The EXB404 was my first bass ever. I loved its punchy tone. The neck is wider and thicker than your typical Soundgear neck, but still slim and fast. It was great for me to learn on.
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Ibanez EXB 404 bass?
- Thread starter Direwoof
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- bass ibanez exb
This is my Ex, it is built in Korea in the late 80's, is an awesome playing bass and I have been trying to find more about it for years. I upgraded the bridge many years ago, tried to sell it and am glad no one wanted to buy it.
As has already been mentioned, the EX series is the opposite of what you want: it has the typical Ibanez ironing-board neck.
Rogue makes a passive left-handed PJ that's on sale for $100.
https://www.musiciansfriend.com/bass/rogue-lx200bl-left-handed-series-iii-electric-bass-guitar
It's not a huge neck or anything, but it's thicker than the Ibanez!
See that double P red one? If the light hits my black PJ EX just right, you can see around the jazz pickup where they originally cut it for a P, then filled it in and recut. It's subtle, but it's there - didn't notice for nearly ten years after I bought it.
i don’t doubt your serial number is real. like you said, it says korea on it and you bought it new. nothing seems out of the ordinary though i haven’t seen photos of yours and am just going by what you say and assuming we are talking about an EX (confirmed by your latest post about the routing).
i’m just saying that if your number isn’t recognized by those search sites, it’s not a surprise because they aren’t comprehensive enough. ibanez fandom is great but they focus mainly on guitars and there are many gaps in their bass coverage. since EX basses were among the first ibanez to come out of korea i’m not surprised your serial number style isn’t represented.
generic serial search sites like guitar dater and whatever you linked just take the info that ibanez fandom has supplied and programmed it to return a result without consideration of year, hardware, country and many other factors. when i attempt to track down an instrument’s model, year of manufacture or model year, without being able to disassemble and look at stamps - fenders often have date stamps and ibanez often stamps model numbers - i use serial numbers, catalogs, headstock logos, bridge style and color, pickups, control configurations, paint color and application, inlay style, etc to determine the year and model.
the experience of seeing many instruments and cross referencing catalogs with spreadsheets i have of collected specifications is my resource.
Never thought you did; hope I didn't cause you to believe otherwise.
We are indeed.
I get it. I guess I'm surprised that the EX series (which was very popular once, and was also more about the guitars than the basses) has all but been excluded from the serial number sites.
What abt teh ESP AP 4? That seems like it would be pretty nice but teh neck also looks quite slim. Why do all these companies seem to think everyone has little baby hands? I assume most bassists to be on the larger side.
Fender did make a few left handed P/J's. I believe they are the Precision Hot Rod. I did try one not too long ago at http://www.newjerseyguitarandbasscenter.com/
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I own an 89 EXB-404. I concur with post #10 written by Fretlessman71.
Great bass, I often pick it up and say "Why don't I play this more often?"
Great bass, I often pick it up and say "Why don't I play this more often?"
I am always pleasantly surprised at the tone of this bass whenever I pick it up. It's more for an aggressive tone, which I don't need very often, but when I DO, it's perfect.
I have a defretted one that sounds AWESOME. It really does.
That headstock is one of the better 80’s ones.
Here’s an album recorded live in my studio when we had a gig cancelled for rain and live-streamed.
Not all Ibanez basses have necks as skinny as those of the Soundgear/SR series (as stated, these run a bit wider than SRs, though not deeper) but the only P/J models I know of from Ibanez with truly substantial necks were the RKBs. You’d have a hard enough time finding a right-handed one of those, so if a left-handed RKB even exists, you’d better snap it up! (EDIT: the Talmans! Of course!)
You’d probably love the necks on the Ibanez ATKs (same as the RKBs) and while you wouldn’t confuse one for a P/J, they definitely do bright and punchy. They did make left-handed and passive models, but I don’t know if they made a left-handed and passive model.
I wouldn’t get one of these Ibanez EX P/Js assuming you can easily swap any other neck onto it, either. The older ones have rectangular neck plates but quite a bit longer than those on Fenders; newer models have asymmetrical neck joints. Fender necks also generally top out at 20 frets whereas Ibanez generally have 22 or 24. Very likely you’d have to tweak and sand and shave and shape everything so much that you’d essentially end up doing—and paying for—a parts build, anyway.
Since you live around the corner from G&L, maybe you should knock on their door and have them build you something
(As you may have guessed by now, I own a few of these
Two MiKros, two ATKs, an RD828, an RGB305, and and AEB105E. I still defer to @hypercarrots on Ibanez stuff, though 
)
You’d probably love the necks on the Ibanez ATKs (same as the RKBs) and while you wouldn’t confuse one for a P/J, they definitely do bright and punchy. They did make left-handed and passive models, but I don’t know if they made a left-handed and passive model.
I wouldn’t get one of these Ibanez EX P/Js assuming you can easily swap any other neck onto it, either. The older ones have rectangular neck plates but quite a bit longer than those on Fenders; newer models have asymmetrical neck joints. Fender necks also generally top out at 20 frets whereas Ibanez generally have 22 or 24. Very likely you’d have to tweak and sand and shave and shape everything so much that you’d essentially end up doing—and paying for—a parts build, anyway.
Since you live around the corner from G&L, maybe you should knock on their door and have them build you something
(As you may have guessed by now, I own a few of these
Two MiKros, two ATKs, an RD828, an RGB305, and and AEB105E. I still defer to @hypercarrots on Ibanez stuff, though )
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Problem with that GnL idea is that i'm Baroque hur hur hur. I think it's cheap enough that it's worth a try and if I don't like it I can sell it to someone else. For 175 what could go wrong?Not all Ibanez basses have necks as skinny as those of the Soundgear/SR series (as stated, these run a bit wider than SRs, though not deeper) but the only P/J models I know of from Ibanez with truly substantial necks were the RKBs. You’d have a hard enough time finding a right-handed one of those, so if a left-handed RKB even exists, you’d better snap it up!
You’d probably love the necks on the Ibanez ATKs (same as the RKBs) and while you wouldn’t confuse one for a P/J, they definitely do bright and punchy. They did make left-handed and passive models, but I don’t know if they made a left-handed and passive model.
I wouldn’t get one of these Ibanez EX P/Js assuming you can easily swap any other neck onto it, either. The older ones have rectangular neck plates but quite a bit longer than those on Fenders; newer models have asymmetrical neck joints. Fender necks also generally top out at 20 frets whereas Ibanez generally have 22 or 24. Very likely you’d have to tweak and sand and shave and shape everything so much that you’d essentially end up doing—and paying for—a parts build, anyway.
Since you live around the corner from G&L, maybe you should knock on there door and have them build you something
(As you may have guessed by now, I own a few of these
Yes, I think you’ve got the right idea. I generally prefer a substantial neck myself, but I don’t mind the neck on my RD828 (very similar to what you’re considering here) one bit. Though you may have a harder time selling than you’d think: the left-handed market is limited.
I feel your pain: my most musically-inclined kid does most things left-handed. One of those MiKros is for him. There’s a nice, inexpensive, left-handed Ibanez P/J option for you … though you’d look even sillier than me playing one!
(He’ll probably get as big as you in another four or five years.)
yeah a 6'6 guy with 9 inch hands and little smol scale bass would be pretty funny. I would like to get a 35 or 36 inch scale bass one day but their hard to come by and EXPENSIVE. I was looking at belleaguer guitars semi custom you can order a 35 inch left handed GOLIATH bass from them but its like 2 grand and takes 6-7 months to get it yikes. Time to start tightening my belt and pinching my pennies I guess haha.
Hey-oh: I can’t believe I forgot about the Talmans 
this checks all your boxes, including the inexpensive one!
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this checks all your boxes, including the inexpensive one![This invalid link has been removed]
