Fake Ibanez on Ebay

[solo4652]

I spotted this:

[url="http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ibanez-bass-guitar-/310216051066"]http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ibanez-bass-guitar-/310216051066[/url]

It looked pretty suspicious, so I consulted the oracle - Jon/bassassin. He said, (and he has given me the all clear to post this):

"It's a complete fake, not an Ibanez, not a Blazer, not Japanese & most definitely not Matsumoku! It's a generic Precision copy (possibly an Encore, from the headstock shape) with a cheap transfer - & the logo's wrong for any 70s or 80s Ibby. I've seen basses badged like this a few times on Ebay but not for a few years so this is maybe one that's been in circulation for a bit.

Anyway, proper Ibby Blazers aren't straight P copies like this, the body, scratchplates, headstocks & hardware are quite different, and copy-era Ibanez Precisions have a "spaghetti" logo and are typically sunburst with maple boards. There are other variations but they're not at all common. All 70s & 80s Ibanez basses were made by Fujigen Gakki, post '75 ones have a serial number consisting of a letter denoting the month, two numbers for the year & the remainder are the month's production run. My Blazer is L800470 - making it the 470th instrument made in December 1980. The Guitar Dater project erroneously recognises these serial numbers as being from Terada, so that often turns up in Ebay descriptions. There's no evidence that Matsumoku ever made Ibanez guitars - none have turned up with Mat serials or production traits.

Anyway as for age & value? Less than 10 years old (probably a lot less!) and worth about £40!"

Jon's an absolute star.

Steve

[Mr. Foxen]

Ha, I shot that guy a message asking him to put a headstock shot up, did it cheerfully, so would seem fairly innocent.

[Bassassin]

I think this is one of the ones from a couple of years ago so he probably bought it in good faith. He describes it as "Crafted In Japan", if I remember rightly those had CIJ transfers stuck on the neck.

FWIW CIJ only appears on post-Fujigen Japanese Fenders, the ones made by Iida & Tokai.

Jon.