I got this one in recently in trade. This is an Cimar (an Ibanez brand) Strat made in Japan in 1976. (Makes her 33 years old) This guitar has aged nicely.
It has its share of dings and scratches, as any guitar this age would that was played with love. This guitar has some mojo. It is no case queen. It has not been abused or beat on... but it has obviously been in someone's arsenal and put to some good use. The finish has aged (Nitro?) as has the pickguard and the pickup covers. You can see in the pictures just how well they have aged. I spent a few hours cleaning her up and playing her. She had a few decades of "mojo" on the fretboard and hardware. I used a bunch of sterile medical alcohol pads to safely clean/get her ready for the next owner. The body has various dings and scratches like I said up there ^, but nothing out of the ordinary. I have a couple of links to old catalogs for info...
Cimar Branded -
http://www.t3-kundenserver.de/htmlpa...1976_cimar.pdf (page 3)
Ibanez Branded -
http://www.ibanez.co.jp/anniversary/..._id=366&now=25
And a bunch of big pictures here:
http://s195.photobucket.com/albums/z...Cimar%20Strat/
Now for the breakdown of the condition and rating of the various aspects of this fine axe.
Body - Solid Ash. Old wood. Can't go wrong here. If you are concerned with dings and scratches, this is probably not the one for you. Nice quality body! Cool naturally relic'd and aged color. (nitro finish?) Has small finish cracking at the neck pocket about 1/4 inch long. Effects nothing.
Neck - Neck feels great. Cool Fender robbed headstock design. Has a few dings and scratches on the back, but nothing to effect playing. It has some wear on the first 3-4 frets, but again, plays fine...no dead frets or anything wacky like that. "C" shape not to thin, not too thick.
Tremolo -Seems ok. I do not have the bar for this one. I put 6 new screws on her, as the others looked pretty beat. Vintage Fender type saddles. I added two extra springs to add some stability, and tightened down the trem.
Tuners - Typical 1960's-1970's stuff. Not the best ... If I was going to change anything it would be the tuners. In fact, I was going to swap them out with one of the many sets I have laying around here...but these tuners are original it appears...and this guitar has NO extra holes made anywhere, which is rare and awesome for this age. Even the pickguard appears original, as there are no extra holes under the guard or anything. That all being said, I could not bring myself to put any new holes on the headstock to add better tuners...
Pickups/Electronics- Average-Good. Pickups do cleans well, and decent for overdriven tones. Heavy modern tones on my Line6 don't sound as good through this guitar. The electronics seem to work well. No buzzing or anything like that. Volume and tone pots work fine with no noise, as does the switch.
Misc - As far as I can tell, everything is original except for the 6 screws that I changed out, and the pickup selector switch tip I also put on there as it was missing when I got it.
REDUCED TO $250 PAYPAL or MONEY ORDER and I WILL COVER SHIPPING AND PAYPAL FEES.
I mean, come on... This is about what a used MIM strat goes for. This is a Vintage Japanese made instrument of superior quality. Might consider trades in the $300 range. I accept paypal and USPS money orders. I will ship to Europe or wherever if you are willing to pay. (normally about $70 extra) Email me at
djfrank70@comcast.net to make a deal.
