is this ibanez a fake??

[choubix]

hello,

I purchased 2 540R. one off the bay and one for Ishibashi Tokyo (online purchase) the first one is just great to me.

the neck is really nice, the trem is perfect. the coating on the neck makes it very fast to play.

the second one: the trem is not the same and the neck seems to be not as nice. I can see subtle traces of glue in between the maple and the rosewood of the fingerboard.

I think the neck has been changed at some point.
on top of that the cavity of the trem has been carved to accept (i think) a backstop system on this second 540R. this is not the case on the 1st one.


the trems are these ones:

http://www.jemsite.com/jem/trems.htm

the latest 540R i purchased seem to have a Edge and the "old one" seems to have a Lo Pro.

Is this possible without routing the body???



on top of that the latest guitar seems to be "brand new" no scratch at all, the neck seems to have been unplayed...


what do you think?
fake or not?

is it possible to know whether the neck/body are original? (using the serial number on the neck)

thanks!!

[Dee]

I have never seen a fake 540R. Yes, the Edge and Lo-Pro are direct replacements and fit without routing. I doubt very much that you have any fakes.

[choubix]

Hi Dee,

It seem I fell in love with the Lo Pro then

strange that the neck seems unplayed though dont you think??
the frets are in pristine condition... like no one has ever played that guitar.

they either have made a perfect job preserving the guitar (and I want to age the same way...) or there is something wrong.

do you think it is possible to get get a new polish on a neck to match the feel I have with the other guitar?

[Dee]

Yeah, the Lo-Pro is amazing. I love the Edge too.

Can you post any pics of these 540's? Also, I would remove the neck to try and find out if it's an original -- maybe it was replaced. Or maybe you're just lucky and it wasn't played much. Regardless, there should be a stamp on the end of the neck stating the model number.

It is possible to restore a neck to look like new. It could be that the frets were dressed and polished or the board was re-fretted.

[choubix]

well I paid around 350 euros for that guitar.
I have a serial number on the neck starting F0 then 5 digits.
so it should be produced in 1990 at the Fuji Gen factory.

even the electronics seems brand new...
the cavity below the springs is carved to accept a backstop I think.

I am uploading some pics on Flickr right now.

[choubix]

http://www.flickr.com/photos/90004359@N00/

here are some pics

[Ecstatic Youth]

That is pretty interesting. The finish looks like the redburst finish from 1987. It's probably been refinished.

I have a '90 540R in jewel blue, and the back of the headstock looks exactly like yours, but the fretboard doesn't have the "custom made" inlay on the 21st fret. I don't think that was introduced until 1991. So I'm pretty sure the fretboard has been replaced.

[ashbass]

The guitar is a Japan issue and never available in the US. The redburst finish was only on the original '87 guitars in the US. It is not quite the same regarding the width of the burst lines as the US '87s. Here is a shot of the '87 model. Note the shorter horns, shallower cutaways, and small dot inlay neck.



The body shape of the '90 guitar you have is the 2nd, sleek, radius shape. The neck is real. The plaque was on '91+ US guitars as noted already, so it could be a different neck on the guitar, could be a late '90 guitar, could be that Japan did things like the plaque first before the US got them.

[choubix]

thanks for your instructive post. you seem to know quite a bit on these ibanez!

as I purchased it from Ishibashi Tokyo i think that, indeed, it is a japanese release of the 540R. it is really strange this guitar looks completely unplayed. the trem does have any sign of wear either.

i was wondering whether neck could be that different. the other one I have (bought from Belgium) has a "faster" neck (meaning the polish makes it easier/faster to play) that the japanese one.

[choubix]

http://www.flickr.com/photos/90004359@N00/

another pic: I just fitted an arming adjuster in the trem cavity.
better sustain and better feel of the whammy bar...