Mystery Ibanez Roadstar II

[mtyndorf]

Hey All

I've got a bit of a challenge for someone.. I bought this bass last year for $250 and have been having a heluva time trying to find any info on it.

Its an Ibanez Roadstar II, serial number puts it at an '83 (J83xxx...) but looking through the vintage Ibanez catalog pages, I haven't been able to find this specific one. I've found one in this body style, with P-J pickups (like mine) but the headstock is different, almost a stylized Fender-style. This one has a Gibson-esque headstock.

Here's the other part of the mystery. There is a model that has that headstock, color, and body shape, but only came with a P-bass style pickup.

I'm just curious to see if someone had frankensteined a neck from a different model onto this one, or if the J bridge pickup was added. If the pick up WAS added, whoever did it did an amazing job since all the routing of the body is very very clean.

Anyone have any ideas? Just looking for history. This thing plays and sounds like a monster!

Here she is:

 

[vegas532]

It looks like a Roadstar neck, Blazer body, and added Dimarzio J to me, but don't quote me on that.

 

[Greevus]

I'm thinking Franken-Ibanez also. I have always played Blazers and Roadstars from the '81 to '83 years, and 'vegas' sounds pretty accurate to me. I have 6 of these basses, and they toyed with the headstocks around '83. The Roadstar II and Blazer were nearly the same bass for a few years in there. That headstock was only Roadstar, but it shared the Blazer genie shoe hs also at the same time. They also had some different sized necks in the early '80s. I love the '81s cause they are thinner and J-like.
They had a bunch of those white pups that were DiMarzio clones too. Some of them sound pretty close. Anyway you go about it I love these basses and they have always been my faves.

 

[mikezimmerman]

I'm going to say it's an Ibanez RB620 ( Link Removed ) with the J pickup added. It does look like a clean job, but the location of the added control is way forward of where Ibanez would usually put it on a 2-pickup model, so they were probably trying to duplicate the spacing of the original two knobs.

 

[Fender32]

Hey All

I've got a bit of a challenge for someone.. I bought this bass last year for $250 and have been having a heluva time trying to find any info on it.

Its an Ibanez Roadstar II, serial number puts it at an '83 (J83xxx...) but looking through the vintage Ibanez catalog pages, I haven't been able to find this specific one. I've found one in this body style, with P-J pickups (like mine) but the headstock is different, almost a stylized Fender-style. This one has a Gibson-esque headstock.

Here's the other part of the mystery. There is a model that has that headstock, color, and body shape, but only came with a P-bass style pickup.

I'm just curious to see if someone had frankensteined a neck from a different model onto this one, or if the J bridge pickup was added. If the pick up WAS added, whoever did it did an amazing job since all the routing of the body is very very clean.

Anyone have any ideas? Just looking for history. This thing plays and sounds like a monster!

Here she is:

No mystery dude , it's an early RB620 with a non-standard J pickup, IMO. Like this ...

[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]

More catalogs here ...


[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]

I just bought a 1985 RB630 myself - really great tone and feel (especially now that I've put a Lindy Fralin Vintage P Bass pickup in it ):

Enjoy !

 

[mtyndorf]

Thanks guys! This solves the mystery.

And now I can actually find the proper replacement control knobs for it.. I replaced those weird replacement ones with some nicer looking bakelite reproduction ones, but now I can go get some anodized ones to make it look *close* to stock...

And maybe figure out what to replace the jazz pickup with, its not exactly the best sounding one I've heard.