Is this guitar safe to buy ?

[tomana]

1978 Ibanez Artist 2630 Semi-Acoustic, wants $2300 + shipping from Heidelberg, Germany

my main concern is the metal spacer between the nut and the fretboard as in, why is it even there in the first place. Also the cracking of the neck binding, I mean, when will it start to flake off?

Said he has one other potential buyer he made same offer too, seems a bit like a pressuring technique to me but who knows ...

[HHP]

Sounds like an awfully optimistic price.

[tomana]

Originally Posted by HHP

Sounds like an awfully optimistic price.

it's an ebay auction and I asked if they would do Buy It Now and if so how much so I'm guessing that's a projected number of what the seller hopes to clear with the auction.

The more I view these photos the less I like the cracking in the neck binding ...

[fazool]

ummmmmm....no


I wouldn't touch that for that price....plus being far away and hard to resolve issues......no thanks..

[Long Jon]

Last guitar I bought on eBay had the rather optimistic BIN price of £3,200

I put in a bid of £2000 and to my surprise, got it for that.


But no. I don't fancy yours much, sorry.

[tomana]

Originally Posted by fazool

ummmmmm....no


I wouldn't touch that for that price....plus being far away and hard to resolve issues......no thanks..

yes, good points there. When desiring, the logistics details seem to leave the brain for some reason.

Thank you fazool, no more need be said than what you already mentioned, I'll pass on it

[PTC Bernie]

The cracking isn't unusual, but I would think a 78 build would be in better shape than that.

Could the space at the nut be a zero fret that was removed? That's the only thing that I can think of to explain what that picture shows.

Also, that's a very unusual joint where the heel meets the top of the body. Can you find pictures of other examples of that guitar to determine if that's the way they were manufactured? It almost looks like another neck was grafted on.

[RoseAdi]

It almost looks like another neck was grafted on

Could the space at the nut be a zero fret that was removed?

If it had a different neck of slightly different length grafted on, could it be that the spacer at the nut was required for proper intonation? This would seem easier than relocating the bridge or saddle.

[Von Beerhofen]

The nut has been moved backwards for sure, if the fingerboard wasn't modified too, or the bridge, then the intonation of this guitar will be real bad. But these guitars have a Tune-O-Matic bridge and I don't think there's enough room on it to compensate for the moved nut.
I have an acoustic artist here and it's a fine guitar. The fingerboard looks original, the artist had block MOP inlay with skewed abalone blocks running from left top to right bottom corner (or vice versa, depending on how you look at it).
I don't think the fingerboard was replaced at all, why not make it to the right length instead of a little inset of whatever wood that is. On top of this the binding still sits over the fret ends, as it does on my guitar.
These guitars are pretty collectible, especially the ones with flamed maple, due to their resemblance in build with Gibsons.
Somewhere on the web you can find the Ibanez folders from the years that the Artists were build, they came in a variety of price ranges and obviously the top end models are the most collectible. With such modification I wouldn't pay more then 1250$ (1000 Euro) and risk the cost of repairing it by a good technician.
Back in the days the low end models sold for around 450$ the top end ones for around 750$.

Ludwig

[Fire&Rain]

Not sure why any Ibanez would demand that kind of price...

[posternutbag]

Originally Posted by Fire&Rain

Not sure why any Ibanez would demand that kind of price...

Late 70's, early 80's Ibanez hollowbody and semi-hollow electrics are very nice guitars. I would probably take an Ibanez copy of a Gibson over a real Gibson (of that same era). I also think mid-80's Ibanez electrics are very good and very undervalued instruments.

That being said, this one, I would pass. There are too many potential headaches, and these aren't that rare.

[Diamond Dave]

You can get a new Ibby semi-hollow, top of the line signature model, for that money, without shipping one from Germany.

[fitness1]

looks to me like someone used a nut from another guitar and shimmed it "sideways" to make it fit, which, as noted above, would ruin the intonation.

It also looks like the nut slots are cut WAY too low.

I wouldn't mess with it for a second.....there are likely many issues with it if the seller doesn't know any better than that!

[s2y]

Way too much dough and too many issues.

[BarryR]

Pass it up...Another will shortly show up...