Ibanez Radius Series

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Author Message   Lionel Posted on Friday, October 08, 2004 - 11:04 am:    Anyone know what happenned to the R series from Ibanez? Aside from mutating into the JS series...?   INTERRED Posted on Friday, October 08, 2004 - 11:04 am:    in 1990 they stopped making them as far as i know......i have one of the last ones made....its 1990 ....i had the guys at ibanez verify this with the serial number. after that they stopped making them as the JS and the R ...so they just made em as the JS and thats it this guitar is different from the JS series as he has his own neck style . mine has a 14 degree scarf joint at the neck JS's series just has a normal fender style neck joint that is one solid peice. this guitar was made with basweeod bodies and ash i think they also made some in mahogony but im not sure....and to be honest..i think mine might be mohogony. mine is an ugly teal mettalic color and it has cosmo black hardware its also got those funky knobs that came on early sabers FGM's and early UV's those knobs with the rubber o rings its for sale if anyone is interested...email me   Tim Posted on Friday, October 08, 2004 - 11:04 am:    I have a Ibanez 540 R Limited edition, and surprisingly Custom made. I have this gat for about 5 years or so now and would hate to part with it. It's a purple neon colour and IBZ Usa F2 pickups on it which have an awesome constrast between them. I brought it for $1700(NZ currency) back in 92 or 93 I think and it's second hand. Supposedly some guy brought then decided he to sell it after a week or so. Apparently brand new they were about $2300 I heard someone quote. I have not seen any guitar like mine, if anyone does own one to E-mail me and tell me about theirs as I'd be really interested and share stuff about it. Tim   Jesse Greenawalt Posted on Friday, October 08, 2004 - 11:04 am:    Almost all of them said "Custom Made" at one point on the fretboard, if that's what you mean. I had a 540R in Jewel Blue - lovely. Sold it to my housemate because he gigged with it anyway - wanted him to destroy his own guitar, not mine... Always regretted seling it, tho' I also loved my 540SFM (blue). The magic came back, though - got a JS1000. I think the new frets are smaller, but hey - it's close.   Kevin Cink Posted on Friday, October 08, 2004 - 11:04 am:    I do have the 540R Jewel Blue. It is very nice. I think its a 1990 model. I bought it brand new for $1050.00 in 1992. The prices quoted above seemed really high to me. Anyway, I still have it and I really enjoy playing it. By the way all of these guitars had the "custom made" sign on the base of the neck.   james Price Posted on Friday, October 08, 2004 - 11:04 am:    I used to own a custo flame top radius made in bensalem PA. The feel and playability of this guitar was to die for!! Just shoot me for letting go!! Anyway, been trying to find one again and settled for the JS-100. This one seems diff according to the guy I bought it from(hasnt arrived yet). He took it to 5 iby dealers, all of them said he should keep it and that none of their current models even closely resembled his. It is signed by Gary Hoey,maybe this is why. Anyone got something to add to this? Really appreciate it. Groovtubin@aol.com   jester Posted on Friday, October 08, 2004 - 11:04 am:    Only flame Radius I ever saw was a frind of mine's when we worked at Sam Ash in Jersey. He used to work at Hoshino - said it was a one-off. The flame wasn't great, and it was red (ugh!) and heavy. No basswood - mahogany with maple cap (real one, not veneer). I didn't buy it; I liked by basswood one better for feel. It sure did SOUND good...   Steve Peters Posted on Friday, October 08, 2004 - 11:04 am:    Can anyone help me? I have what I believe is a 91 jewel blue Ibanez ser# f159990 with a double IBZUSAF2 & two IBZUSAC2 pick-ups, Floyd Rose tremola ec.. I have no idea what model this is as I bought it used from a musician for 300.00 and was told by my local music store it retailed for around 800.00. Any info would be appreciated. Steve...   jester Posted on Friday, October 08, 2004 - 11:04 am:    I never saw a Radius in H-S-S, only H-H and H-S-H. You sure this isn't a 540S (Sabre) instead? That came in Jewel Blue, too. Round edges or square? Jack on the face or on the edge?   jester Posted on Friday, October 08, 2004 - 11:04 am:    Either way, yeah, they both went for ~$800 with case, at least in my area...   Steve Peters Posted on Friday, October 08, 2004 - 11:04 am:    The jacks on the face and it definitely looks to be an s series, but that's what I'm not sure of! Probably a Sabre huh? Thanks, Steve......   jester Posted on Friday, October 08, 2004 - 11:04 am:    Yes, I think it's a Sabre. Mahogany Body. Very nice. 540S model. Mine is the same thing, but with a flamed maple veneer (540SFM) It has dots on the fretboard, right? Not the sharkfin style inlays. The 540SLTD was the same axe but had sharkfin inlays and a H-S-H config. I think you got a great deal if it's in good shape.   Steve Peters Posted on Friday, October 08, 2004 - 11:04 am:    Yes it has the pearl inlays on the fret board, but it's a H-S-S config. I was hoping I could find a place here or on the web to just punch in the serial # and know exactly what I had. I do love this axe as I get a great sound along with my Peavey Bandit112 and my Zoom, though Just recently I've been experiencing some shorting in my switch and it's getting worse and worse. I'm going to get some of the spray to blow it out this week as it's problably just accumalitive dust. TTYL, Steve   jester Posted on Friday, October 08, 2004 - 11:04 am:    ...heh... That crappy switch is the Sabre's weakest point, no matter WHAT the model or vintage. Don't waste your time. Replace it with a decent one from Stewart MacDonald, DiMarzio, or similar. Yeah, a site like you mention would be cool. But I'm not sure that Ibanez was all that strict with the serial numbers determining model & vintage. Anyone know for sure?   Steve Peters Posted on Friday, October 08, 2004 - 11:04 am:    I got a cool link e-mailed to me, to someones site and found some great pics except the year was a little different then mine. Mine does appear to be the 540S and I guess the proper way to say the config. is it's a S-S-H=IBZ/USA C2x2,F2x1 with a top lokIII and Floyd Rose Locking Tremelo and has a five way switch where as the pic of the older one only had a three way switch and C1x2 & F1x1 but other than that they looked exactly the same & said Roadstar Pro 540S series at the top with all of the specs and side views ec.. I will look at replacing that switch as it's a real pain in the --s. Thanks alot and ttyl. Steve   Robs (Robs) Posted on Friday, May 03, 2002 - 3:38 pm:    Hi Guys, I have owned a white Radius 440 and yes, that one came with H-S-S. Played cool, great neck but in whit it shure looks like an icecream... Anyhow, I needed a real strat tone, and I also have a Charvel model 3, which is much more solid in feel and uses better tonewood for Rocksounds. So I traded the Radius for a sunburst Blade Texas Vintage. But I must say I miss my Radius! Rob   Toddler68 (Toddler68) Posted on Wednesday, April 14, 2004 - 12:11 pm:    I bought my Ibanez used around '92/'93 and never knew what model it was; it just sounded great. Bears a striking resemblance to many described here. It's gloss black, H-S-S pickup config, says 'custom made' on the fretboard, has oval abalone or mother-of-pearl fret markers, maple neck, Floyd Rose, weird kind of chromy-black hardware... sn F112488. I know what year it is but not the model. Any idea? BTW, yes, I concur that the 5-way switch definitely sucks!   Mr_Roadstar (Mr_Roadstar) Posted on Wednesday, April 14, 2004 - 1:13 pm:    Body shape is the biggest difference between a Saber and a Radius. The Saber or "S" tapers to a very thin edge all the way around the body. The edges are relatively square. The jack is mounted in an angled recess on the front of the body. The Radius shape tapers a bit toward the top, but maintains it's thickness elsewhere. The edges are all very rounded and smoothly contoured. The JS models have virtually the same body as the early Radius models. The jack is edge mounted. The only thing "Custom Made" about these guitars is the "Custom Made" inlay on the fretboard. I really wish Ibanez hadn't done that. Cheers Steve   Julien (Julien) Posted on Wednesday, August 18, 2004 - 4:42 am:    Hi, I've got a guitar I'm unable to identify. The closest model I found is the radius R442 in transparent red finish (1992 Ibanez catalog), with some differences (Rosewood neck, AANJ ...). It was built in Japan in 1992 (sn : F21949). I've got some photos there : http://erekose.free.fr/Guitare/ Any ideas about how much it's worth ? I may want to sell it ... Thanks in advance Julien   Johns (Johns) Posted on Monday, August 23, 2004 - 8:42 pm:    Julien: It doesn't seem to match anything in the catalogs. Looks like the body of a '92 R442TR with the neck and trem of a '93 RV470.   Julien (Julien) Posted on Tuesday, August 24, 2004 - 10:36 am:    Hi, thanks Johns, actually I did buy it new (except if the shop crooked me), so I don't think the neck was changed. Is the '93 RV470's neck an AANJ type ? the guitar was bought in France, so it may be possible that it is not on US catalogs ... thx Julien   Johns (Johns) Posted on Tuesday, August 24, 2004 - 2:19 pm:    Julien: From France, huh? That would be a good reason why it doesn't match the US catalogs. Here's a link to the '93 US catalog page: http://www.ibanezrules.com/catalogs/us/1993/r_2.jpg It does have an AANJ and stripe down the neck.   451stroker (451stroker) Posted on Monday, September 20, 2004 - 8:15 pm:    Does anyone have any info on the 540FM and the 540S? I've come across both of these guitars for sale at a music store and they are still brand new. What kind of wood are they made out of? Are the pickups made by Dimarzio? They both have the same pickup configuration (H-S-S), but different pickups. The 540S has rounded edges and says Custom on the last fret of the neck. What years could they be from? How much are they worth? I like both of them, but can't decide which one is better. Any info would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

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