1983 RS335 - In detail with pictures

[kspeed]

I stumbled across this at a local store while picking up a mic and tuners. It played and felt good, but I checked out just as the store was closing and told them I'd sleep on it. That night I did some research and liked what I found (on top of liking how it played), so I called them the next morning to set it asside for me. For $180 I'm pleased

The neck isn't a wizard, but it's still relatively thin and comfortable. It's very strat-like, but not as thick. The V2, as we all know, is punchy and bright. The Super 6 has gigantic pole pieces and is very warm - it would be great for jazz.

The bridge is unusual and keeps the guitar in tune under mild trem abuse, but not like a Floyd. Overall this guitar is a very, very well built instrument. It sounds nice when played clean, but becomes a real beast when you kick in some heavy distortion. It's pretty versatile and can handle some blues, light rock, and other stuff, but I think it's best suited for heavier rock.

Specifications:
Model #: RS335BK
Year: 1983 (only year of production)
Body: Basswood with cream binding
Neck: One piece rock maple with bubinga strip - thin "C" shape, similar to a JS
Fingerboard: Rosewood with 12" radius
Frets: 21 Medium
Tuners: Ibanez Smooth Tuner II
Neck Pickup: Super 6
Bridge Pickup: V2
Bridge: Hard Rocker
Controls: 3 way toggle, 1 volume, 1 tone


First thing's first, I had to take it apart and get to know it before setting it up and pickin' away. Here's a closeup of the bridge and V2:


The Super 6 and neck joint:


And a closeup of the controls - not sure what style you'd call these knobs?


Neck plate and serial number:

[kspeed]

Here's a closeup of the tuners - these things are pretty damn solid:


Next, I popped the neck off and what do I find? A thin overspray coat of paint with an ancient little shim:


The lower fretbars had some grooves in them but the upper register was fine:




So then I got to crowning the top 6 and polishing all 21:

[kspeed]

Here's the finished headstock and fretbars with a freshly oiled board:






I forgot to take a picture - not that it's all that interesting - but I did sand the neck pocket down a couple millimeters.

For those of you that are interested, here are a couple shots of the trem and control cavities:

[kspeed]

This is the best shot I have to demonstrate how to load the Hard Rocker bridge. You lift up each saddle, slide in the string so that the wound end catches on this little shelf at the front, lower the saddle and topwrap the string:



And here it is, all polished up, set up, and restrung:

[CosmicDebris]

I always liked the body style of those but could never get past that headstock. Nice find and great clean up dude.

[LonePhantom]

Nice axe, looking great for it's age.

Those knobs are the Ibanez Suregrips or something aren't they?

[martysea]

Top job and good score, good for you LonePhantom

[marianozz]

Originally Posted by CosmicDebris

I always liked the body style of those but could never get past that headstock. Nice find and great clean up dude.

LOL, same here...

Congrats on a nice axe and a job well done

[_MKK_]

Very nice job!!
Roadstars are beautiful guitars, the only thing that i dislike are the frets, way too smal for my taste!

[LordGrendel]

Originally Posted by marianozz

LOL, same here...

Congrats on a nice axe and a job well done

I couldn't agree more with both of you, that's why I always wanted a PL2550 because it's body is similar to the roadstar, neck thru, and a modern Ibanez headstock...

By the way Kspeed I really enjoy your photo stories especially this one:

http://www.jemsite.com/forums/f19/fu...ics-74380.html

Very entertaining and informative at the sametime, thanks again for a wonderfully put together thread(no sarcasm, seriously)...

[Agent540]

very cool axe ! a nice example of Ibanez early and performant technics

[kspeed]

Thanks everybody - since this isn't something you come across everyday I thought some of you might enjoy seeing it inside and out.

LordGrendel, thanks - I always have fun tinkering around with guitars and if anybody can benefit or enjoy my flood of pics and details then it was worth my time to post

LonePhantom - suregrips? That's new to me but I'll buy that!

When I was digging up some dirt on the early Roadstar II's I came across an old post on another forum claiming the 335's (and others of this era, before they moved some to Korean production in 1987) had nitro finishes. From the looks of it this might be true - it's hard to tell in the pictures but there's some fading and a lot of light scratches unlike what you might find with a poly finish of this age. Anybody happen to know for sure?

[Hikey Mikey]

Nice job, thanks for the thread.

That Ibanez logo on the shim is hilarious!

[Dantesstudio]

UGh. I just kicked myself agian. I think ill follow it up with jumping off my house into some rose bushes.

I had a chance to grab a roadster like that in Nashville for 300usd. It was ment and the guy had no idea how cool of a guitar it is. I passed it up though trying to find a s540ltd which failed by the way. When i went back someone grabbed it already.

Congrats on the guitar. That IMO is a classic. They play incredibly well and good ones seem so rare these days. Beautiful guitar.

[CalledToArms]

haha awesome. I NEVER see anyone else with one of these, in fact I couldnt ever figure out exactly what model mine was besides knowing it was a 1983 roadstar. Up until I got my S series guitars just last year, I used one of these exact guitars for 4 years with my band. I LOVED it for what it was. I still keep it around. I changed my tuning knobs to some black sperzels since the original ones were pretty stripped. I also put some EMGs in. But here it is in use.





and actually the entire reason I stumbled across this site was trying to find out what kind of guitar I had been playing every day for years haha.

and PS bah i am sorry the pics are so big. I am at work. When I get home to photoshop I will resize them to about half size so Im not hijacking your thread with my pictures haha.