Need help apraising a guitar

Log Out | Topics | Search Moderators | Edit Profile

Author Message   Jinmon Username: Jinmon Registered: 12-2007 Posted on Tuesday, December 11, 2007 - 12:04 pm:    i have what looks like an ibanez artist 335 style guitar that i bought used sometime in the mid to late 80's. the word "artist" doesn't appear anywhere on the guitar, however. i bought it as a second to an "artist" 335 style that i was using at the time. the serial # is C8055651. i would love to get some info on it-year etc. and ,also, to find out an aprox value. can anybody out there help?   Stony2004 Username: Stony2004 Registered: 7-2004 Posted on Tuesday, December 11, 2007 - 12:12 pm:    Jinmon, a picture of your guitar would help a lot!   Jinmon Username: Jinmon Registered: 12-2007 Posted on Tuesday, December 11, 2007 - 12:47 pm:    i know. i don't have a camera. i'll try to borrow one and post a picture. meanwhile, i was hoping the serial # might be of some help. the offical ibanez site doesn't have a serial number database that i've been able to find. anybody know of one?   Johns Username: Johns Registered: 2-2001 Posted on Tuesday, December 11, 2007 - 4:38 pm:    Jinmon: Without a picture it will be hard to tell exactly what you have. There is no serial number database. Serial numbers can be a twisted mess. Your guitar is probably a Cort manufactured semi-hollow, manufactured in 1988. Or less likely, an older Japanese manufactured AS model from March 1980. Have a look at the 1981 and 1988 catalogs here: http://www.ibanezrules.com/catalogs/index.htm and see if you see something that matches. (Tip: compare the shape of the headstocks first.) If you don't see a match, how about a VERY detailed description of your guitar? What color, pickups, switches, fretboard inlays, etc.?   Gemberbier Username: Gemberbier Registered: 5-2006 Posted on Tuesday, December 11, 2007 - 7:08 pm:    Welcome Jinmon, That surely looks interesting: C8055651. That's 8 characters, or 1 letter and 7 digits. If C would be the month, than Fuji Gen would have been producing over 55650 guitars in the month of May 1980. That won't happen in 55651 years. So at first sight John's first idea seems to be the best: Cort 1988,... BUT Cort was NOT involved in making AS models for Hoshino in 1988. In 1988 the pricelist shows only ONE AS model, and that's the AS200, certainly NOT made by Cort. In 1989 they added the AS100, also certainly NOT made by Cort, but by Terada. There were a few low end models in this era that were built in Korea, but that was by Yoojin, such as the Artstar (not Artist) AM50, the AB50 bass. So what are we looking at: A 1998 Cort product, or just one digit too much in the serial number, I guess that would be one 5 of 55. Then we're back to March 1980, because 5651 guitars in one month is possible, just look at the serial numbers of the JP20 in October 1980. Would you please be so kind to check that serial number again? Ginger   Stony2004 Username: Stony2004 Registered: 7-2004 Posted on Wednesday, December 12, 2007 - 4:30 am:    wow! This is really Mr. Sherlock Ginger! ;-)   Talajuha Username: Talajuha Registered: 11-2006 Posted on Wednesday, December 12, 2007 - 7:27 am:    'the word "artist" doesn't appear anywhere on the guitar' AS50 didn't have "Artist" on TRC or this one has replaced TRC? Or my old brain/memory just fails again? Juha   Johns Username: Johns Registered: 2-2001 Posted on Wednesday, December 12, 2007 - 8:57 am:    Jinmon: Now you see why a photo is really important. :-) In some case the serial number just doesn't tell us much at all and actually leads to more speculation than real answers.   Chucke99 Username: Chucke99 Registered: 2-2007 Posted on Wednesday, December 12, 2007 - 5:21 pm:    Yeah, and we just HATE speculating here on ICW.

Add Your Message Here Post: -Color- Black Red Green Blue Yellow Purple Orange Cyan Gray White -Font- Arial Courier Symbol Times Verdana -Size- Smallest (-2) Small (-1) Normal Large (+1) Largest (+2) Enter Item number: Username: Posting Information: This is a private posting area. Only registered users and moderators may post messages here. Password: Options: Enable HTML code in message Automatically activate URLs in message Action: