Interesting pawn shop find...

[Surgeon]

My tiny town has 1 pawn shop and there's never anything remotely good gear-wise. It was raining today so no training outside = time to kill. I got there and found a nice vintage ibanez es-175 type thing...

It's identical to the one in this pic (which is the only one I could find on the web so far):

From the little I could gather:

'60s japan made.

It had a zero fret (which I had never played before...not bad), block inlays, metal lawsuit-era ibanez logo, "japan" stamped tail-piece, mini-humbuckers (the bridge was quite underpowered compared to the neck), carved wooden bridge.

It was quite good, the only real gripe I had was with the neck width...a tad narrow. Small crack in the headstock close to the nut but doesn't move (not a headstock break, just a hairline fracture).

I talked 'em down to 300$ with the hardcase and now I'm wondering if I should get it or not...

On one hand, there are plently of nice artcore ibanez that would cost about the same (if bought used in the US) but taxes and whatnot would make the bille closer to 450$ and up...and they wouldn't be a nice ol' piece of wood like this one.


What do you guys think?

 

[Agileguy_101]

Re: Interesting pawn shop find...

$300? I'd definitely do it.

 

[TIGEREYELASER]

Re: Interesting pawn shop find...

I don't see what harm it could do. On the face of it it seems like you're figuring out if this is a good buy. A lawsuit Ibby can be a good buy.

 

[Surgeon]

Re: Interesting pawn shop find...

It's got a quirky quality that I like. It did sound good with the "probably as old as the guitar" strings... the other thing is that vintage guitars that are worth playing almost never show-up around here so it's definitely tempting.

 

[Gearjoneser]

Re: Interesting pawn shop find...

I probably wouldn't buy it, just because Japanese guitars back then were kinda crappy, especially the electronics and fret work. The odd neck shape is a bummer too.

For hardly any more money, you can get some nice Epiphone semi hollows new or used.
They'll have more of the Gibson feel and specs than an old Ibanez.

Just my 2 cents.

 

[Ironikaika]

Re: Interesting pawn shop find...

I'd be all over it for $300.

 

[Surgeon]

Re: Interesting pawn shop find...

I probably wouldn't buy it, just because Japanese guitars back then were kinda crappy, especially the electronics and fret work. The odd neck shape is a bummer too.

For hardly any more money, you can get some nice Epiphone semi hollows new or used.
They'll have more of the Gibson feel and specs than an old Ibanez.

Just my 2 cents.

I know what you mean, however, in my neck of the canadian woods there isn't even a decent used epi for hundreds of miles. I've looked for a used dot or dot studio and the only ones I found were in montreal (650km)... It played nice and sounded good unplugged but I do get what you mean. Thanks for the input Joe.

 

[Aceman]

Re: Interesting pawn shop find...

How does it FEEL????? How does it SOUND??????

Awesome - 300 = FTMFW
Meh - let it go.

Could be an epic pawn win, or not.

 

[Gearjoneser]

Re: Interesting pawn shop find...

I think what you should do is take a set of strings down there, offer to put them on and then play it for awhile. If there's no bad frets (bend every note), and the guitar rings out nice and loud acoustically, buy it. If it sounds like driftwood, let the pawn shop keep the free setup and strings, and walk away.

As far as electronics, make sure aftermarket pickups will fit, because I'm sure you'd probably gut it and install good stuff.

 

[Surgeon]

Re: Interesting pawn shop find...

I think what you should do is take a set of strings down there, offer to put them on and then play it for awhile. If there's no bad frets (bend every note), and the guitar rings out nice and loud acoustically, buy it. If it sounds like driftwood, let the pawn shop keep the free setup and strings, and walk away.

As far as electronics, make sure aftermarket pickups will fit, because I'm sure you'd probably gut it and install good stuff.

that's a good idea Joe... it sounded good with rotten strings so that'd be a good test indeed...

 

[stringbender11]

Re: Interesting pawn shop find...

I think what you should do is take a set of strings down there, offer to put them on and then play it for awhile. If there's no bad frets (bend every note), and the guitar rings out nice and loud acoustically, buy it. If it sounds like driftwood, let the pawn shop keep the free setup and strings, and walk away.

As far as electronics, make sure aftermarket pickups will fit, because I'm sure you'd probably gut it and install good stuff.

^great idea imo too.

 

[Lucid_Lunatic]

Re: Interesting pawn shop find...

That's interesting!

 

[Surgeon]

Re: Interesting pawn shop find...

It felt great and sounded great (except for the weak bridge pu). However, I think I'm gonna pass... the neck was narrower than what I like to play. After playing with my tele and a les paul tonight it reminded me that I like a bit of extra nut width (compared to that guitar). It definitely felt cramped while I was trying it out...

 

[gottalovethe80s]

Re: Interesting pawn shop find...

you should definitely buy it, I know a few guys who collect lawsuit MIJ guitars and they all praise the hollow ibbies to death

 

[Surgeon]

Re: Interesting pawn shop find...

See, now I don't know again... dammit... I'm gonna give it some time and try it again in a little while. It's not likely to move quickly in my little town.

 

[NotCardio]

Re: Interesting pawn shop find...

See, now I don't know again... dammit... I'm gonna give it some time and try it again in a little while. It's not likely to move quickly in my little town.

I say pass on it, and I'm the king of cheap old quirky guitars. If you really should buy it, you would have loved it, not just kind of liked it. If it didn't feel good to play, then there's no point.

If you just like to look at it, and can afford to spend that on a piece fo wall art, then by all means go ahead.

Do NOT buy it as an 'investment'. You're pawnshop is online, too, and they know what it's worth. If you could sell it for more, so could they, and they would have already. The higher quality Japanese stuff was from the late 70s to mid-80s. 60s stuff was very iffy, completely hit and miss. And there is definitely the distinct possibility that the parts are non-standard size, meaning that aftermarket pickups may not fit. Even if they're standard size as far as length and width, there may not be the depth available, though this is less likely being a hollow body.

Go with your gut. Do you love it and you just have to have it? If not, walk away.

 

[Surgeon]

Re: Interesting pawn shop find...

All great points. If it weren't for the nut width it'd be an instant keeper for me... I'm not in the US but northern Canada. While my pawnshop does have an internet connexion, I'm sure they did little more than look up on eBay (seeing how an evening of research for me only yieleded 1 picture in one obscure forum post on the web with no price, I'm pretty damned sure they'd have no idea if it was valuable or not) and kept refering to it as a "folk" guitar... this is a very low-end pawn shop that specializes on Tools and jewerlery.
I do get your point and agree: it's not to be seen as an investment... I just mean that, unless it says "Big brand X" on the headstock, they're clueless...