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I know The prices they are asking have gone up a lot. I’ve also wondered if people are actually paying those prices. The prices are probably right, based on the quality of the instruments. Having bought mine for significantly less, they do seem expensive though. I wonder how many of the first...

Very nice. I think that’s the first of those we’ve had in this group. Looks great. The pickups appear to be the same as the ones in the MC2924, which was the last of the ones built in the ‘80s. The preamp might be the same, as they also had a 2 band. I haven’t seen a schematic. Glad to see they...

The output jack was only on the front for the first year. Late ‘78, to late ‘79. They then added the extra knob and moved the jack to the side at the end of ‘79.

Congratulations. The ad isn’t showing up for me, so I can only see what you’ve posted. I look forward to seeing more photos. There are 3D printer files for the covers, somewhere in the depth of this thread. You can then use something else underneath.

Just saw this very short clip, where Sting has that blonde Musician. https://www.facebook.com/share/r/1ApGRsomC9/

Membership numbers. Groups give members numbers. Doesn’t mean anything or give you any privileges or advantages. Just saying you’re part of the club. Trying to find the most recent numbers (when we don’t give them out often) is a bit tedious. I have gone through pages and pages of posts...

And they are superb basses. 😁

It turns out they were actually all built in the Fujigen factory. We worked out that something with that Ibanez dating system, isn’t correct.

Congratulations. That one looks like new. You are correct, it is a ground wire, that was sandwiched between the body and back plate. It’s held down with one of the cover screws. The other end just needs to be reattached to something that’s grounded, like the back of a pot. I suspect it won’t...

I can’t guarantee that nut is original, but that’s the way they came from the factory. A brass and bone sandwich. So if it isn’t original, it’s a reproduction. It does look original. I’ve never noticed glue though. The nut might need work. It is 47 years old. How does the open string compare...

I would have thought that if it was the electronics, it would be consistent or alternatively be heard on the low end. Not the 2 extremes. I could be wrong of course.

They seem to be largely hand made, as I’ve never played 2 that were exactly the same. You see/feel this mainly in the neck and heal shapes. There are a few one-offs. The biggest clue that this has been modified, is the nut. The fretted models had a strip of brass at the front. No matter what...

I shield the inside of the covers, with shielding paint, so in theory you won’t need it. It won’t hurt to add the copper though. The Musicians have shielded aluminium plates, that the pickups screw into. I you can stick the copper tape to those. Just realised I was going to send you some...

Yes, they will fit your bass perfectly.

The ones I make are hum-canceling singles. A separate coil for the E/A & D/G strings.

Mmm. Just looking at the catalogues and can’t see one. I thought it was an MC-800, but as Alex points out, that’s the single pickup version. I’m wondering if the first time the 2 pickup passive version appeared in the catalogues was with the MC-824?

Welcome. Definitely a ‘79, that’s been converted to fretless. 22 fret neck and the earlier machine heads. Actually very close to Mr Sumner’s. His had an ebony board and the active eq (with no passive tone). Otherwise the same specs.

I’ve only seen 1 or 2. You’ll need to connect the shielding to ground. There is a ground wire to the pickups, that is only connected in the control cavity. You can probably use that. Solder to a small piece of copper tape and then stick that on top of the rest of the new shielding. If you try...

There are others with the reverse P, so it probably came from the factory that way. Not many of them though. I shield the cavities and inside pickup covers with copper tape. You need to be very careful removing the pickups from the covers, as the covers are fairly thin. Just doing the cavities...

Just realised it has an Ibanez branded roadcase and the lining is the same green as used in the other Musician cases!

He appears in a later catalogue, with a 5 string Roadster, so clearly wasn’t opposed to being in pictured with them.

I often wondered if he actually used it, as the only photos I’ve ever seen are in the catalogues. That roadcase looks quite used though, suggesting it got moved around. I’ve noticed they used different serial numbers for prototypes and one offs. My MC2940 has one. It doesn’t seem to have any...

Anybody looking for an 8 string MC980? John McVie’s. It has the Studio Bass body contours and regular Musician electronics, rather the simpler version used in the other 8 strings...

Mmm. Not getting notifications again. Missed this. I have made a hum cancelling version. I need the original pole-pieces to make it sound the same though. They screw out.

Join us over here. We’ve been collecting all the available info on Musicians. https://www.talkbass.com/threads/ibanez-musician-bass-club.1218259/page-181#post-28470575

My hum cancelling Super 4 pickups are now available with brown covers. Not the same brown, but they look good. https://reverb.com/au/item/82457037-aphek-super-4-pickups-for-ibanez-musician-and-roadster-basses-2024-brown

Yes, that’s a Greco. Very similar model. The first Musicians were built at the end of ‘78, although they were officially released in ‘79.

The MC900 didn’t have a passive tone pot. Just the master volume, which is 500k. The other pots are the 3 for the active eq, which are 20k Lin centre detent and 150k (between the volume and output jack) for the active boost. There was a treble bleed cap on the volume, but can’t remember the...

The schematic is somewhere in this thread and there’s a wiki with them somewhere too.

They replace any of the Super 4 pickups. The year doesn’t matter. The stagger of the polepieces changed, but the size of the pickup didn’t. The original preamp was noisier. They added some extra extra filtering to reduce noise, some time in 1980. I keep meaning to make a video, on modifying the...

Yes.

I’ve started making some more of the hum-cancelling Super 4 style pickups. More will be available in a bit over a week...

Photos inside the control cavity will help. We might be able to identify something obvious. I fixed one, where the issue was simply that the battery lead had been pulled too hard and the wire broke.

Another Musician Bass video. I was lent an ‘85 MC924, it’s the active J60 pickups. I just discovered I reversed the labels on the bridge and middle clips at the end. Oh and that’s when I’m comparing all the main pickup types Ibanez used!!! So when we get the “Hey, how do these ones compare”...

Yes, that right. The MC924 was really just a deluxe MC824. With the eq switched off, the 2 basses were identical (other than the fingerboards).

Yes, they all have the steel bars. The construction is supposed to be the same, although someone stripped the finish from a solid colour version and found the body wasn’t ash. I haven’t used the J60, but do have the model after that 2940 (fretless), that also has active pickups. Not...

They are definitely the weak point of the basses. I replace mine with Hipshot Ultralite. Takes 100 grams of the weight too.

Good question. I’ve been meaning to look that up, for someone else. Somebody here recommended something, early on in the thread. I really need to remove the control cavity cover and check what I used.

Yes, upgrading the opamp is a good thing to do with the Musicians and Studio basses. Ibanez didn’t stick to the same opamp. You’ll find different ones from the same year. They were often quite noisy.

FijiGen made a lot of different instruments, for many brands. Different quality and price points too.