What does the "M" in "MGR" Mean......

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Author Message Ibnzplyr Username: Ibnzplyr Registered: 03-2004 Posted on Monday, November 08, 2004 - 12:50 am:    for the Ibanez Ghostrider guitars? GR must be Ghostrider, but what's the "M" on the label mean? Thanks-- Scott Mr_roadstar Username: Mr_roadstar Registered: 06-2002 Posted on Monday, November 08, 2004 - 4:48 pm:    Hey Scott, Where do you see "MGR"? Is it something you can photograph? This is something new and since I'm a curious old fart... Steve Fox Username: Fox Registered: 02-2003 Posted on Monday, November 08, 2004 - 6:13 pm:    Scott...I must ask like Steve, what "M"?? I happen to own a GR520, just fixed and "overhauled" another one, and I have not noticed any "M" on the label.. should I have to take a closer look?? fox Ibnzplyr Username: Ibnzplyr Registered: 03-2004 Posted on Monday, November 08, 2004 - 10:57 pm:    Hi Gang: The Ghostriders originally came with tiny little stickers on the back where the neck meets the body (neck joint). My 1993 one says "MGR520 VS". The others (a '94 and two 95's) don't have the "M"-- they just have the GR + model number. As proof that I don't have the only one with an "M", if you look on harmony central's guitar reviews, there is a review of an "MGR220 Ghostrider". It's a factory label, and still stands as a Mystery. What could it possibly stand for? Did you catch where Jim Donahue said these were originally called Voodoo Cowboys before they were mass produced. Maybe there was a third name that it was going to have: "M.... Ghost Rider", but then the first word was scrapped back in the first year of production. The "M" is only on my oldest one. I just got the '93. It's the 520 vintage sunburst. All the pics I have seen do not come close to doing the thing justice. (And I thought the orange sunburst was super nice.) All it needed was the frets to be polished and the truss rod to be loosened. Like my other 520, it has great chunky and defined low end but simultaneously great clarity and some decent jangle at the high end. The pearl/abalone combo inlays are just gorgeous. These were about a thousand bucks new and are real quality instruments that can still be snapped up at bargain prices, IMHO. (Ain't gotta digital cam yet... sorry!) Fox Username: Fox Registered: 02-2003 Posted on Tuesday, November 09, 2004 - 6:48 am:    OK,Scott.. Iīve never seen one "brand new" so the stickers must have been long gone.. My GR520 regular sunburst has been completely altered, what comes to the pickups, when I bought it it had some far-east cheapos on, and the wiring was a mess..incorrectly wired phase switch etc. So I had to put on a couple of "hot-rodded" DiMarzios and changed the phase to a push-pull pot, on that remaining microswitch hole I installed tri-sound for bridge pickup.. A great player, although Iīm not very keen on the neck joint, itīs a little too much "box-shaped" to my vision of ideal neck-to-body joint.. Itīs from the 1993. I remember that it cost me little under 400 euros.. Itīs a keeper, for sure. A great "little" guitar.. Jim_donahue Username: Jim_donahue Registered: 04-2004 Posted on Sunday, January 02, 2005 - 8:24 pm:    The story is this, We used two factories to make the Ghost Rider, Cort for the USA, Canada and Australia and Samick made models for the rest of the world, However Cort could not produce this model at first because it a set neck. So it was made at Samick, to tell the factories apart Hoshino designated M for Samick, Why I am not sure but this was on all the Samick models even the AS models they produced. Ibnzplyr Username: Ibnzplyr Registered: 03-2004 Posted on Monday, January 03, 2005 - 3:06 am:    Santa came one week late--- thanks a lot Jim! Hope to get a few copies of the Ibanez book. I hope the January 2005 timeframe is still good to go. Happy New Year!!!!!!! Scott (I know a lot of other folks here wish you the same!) Sibly Username: Sibly Registered: 05-2005 Posted on Monday, September 19, 2005 - 4:02 am:    Hi guys, I have just picked up an amazing ghostrider and, like Scott, mine is labeled MGR520-VS. What i dont understand about the info above... from other threads it seems the S at the start of the serial number already indicates it's a Samick, so why the need for the M on the model number to also tell us this info? Scott, i also have a question for you: On your little sticker, is the "VS" part stuck on top of the MGR520 XX sticker? Mine is. I've been trying to see what letter was underneath. I might bite the bullet, peel it off, then restick it. Sometimes i think it looks like an "S", which at a complete guess could have meant it was originally called sunburst and then they made a late decision to add the Orange Sunburst to the line, and so needed to rebrand S as VS??? A complete guess, that is. By the way, it's one heck of a gorgeous guitar isnt it. Sibly Username: Sibly Registered: 05-2005 Posted on Wednesday, September 21, 2005 - 9:13 am:    Here's a foto for anyone interested... Ibnzplyr Username: Ibnzplyr Registered: 03-2004 Posted on Saturday, September 24, 2005 - 10:33 pm:    Hi Sibly: Sorry it took a while to get back here. Yes, my sticker also has the "VS" sticker on top of the other sticker. We might have to ask Jim Donahue, who worked at Ibanez for many years, if he knows why they used the M and the S for Samick. I doubt anyone else is going to know. I would like to know, too. I don't know if you have tried the GR220 ghostrider models. The P90 pickups are wonderful. Very, very few Ibanez models came with this pickup, and it is a winner. Yes, the GR520 VS is a gorgeous guitar! I peeked at mine yesterday, but I played the OS instead because I am missing a little 2 cent part to keep the jack on. And it sounds like a Les Paul. And they play like butter. The VS appears to be much rarer than the OS color, so I give you hearty congratulations!!!!!!! Jim_donahue Username: Jim_donahue Registered: 04-2004 Posted on Tuesday, September 27, 2005 - 11:39 pm:    The Reason for the M is that each factory has a model number in the Hoshino Gakki order system. They can't have two GR520OS models that come from two Factories. Each needs its own designation in the system. S was already used in there system, (Acoustics from S&N under ths Silver Cadet model) So some Japanese person picked M (saMick). Make sense? Jim Ibnzplyr Username: Ibnzplyr Registered: 03-2004 Posted on Sunday, October 02, 2005 - 3:49 pm:    Hi Jim: Wishing you the best. I don't have the guitar in front of me, but I think the serial numbers of all my ghostriders begin with "S", indicating "S"amick, made in Korea. So the "M" also means Sa"m"ick in Korea. So you're saying if I understand correctly that there is a double reference to the manufacturing site of these guitars, the "S" on the serial number and the "M" on the sticker, which by now most of them might no longer have. Sibly Username: Sibly Registered: 05-2005 Posted on Tuesday, October 04, 2005 - 4:24 am:    Hi Scott, Jim, thanks for your replies guys. I think i understand now Jim, thanks. The different factories have to (had to) be differentiated for both the serial numbers AND the model numbers, for catalogue purposes. Cool. So what about this sticker under the "VS" sticker....any recollection of that, or should one of me or Scott be brave and peel it off carefully?

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