Chuck's Vintage Ibanez Guitar Collection

The cream of my vintage Ibanez guitar collection, plus two Greco clones, a Fernandes strat clone, and a Kingston Bass that I painted.

Guitars

Ibanez Musician, Model MC400NT with Blonde Headstock (serial no. D78....):

Ibanez Rocket Roll Sr., Model 2387CT (serial no. L76....):

Ibanez Artist Semi-Hollowbody, Model 2630AV (serial no. E79....):

Ibanez Artist Semi-Hollowbody, Model 2629AV (serial no. I78....):

Ibanez Artist, Model 2619AV (serial no. B79....):

Ibanez Artist, Model 2618AV (serial no. J78....):

Ibanez Professional, Model 2671s "Darkburst w/ Block Inlays" (serial no. I77....):

Ibanez Stratocaster, Model 2375 (pre-serial):

Ibanez Custom, Model AS103NT (serial no. S06......):

Greco EG-500R (no serial no.):

NOTE: This guitar is modified to approximate the Les Paul Frank Zappa used during the late 1970s and early 1980s, on such albums as "Shut Up 'n' Play Yer Guitar". it is pictured on the cover of that album, and also, in its exact configuration I've modeled, on the cover of Guitar World (March 1982).

Greco SE-450 (serial no. G81....):

NOTE: This guitar is identical to a Fender Stratocaster that my late brother, Greg Evans (1960 - 1996) used to own. It was his very first guitar. It has the same micro-tilt neck and CBS-style "fat" headstock with bullet truss rod adjuster. I changed the pickup covers and knobs from their stock black to white to match his guitar.

Fernandes Strat (The Limited Model):

NOTE: I used this guitar on recordings made with Earls Watch (1985) and Subdueds (1986).

Kay Truetone:

Basses

Ibanez black Eagle Bass, Model 2609B (serial no. D77....):

Ibanez Jazz Bass, Model 2365B (no serial no.):

Kingston Bass, Custom Paint Job by Chuck (no serial no.):

NOTE: This was my main bass back in the 1970s and I recently restored it by adding two vintage Ibanez bass pickups, new electronics, the paint job, and I also hand-crafted the clear pickguard and added the little plastic lizard.

Some Guitars I've Owned But Have Sold

Shown in a rough chronological order, with those I sold most recently at the end.

1965 Silvertone Silhouette:

1981 Ibanez Musician Bass (MC924DS):

1960's Harmony Rocket (H17):

1986 Carvin V220:

1962 Kay Value Leader:

1978 Ibanez Performer (PF200):

1970's Ventura 335:

1937 Oscar Schmidt Sovereign Archtop:

1973 Ibanez EB3-Style Bass (2354B):

1971 Ibanez Jazz Bass (2320B):

1992 Fernandes Telecaster(TE-2):

1981 Ibanez Artist (AR100BS):

1976 Ibanez SG (2394):

1979 Ibanez Musician Bass (MC900NT):

1975? Ibanez Artwood Twin (2470/2670):

1988 Ibanez S540:

1982 Ibanez Musician (refinished) (MC150):

1975 Ibanez "Hummingbird" Acoustic (684-12):

1975 Ibanez York Acoustic (2846):

Guitar World Magazine, March 1982

Note: Image and article text © 1982 Guitar World Magazine.

This is the magazine that features Frank Zappa playing his cherry sunburst Les Paul, and the article contains a description, by Frank, of the mods he made. I went by this description when modifying my Greco LP, above.

The Description

From page 37:

Guitar World: What kind of modifications did you build into the Les Paul?

Frank Zappa: The Les Paul has a pre-amp and it has two different kinds of pickups, and it has a Dan Armstrong pickup in the neck position and it has a Carvin pickup in the bridge position. It has a Dan Armstrong gizmo called The Green Ringer built into it, which I can dial in. It also has an EQ circuit which in one position gives you about an 8db boost at 8-K and the other position gives you an 8db boost at 500 cycles, so you can either go from a bright sound to a more mid-rangery wah-wah kind of sound, all built into the guitar. And then it has a pickup selector switch that has nine positions. It changes the wiring between the pickups in a lot of differtent ways, so it's got a lot of tonal variation. I can make it sound just like a Telecaster if I want. Unfortunately, in that position it's not humbucking and under the lights it makes a lot of noise but in the studio it's usually okay. And then there's a little toggle switch on it that goes from series to parallel on the pickups and depending on where the pickup selector switch is set that gives you yet another whole series of variations. And so, I have eighteen time three different tone selections on that guitar.

Chuck's Mods: I couldn't replicate everything Frank did to his guitar, so I first concentrated on some cosmetics. You can see from other pictures of his guitar that he had either Ibanez or Gotoh pearloid velvetune tuners, so I added those (mine are Ibanez). I installed a brass nut too, since other pictures show one. I made sure I also had the same style control knobs. For the pickups, I'm not sure if the article was correct about "Dan Armstrong" pickups, but I found a great "Kent Armstrong" pickup to use in the neck position. I used a Carvin Super Distortion (SD) for the bridge. Both pickups are wired with tri-sound switches that give me humbucker, parallel-humbucker, and single-coil modes. I don't have a sustainer/pre-amp in mine, though I might put in a Fernandes Sustainer someday.

The Cover

All photos Copyright © 2007 Charles F. Evans, All Rights Reserved.

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