Ibanez 1981 Blazer

My Blazer was a 1983 strat built in solid ash and a 21 frets Fender Stratocaster like scaloped mapel neck with mapel fret board. The pickups are 3 singel coils. Two was switched to some hot eighteens Jackson singelcoils and the middle pickup was original. I had a noise problem with the pickups but it was easily fixed by an expert. The nut were also bad so i got it fixed. The bridge was just perfect and feelt like a fender brige. But i didnt got my guitar with a whammy bar and no other strat whammys fits so if you dont get one you got to live with out it. The guitar is Japanese built by the way.

I love the sound! I play mostly neoclassical heavy metal and have also a old school rock band. And during school i play lots Funk, Jazz, Blues, Pop and Fusion. It cover upp my style and all styles i play during school in guitar lessons and ensambles. I just had some feedback problems at first but i fixed it so now it sounds like a dream. The sound is very noisless and more concentraded than alder body strats cause the pickups and the heavy ash body. Its sounds best with lower distortion and clean. And the best thing is that you can shred without putting upp lots of distortion cause it sounds good anyway. If i would compare the type of sound with a player i would say Steve Lukather.

The action was great i just got it by the mail delivery and picked it up and played it. It was just the feedback problem that grind my gear. But i didnt hear it until we were cranking the amps full in the rehearsal room. The finish was a thick beutiful firey candy apple red coulor. It had some dings and the back of the guitar was almost no finish left so you could see the wood. But it is so beutiful and so rock n roll so i dont complain!

The tuners are great and everything else so it holds deffinitly thru a whole gig. And if it will hold a longer time thats almost for sure. It have been throug lots of things for almost 30 years so why wouldnt it last for a couple of years more?

I never dealt with Ibanez. I bought it secondhand over a internet site and got it quickly and cheap with no problems. The guy was realy honnest and nice to me.

I have been playing guitar serious for 4 years and played lots of styles and playd most of the guitars you should have played. But this guitar is just incredible! It beats most of the strats out there even fenders. So if you would like a strat you could be satisfied with rest of your life without paying much (Maybe for time beeing price) Buy one! I never regret the guitar and i would probebly kill myself if someone stole it.

Japanese made guitars from the 1980's are where it's at. This little beauty is a Strat smasher! 1 volume control, one tone control. 3 original Ibanez single coils with the giant pole pieces give dynamite sound from every setting. Bright, sweet, and fat. Mine went through some electronics mods, now has active tone. I'll probably take that back to original eventually. The tech stuffed the 9V battery in the trem cavity, which meant the loss of 2 trem springs, which meant I had to block the trem (it's a 6 screw vintage Strat style trem, with a monstrous brass block and fat brass saddles, so plenty of sustain). No big loss for me, I'm not a tremolo guy, but if you're going to do something, do it right, man! Also in the mod process, a new pick guard was made to accommodate a couple new toggle switches, which do modify the sound in interesting ways. Also, the volume knob was moved to the lower horn, which is fine for me. The 5-way selector was moved back a ways, which is great since I'm always bumping the switch into different pickup settings on the stock Strat configuration, and this put it out of my way. Smart! One more minor goof in the mods: the bridge pickup (slant position) was cut into the pick guard a little high, putting the high "E" string right off of it's pole piece. People, you gotta THINK before you chop up a great axe! Original to this instrument is a phase shift toggle (I think), which is a very nice trick. Ibanez smooth tuners are bulletproof. The neck is maple with maple fretboard, and plays like a dream. Medium frets. Nice and wide for my big fat farmer fingers, faster than lightning. Solid as a rock. Incredible tropical sea blue sparkle finish on the extremely comfortable if slightly heavy body. I also have an Ibanez Roadstar of the same vintage whose only mod is a DiMarzio pickup in the bridge position. They play identically, as in PERFECTLY! In my opinion, you will not find a better made or better playing axe than these old Ibanezes. Great sound in their original state, and a perfect bed for whatever mods you want to (THOUGHTFULLY) make. My rating is based on the original axe, not on the mods. The features it came with are plentiful and worthy. My only complaint is the placement of the selector switch on EVERY Strat copy. It doesn't have to be right where your strum hand bangs into it!

I play in a wide variety of styles, from electric folk to rock to blues and jazz. I play through an '80's 100W single 12 Carvin tube combo, and the only effect I use with any regularity is a Morley wah. I used to have an ElectroHarmonix "The Worm" pedal, which had vibrato, tremolo, autowah, chorus, and flange, as I recall; that was fun and I might get another one someday. Mostly I just use the amp and the guitar. I never have to switch axes to get the sound I want. Versatile; YES! It does have the single-coil buzz, but that's to be expected. Here's what I'd say about the tone; the vowels are all represented. From the big rich neck pickup's "OOOOO's" to the bridge's screaming "EEEEEE's", it's all there. 9 because it buzzes a little.

Action is perfect. Fit is nuts on. Finish was no doubt great 28 years ago when the guitar came out of the factory, and it's still pretty good. Built well, and built to last!

I think you could play this guitar underwater, rolling across the rocks on the sea bed, with a mason's hammer. I'd bet you could beat out a tune on it at noon in the middle of the Mojave desert, while a sandstorm raged. Do I think you could gig with it? I do, and my backup (if I were ever to need one) is another Ibanez of the same vintage. I got this guitar recently as the first backup guitar IU've ever had in 20 years of playing. It was going to be the backup for my 1981 Roadstar. I never needed a backup with that guitar unless I broke a string, which is a rare occurrence. Everything about this guitar seems absolutely bulletproof.

Long long ago, I used a Carvin DC-135, which is a very solid neck-through with S-S-H configuration and on/off toggles for each pickup. That puppy was a serious workhorse, played like a dream, but just a tad on the generic side in regards to sound. I sold it after having an Ibanez for 4 months. I also had a mid-'80's Westone Klingon-warship looking axe that had a perfect neck and tonal variety that is unrivaled, but I'm not a metal guy, so the crazy Vee didn't fit my personality. No other electric I've picked up feels/sounds so good to me as my early '80's Japanese made Ibanezes. I'm off on a MIJ adventure right now, checking out vintage stuff from the Matsumoku and Gakki guitar factories, completely due to my discovery of the Ibanez magic. At this point, I'd crawl through broken glass to beat the daylights out of anyone who'd steal my Blazer.