Roadstar help?

[Vic-Viper]

I have a MIJ Roadstar II from '83 {According to the serial number on the plate) but it doesn't really look like any other Roadstars I've seen, including those in the 83 catalog. It's a flat top, glossy black finish, with white pinstripe binding. The neck is quite thick (for an Ibanez), with a "skunk stripe", and a rosewood(?) fretboard. The pickups are S-H format. The most unique thing however, is the bridge. My local guitar tech told me it's a "Vibrato" bridge, and should only be used for such. It doesn't really resemble any other bridge I've seen, the little things that hold the string actually "roll" out to slide the new strings in. I'll have pics up as soon as I can, but in the meantime, does any of this ring a bell to anyone? Any information at all regarding my guitar would be appreciated.

[kotornut]

Are you sure it's a roadstar and not someones signatue guitar? Steve Lukather's old sig had a strange bridge on it, this could be something liek that.

[kotornut]

does it look like this? http://www.ibanezrules.com/catalogs/...artist/p13.jpg


but with the black top and a single coil in the neck?

[Vic-Viper]

And a rosewood fretboard(?), but yeah, that's pretty much it.

[kotornut]

I'm thinking it could be something that was customized. But I'll need to see pics and of course there are a lot of people here that know loads more than I do on the subject.

[Vic-Viper]

Perhaps, but the neck pickup looks like it was factory installed. The humbucker has those cylindrical "hollow" looking magnets.

I have pics, but I read somewhere that you need a certain amount of posts before you can post them?

[John C]

I remember those; they were available in black and white - I think they were a "midyear addition" in 1983 and weren't in the main catalog like the sunburst 1-humbucker model in the link. I'll see what I can find and try to post a link.

EDIT: Still no catalog photo, but I did find a chart of Roadstar II models over on Ibanezcollector.com - according to their chart your guitar is a model RS335 and it was introduced mid-year of 1983; apparently it was only made for the second half of 1983. Ibanez probably only produced a one-page slick for it, and since it was discontinued for 1984 it never made it into a full catalog. However I do remember it being advertised in Guitar Player back in the day.

Sorry, I can't post a link due to post count.

[John C]

Vic Viper - I just did a Google search on the Roadstar RS335 and found a thread from another forumite who got one back in June; I bumped it up to the top for easy reference.

[Vic-Viper]

So is it somewhat of a rarity? That's cool. Mine was the 93rd one produced in the month of October, according to the serial number.

[gpenguins]

They pop up every now and then over on the auction site we dare not mention. Really nice guitars, I remember a buddy had one when we were in high school, way back when, before the RGs even, and I always thought that was a cool guitar.

Here's a cat scan just for fun (although I have to say that I've never been fond of those bridges...):