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NBD: Ibanez Roadster RS900
- Thread starter ChickWithaRic
- Start date
FANTASTIC INSTRUMENT. Much respect from me! Vintage ibanez I absolutely adore.
Congrats. Nothing like a little elbow great to polish a gem.
I think it does. Very hard to find a dead spot on these necks.
Love it! Been an Ibby fan my whole life, currently a SR800 in the arsenal, but that older one looks great - enjoy!
Well, you see, I broke the glass over the rear camera lens on my iPhone, and the replacement piece of glass won't arrive until Friday. I wonder if you could just like, take the glass off completely for a couple of days.
It was literally one of those driving down the street things, and I just spotted it out the corner of my eye. I think I just kinda spotted the headstock and went into Ibby hunter mode. I've been after a Roadster for a while.
What I really like about it is that it's not been cleaned up or messed with to sell. It's in beautiful shape because it's been looked after, treated properly, and at no time has it ever been "improved". I'd rather have that, than a fully cosmetically restored instrument with underlying problems.
It's had a new set of Rotosound Roto-Bass 35 gauge strings, I've fixed the slight back bow in the neck, set the string heights and intonation. The relief is now the required 12 thou. That's an educated guess - I have no idea what Ibanez recommended for this bass in 1980 so I'm using Fender's set up numbers.
The truss rod works extremely well, the adjusting nut moved easily and it just took 1/8 of a turn to bring the neck into line. I strung it up, stretched the new strings in, tuned it, then took a look at the string height. Way too high for me. I've set it to 5/64 across all four strings at the 17th fret which is much more my style. Maybe that's a couple 64s too low for a lot of people. String height is a preference. That's all it is.
With the strings dialled in for height, I set the intonation. All the screws on the bridge move freely, and there are no gouged heads on any of them. I love this bass.
I haven't dressed or recrowned the frets yet. I have noticed a couple of **slightly** high spots. I'll do that over the weekend. The bass tone pot needs a shot of cleaner, too. For now, I just want to play it. How does it sound? Absolutely killer.
The truss rod works extremely well, the adjusting nut moved easily and it just took 1/8 of a turn to bring the neck into line. I strung it up, stretched the new strings in, tuned it, then took a look at the string height. Way too high for me. I've set it to 5/64 across all four strings at the 17th fret which is much more my style. Maybe that's a couple 64s too low for a lot of people. String height is a preference. That's all it is.
With the strings dialled in for height, I set the intonation. All the screws on the bridge move freely, and there are no gouged heads on any of them. I love this bass.
I haven't dressed or recrowned the frets yet. I have noticed a couple of **slightly** high spots. I'll do that over the weekend. The bass tone pot needs a shot of cleaner, too. For now, I just want to play it. How does it sound? Absolutely killer.
Do you know what, I think you're absolutely right. Every note just rings, and more importantly, each note is tonally consistent with the others. It's something that's hard to appreciate until you experience it first hand.
Couldn't help myself, glad your provider is going to get you back going again.
Congrats on what seems to be a stellar find of an almost original axe. There is a lot of very smart stuff going on with this axe. The uneven imbedded rods in the neck, the Quad bolt on neck, etc., and that it's a MIJ build from those days, this should make you a great alternative to a same-era Music Man. With that ash body and the trick neck joint and those rods, this thing is really going to walk and talk.
And Bravo that you know how to do your own evaluation and setups: Now you know how special this axe is, and fortunate the previous owner(s) did regular maintenance that the truss rod and other adjustments work perfectly, another clue as to how well these were built. Bravo.
This is quite a find, and representative of what I always call 'The Japanese Bass Explosion' from that time period where Ibanez made axes like these and the Musicians, the BB Yamahas, the TUNE Bass Maniacs, the ESP Horizons, even the Daion Mark XX's, the Aria SB's, and more. To me, the only 'vintage' basses I'd crave, a wave of amazing creativity that won't be repeated.
Great buy, and All the Best,
JW
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There's a lot going on underneath a very unassuming, although undeniably handsome, skin. If it were a car, it would be a first generation MR2. Tidy enough to look at if a little ordinary and maybe even uninspiring, but the looks were not the point. I call this design philosophy "perfect ordinary". Quality manufacturing and out of the box thinking, hiding quite deliberately behind a relatively urbane but well crafted exterior.
Being able to evaluate, fault find, and set up your own instrument is a fundamental part of "musicianship". I'm sure we have all carried out motel room repairs with little more than a dinner knife and and some super glue, or some variation on that theme. If you don't understand it well enough to fix it, you can't **really** play it. Just my opinion.
I think it's a great find, and I also think it has quite a story to tell. I doubt I shall ever learn what that story is, but I'm now the [proud guardian of this lovely piece of usable history, and I intend to honor its previous owner's careful stewardship of what you correctly identify as a significant instrument from an important period. It's actually quite humbling to own something like this. I intend to do it justice.
I completely agree. I would never be a real guitar tech, but I count it vitally and completely necessary to be able to do my own setups, to know each axe that intimately to be able to make them reliably and repeatably kept in good playing shape for me. I also count it important to know where my knowledge ends and take it to a pro. Living here in Nashville, I have several to choose from, a real luxury.
Do you find that if one of them 'wanders off', you can feel it in your hands before you ever need to get out the gages and rules ?
Do you find that if one of them 'wanders off', you can feel it in your hands before you ever need to get out the gages and rules ?
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Oh yeah, definitely. A vague rattle here, a barely perceptible buzz there... you definitely know when it's not firing on all cylinders. You can just feel it.
One I had almost a year ago, that foxed me for a few days, was fret buzz, but at the BASS END of the board. I checked the nut for cracks and that it was firmly in place, checked for unseated frets... but it just got worse. It was only when I took the strings off that all was revealed. The top two frets or so of the fretboard had delaminated from the neck. An easy fix, fortunately. Unexpected/ unusual faults like that are the hardest ones to find, as obvious as they may seem after the fact.
Sorry for reviving this old thread, but there is an interesting update to it.
This exact bass ended up in the UK in pawn shop and I bought it, still in good shape and unmodified. The OP's assessment of it is on the money and it's a great (and heavy) instrument.
It won't be a regular player for me (Dingwalls are the go to for my band) but it's great to pick up and rock with at home. I changed the knobs to an Ibanez SureGrip and chrome UFOs and roughed them up a bit to not stand out too much, otherwise it is as it was found.
I have been in contact with the OP who said they sold it in New York last year, but how it ended up over the pond and in a backwater pawnshop near Coventry will remain a mystery !
n.b. I am certain it is the same bass due to matching grain, and wear marks/missing lettering on the back plate.
This exact bass ended up in the UK in pawn shop and I bought it, still in good shape and unmodified. The OP's assessment of it is on the money and it's a great (and heavy) instrument.
It won't be a regular player for me (Dingwalls are the go to for my band) but it's great to pick up and rock with at home. I changed the knobs to an Ibanez SureGrip and chrome UFOs and roughed them up a bit to not stand out too much, otherwise it is as it was found.
I have been in contact with the OP who said they sold it in New York last year, but how it ended up over the pond and in a backwater pawnshop near Coventry will remain a mystery !
n.b. I am certain it is the same bass due to matching grain, and wear marks/missing lettering on the back plate.
David Mochen
Commercial User
- Jul 6, 2016
- 10
- 19
- Disclosures
- I run a one man operation, building and selling preamps is not my main occupation though.
@MachinesUK: Awesome! Would you or some one else, care to share us a proper photo of the active wirings on the back please?
I am asking, because i'm working on a same model currently with a few leads detached and have difficulties figuring out where they were connected to.
TIA!
I am asking, because i'm working on a same model currently with a few leads detached and have difficulties figuring out where they were connected to.
TIA!
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