked pretty impressive, but now they're tarnished again. It also has a stock phase inverter switch for the pickups. The original pickups had plain black plastic covers, so it looked pretty cool with the black scratchplate. Now it has a set of Texas Specials and looks more SRV-ish ;) I also replaced the tuner to locking shallers, and removed the string holders from the headstock. Now it stays in tune for weeks (unless I use the tremolo.. :roll: ). I had a hard time fitting those tuners without drilling in the wood. I had to extend the screw holes in the tuners and install them a bit turned to the side. Looks strange, but works fine.
The body is a shameful 4-piece, the neck is 1 piece, the nut is bone.

I also had it refretted. While doing the job, my luthier thought it would be a great idea to refenish the guitar. The only thing he didn't think about was that he should have my permission (idiot!!). On the other hand - he did call me and ask me - but that was after he started the job
:lol: . Man, was he suprised then I said NO! In the end I actually like the way it looks now (it's exactly the same colour, and the finish is very thin - you can even see the wood grain through it on the photos. Only difference - now it's glossy), and the guitar has no value as a collectible, so there's no loss on my side as he didn't charge me anything.

ok, too much talking, here are the pics:








These Old Ibanez guitars really perform well and feel great! So what if it's been refinished! I bet you it sounds awesome!

I love old Ibanez guitars!
 
What sort of idiot would refinish a customer's old guitar without his express permission? :eek: Jeez! And you trust him to refret it?

I wouldn't!

Incredible.

Mike
 
Mike, the refretting was first. The positive side of that unfortunate event was, that he has done all those works I described earlier only for the price of refretting. And the refretting price was also low in comparison with other luthiers from my city.
The refin was a dumb move, but what can I do about it now :roll:

anyway - yesterday (finally, after over a year of searching, researching and deciding) I won an auction and bought a fujigen-made Orville LP (hurray!). I don't think I'll trust him with this one :p
 
Glad you're happy with it, despite everything.

Ive just collected my new Breezy from my local tech. Luckily he only set it up & stoned a few frets - it's still the same colour as it was before! Mind you, if he had refinished it in white, I wouldn't have been too upset... :-?
 

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