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SR basses made in Japan

T

tanpsi

Nov 27, 2007
15
0
#1
Hi,

I'm a 6 string (guitar) player looking for a bass to do some homerecording with. I played an Ibanez SR that was made in Japan and it was awsome, but serious fret wear. I'm set on finding another used made in Japan SR but the 3 thousand different model numbers have me confused. Does any one know an online resourse that tells which years and which models were MIJ? This one was a 4 String, plain colour, no binding, P J configuration,
which is what I am looking for.

Thanks,
Dave
 
#2
It's sad that Ibanez no longer has MIJ basses nowdays even their prestige lines. Only MIJ they have now is the 20th Annivesary SoundGear basses :(
Not sure about their signature models though. But as far as I know their current Prestige(BTB and SR) are made in Korea
 
#3
Oh sorry, I meant historically I'm looking for a used one. This one was $200 and was great quality which is a great deal.

I am a Jackson guitar fan, were I picked up my MIJ bias, but a search through this forum shows a similar view from bassists.
 
#5
MichaelScott said:
http://www.ibanezregister.com/
Click to expand...

Great site, specifically the Old Gallery, but it won't tell you what's MIJ and what isn't.

Which isn't to say don't go there and have a look around. A decent generalization is that the higher model numbers (e.g. I had a 2001 SR885 and it was MIJ.) will usually be MIJ prior to around 2000-2. Something like the SR300 line is almost certainly not MIJ.

The Ibanez Rules catalog page is another resource.

One thing to look for might be the presence of a "Custom Made" inlay. On their guitars, specifically the Sabre/S series, this seemed to mean that the parts were MIJ, then shipped to the Bensalem, PA or L.A. (North Hollywood, maybe) custom shops for assembly. The serial numbers said "Japan" underneath them, but the guitars that had neckplates had the addresses of one of the two American shops. They aren't actually custom made, but there are some bass models that had that inlay and it may be something you can look for. I'm just an Ibanez fanboy, not a historian, so I can't say for certain.
 
#6
A decent generalization is that the higher model numbers (e.g. I had a 2001 SR885 and it was MIJ.) will usually be MIJ prior to around 2000-2.

Thanks, that should help narrow them down quite a bit

"Custom Made" would be to much $$$$ any ways. I might just buy this one I tried and maybe try to refret it myself.
 

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