Hand stamped serial numbers in pre-se...

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Author Message Ice (Mark_Hartman) Posted on Monday, April 09, 2001 - 4:49 pm:    Jeff, Loved the Messina story! I bet you had fun in the newly discovered 'hot tub' scene! ;) Do you recall why certain Ibanez guitars from about 1975 (before using the standard serial numbering scheme) were hand stamped on the end of the fretboard? I have seen this on ealy Iceman Artists and a Randy Scruggs as well. Maybe a picture will help jog your memory... Thanks for being here! Mark Hartman JohnS Posted on Tuesday, April 10, 2001 - 7:51 am:    Mark: Great picture! I was just thinking about asking this question myself. Jeff: I hope you're going to tell us that these markings make the guitars extremely special and fabulously valuable. (the Scruggs pictured above happens to be mine. ) Ice (Mark_Hartman) Posted on Thursday, April 12, 2001 - 5:35 am:    Yes John, I am hoping the same - of course I also hope it means that some famous or infamous celebrity used my Iceman to record a hit song or hit a song recorder...something, anything! Jeff Hasselberger (Jhasselberger) Posted on Wednesday, April 18, 2001 - 5:35 pm:    On the subject of fingerboard numbers … My memory on this detail is way fuzzy. Here are a couple of observations: From the excellent and rather artistic photo montage, I can see that the numbers were definitely hand-done. Although I don’t know if the numbers were applied here or in Japan, I do remember that we had a set of number punches in Bensalem. I case you haven’t seen these, they are about the size of a crayon with the mirror image of a number or letter on one end and flat on the other. You set it in place, smack it with a hammer and it leaves an impression (how deep depends on the hardness of the material and how hard you hit the punch). To answer Mark’s question, I don’t think that the numbers would have much effect on the value of his instrument. The truth is that there weren’t very many Scruggs models made in the first place. While I’ve mislead people in the past with my guesses at actual numbers, I will say that these are quite rare. At the time, these were the top of the Ibanez line. We were probing price points where we had never been before. We weren’t sure whether people would spend that kind of dosh on an Ibanez. We were pretty happy that a few did, but we didn’t get too confident about our ability to command top dollar prices. In fact, our lack of confidence turned into a strategic advantage. The slow upward climb in price proved to be pretty good for us. I think our quality rose very quickly in the early days, but our prices didn’t. At the time, Ibanez was one of the best values on the market ( it still pretty much is, in my estimation). Prices went up slower than quality, but the net result was that our reputation for delivering value stuck with guitarists. They accepted price increases, knowing that the instruments were still good values. I think it made for a very positive relationship between us as a company and our customers. Sorry I can’t provide any definitive word on the mystery fretboard stamps. Tis a question for one much wiser than I. Jeff Mike G. Posted on Wednesday, April 18, 2001 - 9:52 pm:    Jeff, Thank you for your comments on the fretboard stamping. On the subject of the Scrugs models,I have a few of these and some have a smooth neck heel and some have the block neck heel similar to the Les Paul Style. Was this something of an experiment to see if it would be strong enough with the smooth heel design or just part of the evolution of these guitars?(we LOVE the smooth heels) Also,I am fortunate enough to have the Scrugs with the Tree of life inlay and on top of that it has a scalloped ebony fretboard. For the life of me I can't figure out how this was done without the inlays being affected. The neck is unreal and plays great yet I am wondering if it is possible that the guitar was special ordered that way or if it was done after being purchased. While I'm at it,I know of another Scrugs w/ tree of life that has what looks like a factory done(brass w/ ibanez print) rear control plate at the bottom of the back of the guitar in addition to the standard control plate which is in the normal location. It has on the front of it below the tailpiece, a bunch of extra control knobs that control who knows what. I have just sent John S. some pics via email since I have yet to figure out how to post pics on this site (Just started using a computer last year) Hopefully something as odd as these will stand out if you knew of them during the time you were there... As always,your comments are very much appreciated and we are honored that you have taken the time to comment on this site. If you ever come to New Jersey,we'll take you to the Stanhope House for a good night of Blues & Booze. Regards, Mike(the maniac)G. JohnS Posted on Thursday, April 19, 2001 - 10:02 am:    Jeff: Here's the pictures Mike sent of the Scruggs with built in effects. Look familiar? JohnS Posted on Thursday, April 19, 2001 - 10:50 am:    Jeff: I totally agree that Ibanez was giving a ton of bang for the buck back then. How were the Scruggs models produced? By special order or was there an inventory sitting around waiting to fill orders? Is there anything else you could tell us regarding guitars made for endorsement artists? Do you remember IF they were tracked/recorded? I guess we could ask the same about prototype instruments? Munch (Munch) Posted on Wednesday, December 18, 2002 - 7:22 am:    Hi guys, To add something further to the stamped fretboard mystery, I recently saw a 1975 Ibanez replica of a Gibson Melody Maker. This is the double cutaway body, narrow headstock and two black single coil pickups. This guitar carries the standard serial number system, E75XXXX, however the serial number was hand stamped into the end of the fretboard. Clearly this guitar illustrates that some experimentation went on with regard to how serial numbers were to be applied. BTW - it was a lovely guitar. Cheers, Mark

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