soundcreation said:
megadrive said:
forget my own guitar as initially Isibashi sold it to me for a 280 when in reality it is a 250 !
in fact they sold it like a 280 as the seller indicated to them it was one but it was wrong.
so that is normal my nitro is more " glossy" than the "280's unsealed nitro"
and one friend of mine leaving in Tokyo have the 2000 ESP catalog showing
the 250 like mine with Antiquity Texas Hot SD PUs in .
the beefup SD PU's are really differents of the SSL1. ( magnets , wire ;..)
yeah..but again....I've seen other 280's that were high gloss. And I know they were 280's.
I'm simply saying I don't think "gloss factor" for lack of a better term...determines if it's unsealed nitro or not. Look at Hahn guitars...his are all glossy and he doesn't seal his nitro.
As for the pickups who knows. The guy who sold me mine thought they were the beefed up but I think they are most likely the SSL1.
As I said...it's confusing and most likely always will be.
Hi,
Concerning the pickups:
As far as I know, Alnico-II and Alnico-V 'Beefed up' were introduced in the Vintage Pro line in 2000, when they switched to the 280 range, closer to Navigator specifications.
The previous Pros (DS-250) were significantly different (choice of wood, profile, radius, frets, comfort grip, finish...), and equipped with Antiquity Texas Hot pickups.
Early models, with overwounded SSL-1 pickups.
Moreover, 'Beefed up' stands for 'SSL-1 Power Boost'.
A friend of mine leaved me a DS-280R from 2003 (S03XXXXX serial on the back of the headstock) that he bought recently.
The resistance of each pickup is
Neck 7,20 - Middle 7,32 - Bridge 7,12
They are indeed referred to as 'SSL-1 Power Boost', even if you'll hardly find any information on them.
Concerning the finish, the 1998 catalog mention 'All lacquer' for the DS-250 Pro.
Sometimes pictures are misleading.
But an all lacquer DS-250 can't be confused with an unsealed lacquer DS-280 the instrument at hand.
These are truly different guitars, with a higher level of craftmanship on the last Pros (DS-280).
Furthermore, most of the sellers simply don't know what they sell.
Ishibashi sold Megadrive's DS-250M as a DS-280M.
My friend bought them his DS-280R last week.
Althought the model was written in the neck pickup cavity (DS-280R Pro) - and despite the late serial -, they sold it as a 250 Pro.
Finally, the shop where I bought my last 280 didn't even know the differences between a vintage standard and a vintage pro (althought the model was once again written in full in the pickup cavity).
In keeping with what you wrote, a special order is of course possible (as the black 'reverse' DS-280M-RV of Sugizo).
But all the 280 I've personally seen, and formally identified as such, were unsealed - and totally different from a 250.
Here's for example the naturally worned, unsealed all lacquer, DS-280R Pro that my friend purchased: