Older Ibanez Sabre guitars? Any good?

[DotNetTim]

Anyone ever own a late 80's Ibanez sabre? If so, what did you think of it? What trem did it have? etc? I see one I'm interested in, but I'm wondering about the trem.. They guy that wants to trade says this about the trem and it makes me wonder if it's an Edge Trem?

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I really don't know Ibanez trem names that well but the one that's on the red Sabre is the kind that the sides, when set up properly, are at an angle to the body; i.e. the back of the trem sets higher than the front. Does that make sense? It isn't identified by anything other than the Floyd Rose License stamp.
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Anyone?
Tim

 

[kaknight]

Re: Older Ibanez Sabre guitars? Any good?

I had one that was a 90 or 91. It was a custom US model. It came with the ibanez version of the floyd that was "low profile". the guitar was alright. I couldn't stand the tone of the thing myself (no real character), but I play and love vintage style les pauls and strats now so there is no accounting for my taste.

Hmm.... what can i tell you about the trem? Um, it was the biggest pain in the ass I have ever encountered! Man, changing strings I had to account for about 30 minutes just of tuning. I broke high E's a lot right at the saddle. The trem bar was held in by plastic washer thingys that broke often (or fell off with no warning).

Besides that, I would definetely think about getting different pickups. I changed to EMG's in mine, which gave me lots of horsepower and some pretty good jazz type tones out of the neck slot (mine was HSS originally), but really didn't have any of that strat squawk. I traded the front single for a EMG 85 eventually (switchable from hum to single), which actually made the tone suckier.

 

[tone4days]

Re: Older Ibanez Sabre guitars? Any good?

well, i love my ibanez 540s sabre .. but it needed new pups to become a major player .. mine has a non floating trem that i actually have blocked ... it doesnt give me trouble, but i wish it was a hardtail .. as for the guitar itself, with new pups, it is my number 1 guitar .. super fast neck, super comfortable body, light weight ...

cheers,
t4d

 

[Jono_L]

Re: Older Ibanez Sabre guitars? Any good?

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I really don't know Ibanez trem names that well but the one that's on the red Sabre is the kind that the sides, when set up properly, are at an angle to the body; i.e. the back of the trem sets higher than the front. Does that make sense? It isn't identified by anything other than the Floyd Rose License stamp.
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If I'm interpreting it, he's saying that when the trem is set with the bottom of the baseplate parrallel to the body, the top of the baseplate will be angled upwards, as it is thicker towards the back of the trem, and thinnner at the front of the trem.

If that is so, its an Edge. The easiest way is to tell him to dive the trem, and look for markings on the trem block, looking at it from the rear of the body (ie, where the strap button is). I THINK the Edges are stamped "Ibanez EDGE", whereas the TRS variants, I know, are stamped with "Takeuchi"

If you can get a pic, it can be ID'ed wihtout a problem