help me date my New J Custom (pics!)

[ibaraki_gaijin]

Well over here in Japan the Yahoo auctions, they dont seem to use E B A Y,
here are a veritable goldmine.

Just picked up my first J Custom..





sorry those photos are not great, I only have my cell phone camera with me at the moment.
The guitar plays like a dream, even lower action than my FP.. and i finally got to see what all the fuss was about with the AANJ.

The guy who sold it to me knew very little about it.. It's a J Custom, both pick ups are stamped Di Marzio but we dont know what they are (tone zone and air norton??) and I'm certain that the bridge is a Lo Pro.. It matches the one on my JEM although this one has been blocked off..

head stock is stamped 601023 made in Japan

Any one have any idea what this means or what the model / year is?
I can't find any more info than that

Help!!

[damo7v]

i feel all faint...

that looks suspiciously like a '97 RG1302. see here for details.

can i please have it?

[buddroyce]

That is indeed an RG1302 in a natural finish. It's a swamp ash body, but it looks like you got stiffed with a 3-piece body(that one strip running through the controls really throws off the look).

Pickup-wise it should be two Dimarzio Humbucker from Hell pickups. Should be a Dimarzio Mega-switch and two CTS pots.

Date wise, it's likely to have been a '97 model, but I've had one that was made in '96(likely made in '96 but sold on the market in '97)

As for E-Bay in Japan, they don't do Japan anymore largely because Yahoo Auctions beat them to the punch to establish an online auction.

[ibaraki_gaijin]

RG 1302??
I checked the spec on the link you gave me.. all seems about right.

Yeah i got it from Yahoo auction.. that place gives me the most serious GAS attacks imaginable. There was a JS 6000 going on there at the same time for Y70, 000 thats a little over £300 in money back home!

all i have do do now is work out how on earth to get all the guitars i seem to be aquiring back to the UK when i finally return..

The guitar itself has a bit of damage, great holes in the clear coat that you can just make out in the photo on the bottom edge.. but they are entirely cosmetic.. the neck is straight and flat as you could ever hope for and little to no fret wear which is odd for a guitar that you guys reckon is ten years old and looks like it's been well played in the past

[ibaraki_gaijin]

[quote=buddroyce;605336]That is indeed an RG1302 in a natural finish. It's a swamp ash body, but it looks like you got stiffed with a 3-piece body(that one strip running through the controls really throws off the look).

Yeah that strip surprised me when it got delivered this morning..
kinda annoying. Gives the guitar a kind of patch-work look. It wasn't so obvious on the photos that came with the auction.

Ultimately i dont care however as i got it for considerably less than i payed for my JS100 back when i was a stupid kid who didnt know better!

Now off to the store to get some clip-locks and a strap then roll on this evening as band practice and a big ol' tube amp are waiting!

[buddroyce]

Clip lock straps won't be that great on that guitar.

The guitar has the dunlop push-button strap lock installed and recessed into the wood so the strap goes in flush.

Putting the clip lock strap on it ain't going to help it a whole lot since it's already got straplocks installed. (you could though, I just find it kind of redundant)

[ibaraki_gaijin]

thanks, that'll save me wasting time on those then!
I was looking at the strap pins and thinking WTF?! to be honest.
I've never heard of the dunlop push button system. Guess i will have to go on a search. This is not a guitar to be played sitting down...

[Rich]

e bay died a horrible death there. I was doing both e bay and yahoo and watched e go down in flames as yahoo got bigger and bigger. The Japanese are wacky and Yahoo fits their wackiness. e bay was just boring.


It is no veritable gold mine. Good pieces go for a lot and beat up beaters go for a little. Just like any other auction. That 6000 is not as bad a beater as that 1302 but it's no prize pig either.

[ibaraki_gaijin]

thats where i have to disagree with you Rich..

You're just spoiled, I'f you'd grown up with UK prices then you'd be as impressed as i am.

And at 240Y to the pound as it was when i last checked.. pretty damned good..

I'm under no illusion that the 1302 I just got is in perfect condition.. Hell when i started bidding a bit of a beater to use live so i can keep my 77FP in good nick was all i was after. But to get a J Custom, cosmetic issues aside, for less than an RG370 or a mexican strat sounds good to me.

[Rich]

Maybe an RG370 in the UK, but nowhere else [but South America and small pockets of Europe]

And bottom line there is nothing special or even J Custom-ish about these early guitars except the badge on the headstock

[Dee]

Originally Posted by ibaraki_gaijin

You're just spoiled, I'f you'd grown up with UK prices then you'd be as impressed as i am.

I agree with you. Sorry Rich, it's the same for most American's so nothing is personal, but the prices we are asked to pay are absurd over here. I saw a used ESP Kamikaze in the Ishibashi U-Box (might still be there) going for the equivalent of just over £500. I also saw a beautiful J-Custom going for a little over £400 recently. I only wish I had cash to spare because I could have them shipped over and at least doubled my money reselling them here. Japanese prices are great. USA prices are also great. Take the RG550 price in the UK -- works out at $1,671. If Americans were asked to pay this for an RG550 they'd probably start a war or something!

[ibaraki_gaijin]

Originally Posted by Dee

I agree with you. Sorry Rich, it's the same for most American's so nothing is personal, but the prices we are asked to pay are absurd over here. I saw a used ESP Kamikaze in the Ishibashi U-Box (might still be there) going for the equivalent of just over £500. I also saw a beautiful J-Custom going for a little over £400 recently. I only wish I had cash to spare because I could have them shipped over and at least doubled my money reselling them here. Japanese prices are great. USA prices are also great. Take the RG550 price in the UK -- works out at $1,671. If Americans were asked to pay this for an RG550 they'd probably start a war or something!

Now that's what I'm talking about!!

[Rich]

Nobody is arguing prices aren't steep in some countries. Is it Norway? that makes the UK look like the US? At any rate the point is, yahoo is a minefield just like any other public internet auction, and the only guitar going too cheap are the ones that are too cheap for a reason. Whether they're incredible deals to you blokes is of no consequence to the rest of the world. You can find the exact same kind of "too cheap" deals everywhere, including the UK. The guitars that fall through the cracks and are "too cheap" for no reason but snoozing, that's where I'm housecleaning

[toneboy]

Originally Posted by buddroyce

Pickup-wise it should be two Dimarzio Humbucker from Hell pickups.

That's insane. I've the HFH in the neck position but I can only imagine how bright it will be in the bridge position of a guitar with swamp ash body with a trem. That kind of shatters glass and makes dogs howl.

[Dee]

I also was thinking it was a strange choice of bridge pickup too but I forgot to mention it. I do love the Humbucker From Hell, though. Great neck pickup.

By the way, ibaraki, the intonation must be miles out just looking at the pic.