Ibanez Les Paul Copy

A couple years ago,I purchased an Ibanez "Deluxe 59er" from a local
guitar shop.I believe it is a '74 as there is no serial # to be found.It was made in Japan.A most attractive flame-top,tobacco sunburst.A really beautiful guitar.

This guitar suits me. I can play pretty much any style I choose,the guitar sounds great in any application.I have put Dimarzio PAF's in and with a little tweaking on my Marshall Valvestate 80,I can have FAT,thin,sweet,grungy,..whatever.

I am an intonation freak,and when I first got this guitar,it WAS intonated well,but of course,it being a new and interesting guitar,I had to tear it apart piece by piece and put it back together again.I can't complain about much.Yes,there is some rust on the saddle,but it's 28 years old! It's beginning to split on the neck.The fingerboard is seperating from the neck,but it hasn't caused me any grief,and I'm sure it's easily repairable.Last but not least,I must compliment the finish on this guitar.It's just beautiful.After I've polished it,I swear,it must look as it did the day it came out of the factory.

I have gigged with this guitar alot.It has never let me down.It's actually pretty cool how a guitar this old,with original starback tuners staysin tune after my solos.Once I've finished the solo,I'll hit the first chord coming back in,and Yep!I'm still there.Cool.
Besides bringing an extra set of strings,yes,I wouldn't think twice about using this guitar at a gig without back-up.

I wonder if Ibanez supports guitars this old?

I have been playing for 23 years now.I've been in more than a few bands and have owned many,many guitars.I went through a Gibson craze for a while,and then,through circumstance,I was forced to sell the Les Paul (no job)and could'nt afford another.One day,I found my Ibanez,and I've never looked back.As I said,I've owned more than one Les Paul,and this guitar is no less a guitar than my Gibson's.I guess you don't have to rob the bank to own a really great piece of wood.

After many years as a guitar rapairman, I had many of those LP copies on my work bench for repairs and modifies. In that way I have kind of a relationship to them, but never owned one myself. Well, that have changed today. Finally I have my own, and I beleive it is a mod. 2350 from early 70's, maby -74. Nice figured flame top, and body of laminated mahogny with routed resonance chambers. Typical "law-suite" headstock and bolt-on neck. Set up with 2 super 70 pickups. The mahogny neck has standard short scale and fits my style great. I always liked those necks. Very fast. The tuners has been replaced (the orginal never last long) with gotoh tuners. seems like the angle between the neck and body is more straight than an orginal LP, wich makes it not so easy to set up for low action. But still I feel that the action is as fast and low as I like it on those type guitars.

When you first look at it, you see a pearl og a instrument cause the finish is great. When you lift it up it feels cheap. I guess that is because you expect it to be heavy as an orginal LP, but it is not. This one has low weight and feels more like an semi acoustic. But hey!! A 335 aint heavy, but still not cheap :o) When I was comfortable with the weight, I plugged it into my amp. A carvin XS 112. The pick ups gives me a warm tone and seems pretty hot for their age. I get this typical humbucker tone, but still not complete LP PAF. It have a very rich tone that makes you able to get an almost perfect sound in all combinations. Not to thick and not to thin. I instantly falled in love with the sound. All from clean tones to midle overdrive. It sounded great and sometimes better than a les paul. The problem took place when I tried distortion.........what can I say....FEEDBACK!!!. Maby those pick up's just need some wax...I look into it. The sound was good but the feedback was such a problem that I gave up.

For a 30 year old guitar it is impossible to tell about the factory set-up. But when I got it it wasn't perfect at all. I beleive the earlier owners is to blame for that. It had a brass nut wich I replaced with a standard LP bone-nut, and was set up with 009 strings wich fit's my needs bad. After making my own corrections the guitar felt just fine. The frets are almost worn out, and I will change them. It feels vintage, and it looks vintage. And it must be quality to stay in this shape for 30 years. And beleive me this guitar has been used.

I wont have any doubts using it on live playing. As I wrote, this seems to be a quality instrument. Only thing I will do before using it is waxing the pickups and refret it.

No need

I been playing for 25 years now. different styles from heavy metal to texas blues and even some classical stuff too. I built guitars myself, and have therefore hugh standards for my instruments. I like this guitar for it's sound, action playability and history. It gives me things that no other guitars can, but that doesn'y mean it is perfest. I will still use my other axes :o) I also plays a US st strat, and a warmoth custom tele with Bill lawrence L-500 and Joe Barden hot rod s.coil. If it was stolen I would replace it at once, cause it really is worth it. My upinion is that this LP copy is better than most of the orginals from the -70.

See my other review on this guitar (number 11 from the bottom) but this is about his twin brother. Yes, I found another flame top Les Paul copy with set neck! Almost in mint condition, at least 9 out of 10.
So, all specs are still the same and it is in original condition, only the original scratch plate is missing. Well, I don't care, I've got some matching spare plates....

Sounds great, this one has had a good first owner. Real clear humbucking sound from the Super70 Zebra pickups....

Great finish, just a few minor scratches. This bookmatched flamed top does even look better than my other one.

Since it was built in 1976 and today still in such a good shape it must be very durable

Never needed.

Over 23 years and so on....

you all know what features it has. however, it has no neck through body and therefore sounds different than the gibson les paul. it also different wood and obviously made in japan or korea.
anyway, it is a nice guitar and is definatlely worth it's money. i mean hey, who can afford a proper gibson?

i played the guitar on a pod with the emulation of a mesa boggie amp. i also tried it with a marshall amp.
the style of music you use it on depends on the pickups you use. i got the guitar broken and had to fix it myself (which included adding a new pickup (duncan jb)).

i want to emphasie that it DOES NOT sound like a gibson les paul! that is impossible for that price!!!

the set up is great. my first guitar was a copy of a strat. the electronic sucked! in the les paul everything can be done from the back. that's what i like about les pauls.
however, as i got it used i don't know what it looked like when the guy bought it...

the reliability depends on amp and pickups and only a small part comes from the guitar... however, it looks great. the guy before me played it for ages and i just took it from europe to the states and back...
i think live playing should be possible with it. but i never tried it out with that guitar...
i threrefore don't want to give an oppinion.

never tried it.
apparently good though!

i played for a couple of years now and love this guitar which is because of the design. i played on a gibson les paul which i enjoyed more.
however, gibsons are too expensive and the ibanez is definately worth it's $600 or how much it is...

My Ibanez Les Pauls: '76 Custom (Lawsuit headstock, black with all the bindings, gold parts) &'77 Standard Gold Top (Tulip headstock, nickel parts), both with bolt-on-neck, each with 2 original PAF-like pickups (Super 70's for the Gold Top). Made in Japan, of course.

Picture the corresponding Gibson Les Paul models, and you know pretty exactly what they look like (well, except the bolt-on-necks and the Guild-type 'tulip' headstock on one).

Construction, though, is very different from a Gibson LP: body (could be some sort of mohagony, but with a lot less weight, sandwiched from two parts plus thin layers) and, instead of the maple top a sort-of-archtop made from plywood (birch, I was told). So, there is a cavity under the pickups, and this makes it sort of a hollowbody-guitar. Do not mistake a Bolt-on-Ibanez-LP for a solid body! It is none, and it will never sound like one. Also, the neck is at a flatter angle to the body (more like the 1953 Les Pauls), and the body top is flatter than a Gibson's.

Necks are 3-piece maple with rosewood fretboard. Neck on the 'Custom' is rather flat, with flat frets, fast to play, as you'd expect on a guitar with it's looks. Neck on the Gold Top is more like 50's style Gibson-type (round and rather fat, suits my hands very well) with (what appears to be original) jumbo frets, very nice for bendings. So, these two guitars fell and play very different, while their tone is very close (see that heading).

Well, this is actually why I'm writing all this. A lot of people including the reviewers here on this site are stating that their Ibanez Les Paul Bolt-on-neck-model would sound like (or be close to)a Gibson Les Paul. Owning and playing two of them, and having played 'real' Gibson Les Pauls, I can only state that they DO NOT SOUND AT ALL LIKE A GIBSON LES PAUL (or any other solidbody Les Paul copy made to the original specs). And that's quite understandable, since we are dealing here with two types of guitar which are totally different in their principles of construction (though not in their looks).

It helps to think of the Ibanez Les Paul Bolt-on-neck-model as a small archtop electric guitar with sustain block and very little acoustic resonance, rather comparable to a miniature 'ES-335', but with a bolt-on neck (wich makes it more percussive); or compare it to a Telecaster Thinline with RW-fretboard, good sustain and the looks of a LP-guitar.

Anyway, it has an 'acoustic-electric' feel to it, and that makes it an interesting model of its own right, IMHO. The pickups sound good, not mushy like many humbuckers do, and the overall sound is great.
You can try and get a B.B. King-like sound and feel out of one of those guitars, ...

Anyway, I would really like to use them for my blues-inspired music, but there'S ONE BIG PROBLEM with it, - and I'm very surprised that hardly anyone (including the contributors so far) mentioned it (second reason for my posting this). The problem with these guitars is that they tend to be very microphonic, especially when you use plenty of gain (not necessarily distortion) to overdrive your tube amp. Talking about a TS9 at full 'level' with 'drive' low into a fully turned up 70's Fender. You "just can't do that on stage" with this guitar, you'll get any kind of microphonic feedback.
And that's probably due to the hollowed-out construction of these guitars. So maybe that's why noone makes a similar guitar these days, although it seems otherwise to be well-sounding and economic. First I thought it was just the pickups, so I considered giving them a pot-waxing procedure. But I'm afraid that doesn't resolve the problem. Maybe you'd have to stuff the body cavities with some resonance-dampening material. But would it still sound acoustic-electric after that?
Anyone with an idea how to handle that problem, please write back to me: <montyburns@web.de> Thanks a lot!!!

I believe they are still close to factory setup. Action is great though different on both guitars: low and fast on the Custom, rather high yet smooth on the gold Top, owing to the jumbo frets - which is excellent for bluesy lead guitar, especially with medium gauge strings (.11 or more).
I recommend to adjust the neck pickup very low (away from the strings) to compensate the amount of bass you get in that position, and the bridge pickup in a rather normal distance (much closer to the strings) to help compensate the difference in volume (make it as loud as the neck pickup) and get a tone that is not all too different (more middle tone). You may also want to try the tone pot on this pickup (on the neck pickup, leave it at ten!).

The finish on the 'Custom' is very well executed, while the gold on the 'Gold Top' isn't really quite convincing, compared to its Gibson reference model. The Finish on my 'Gold Top' is quite a bit chipped (i got it that way), while the 'Custom' is still a beauty. Overall quality of materials and workmanship is good, tuners could be better.

Live playing - yes, I see no problem... IF you can handle the microphonic sound (see that heading). I'd like to try them live more often, but I can't really handle that problem at higher volumes!
Otherwise, I see no problem. Tuning stability is OK, may improve with new tuners. Finish will last. Strap buttons are OK. Yes, these are very stable guitars that won't easily fall apart or break (like Gibsons will, if ever you let one fall on its headstock).
Having a backup guitar is always a good idea, but with the soundproblem resolved, I could use one of them without a backup.

These guitars were over 20 years old when I bought them, so I never tried to get in contact with Ibanez. I'd rather recommend 'vintage Ibanez pages' or discussion forum like this one, if you needed information, or just your local guitar repairman, if you needed support.

I've been playing guitar for over 20 years, I own a couple of Strat-type guitars (copies) and one Les Paul (real) copy.

These Ibanez guitars are very affordable, look cool, play very well, are wellcrafted and reliable, and they have a good and unique sound (though not at all Les-Paul-like!), that suits my style of blues-inspired playing. If only I could cope with the microphonic sound problem... For me, it's not a must-have (like a Strat), but a very interesting alternative! Check it out, bluesplayer.
If you have an advice concerning the microphonic problem, please write to me: <montyburns@web.de>!

My Ibanez Les Paul copy was made in 1974. It's cherryburst with white/cream bindings. It has 22 frets and the usual 3-way-switch/2 tone/2 volume controls. The 2 humbuckers are 1974 DiMarzio PAFs. The body is made of what I believe to be mahogany and is in a Les Paul shape. It's slightly smaller and lighter than a Gibson Les Paul. The bridge is a tune-o-matic and the tuners are cheap. I replaced the bridge (plastic saddles) with a Gotoh one and added Schaller straplocks.

I love the way the pickups sound. They are 1974 DiMarzio PAF's and they sound quite different from a 2001 DiMarzio PAF that I also have. It's great for blues and rock. I haven't tried it with metal yet. I cut the wires to the tone controls since I never use them. I love the way you're able to blend the pickups with the seperate volume controls. The ages pickups are great! They sound very warm and full.

I got it secondhand and the setup was bad! I had to change the bridge and set everything up again. I think the previous owner didn't use it much because it looks perfect, while it is already 28 years old! The frets are also still in perfect condition. I don't know if it came set-up like this from the factory or one of the owners has done this to it.

It's very solid! It looks like it can have a beating and still play. I knocked the headstock against the wall while playing and I went like 'oh sh*t!', but nothing happeded, it didn't even go out of tune! I removed the strap buttons and replaced them with Schallers just to be sure.

Never had to use it.

I have been playing a couple of years now and I also have some other guitars. I play this baby through a Boss ME-8 and a Marshall AVT50. I love to play with just a little crunch. It's a great guitar for a price that's unbelievable!

1976, 22 frets, standard les paul style controls and twin humbuckers (ibanez super 70 neck and a vintage dimarzio super distortion bridge) plain maple top, multipiece chambered mahogany body, 3 piece figured maple neck (this really does make for a stronger neck) bolt on, dark sunburst finish, les paul style body, tunomatic bridge-stop tailpiece, cheap covered tuners, 24 3/4 gibson scale rosewood fretboard with trapeziod inlays. included a '56 gibson les paul case.
really could have used better tunsers, a set neck, and better looking inlay material.

good sounding versatile guitar, the bolt maple neck gives it a brighter more open sound than that of my les paul. i am a session palyer and cover all popular styles. the original neck pickup was a typical PAF style humbucker and the dimarzio super distortion bridge pickup is living proof that they don't make things like thay used to. i put a set of dimarzio super2 pickups in it and they really do wonderful things for this guitar (i didn't like these pickups when i tried them in the gibson les paul) with the body hollowed out to reduce weight and the bolt on neck this guitar sounds more like a really fat thinline tele than a les paul.

couldn't tell you about the factory setup. there is some major finish checking on the top and there are scratched and chips all over. the guitar needed a good fret dressing and a new nut. i replaced that tuners with a set of sperzel lockers, and as mentioned above replaced the pickups. i replaced all of the pots and the pickup switch when i did the pickups. the bridge was oxidized somewhat and needed a good cleaning, she may not look pretty, but she sounds fantastic and plays like a dream. the guitar is 100% better now than when i got it. i gave rating of 5 for the cheap tuners. on a vintage guitar with some replacement parts its impossible to judge anything else

this guitar has gone to several gigs without trouble. this guitar has lasted a good long time already and with a little fix-up has become one of my main guitars. i am expecting this one to be around for a long time.

contacted ibanez to get info on the guitar, they were nice about it and directed me to a website dedicated to vintage ibanez guitars where i found the info i was looking for.

been playing for 7 years, oan lots of equipment, but mainly use a '91 gibson les paul with duncan jb/custom pickups, the ibanez, a couple of strats i put together, a mesa nomad55, and and a silverface fender champ. this is a guitar i would replace if ever lost and am on the lookout for more of these guitars. i also work as a pro tech so fixing this one up was no problum to me, but if you are inexperienced with this kind of stuff it can get really expensive to have this kind of work done. if you want one of these guitars its probably best to find one in playable condition than mess around with guitars that have been used and abused like this one had. i would recomend this for amyone looking for something with its oan different feel, sound, and vibe.

it was made in 1976 in japan,22 frets,black top.2 volume,2tone and tree-way switch,2 handbuckers ibanez super 70

it hase a great sound for rock,blues,jazz it hase a fat sound on the neck pik up and a cruncy on the bridge it hase a great clean and a mighty overdriven sound

it was set up perfectly

durabiliti is great gitar was 25 years old and still looks prety good
i change only the freats a tree years ago.

i bought tis gitar 97

My Les Paul copy is a 1973 Sunburst type 2351. I bought it in 1975 from my guitarteacher, who was selling it on behalf of somebody else. I paid $250 which was a lot of money to me (then 17 years old) at those days! It has a alnico style humbucker at the neck position, and it used to have some kind of a zebra styled hunbucker at the bridge position. Later I changed that one for a Dimarzio superdistortion, to obtain a fatter sound. Although a little plate on the head says 'custom' it is not a real Gibson custom copy, because it has only one binding. Well, so what! I put on schallers, to keep it tuned. All the original parts are lost. To me it was the best I could buy at those days and I never regretted it.

At the seventies I used it for a rock cover band. It suited ok to the music. Today I also owe the real thing, a Gibson Les Paul. Compared to this one the Ibanez is a different guitar, less weight and also less sustain. But still rockin' like hell! I like the neck which is not so fat as a Gibson. The weight is much more comfortable, alsmost half.

I never adjusted the neck and it has still an execellent action. I plays very easy.

I owe this guitar for 26 years now, and it never let me down.

Never needed it.

Next to the Ibanez I also owe a Fender USA Telecaster, Stratocaster, Gibson LP and a Gibson SG with p90. And a Ibanez EB3 copy bassguitar which is my other vintage Ibanez. The Ibanez Les Paul fits excactly between the Fenders and the Gibsons. And, it is still the greatest love of a 17 year old boy....

1976 Ibanez Les Paul Custom Copy.
Made in Japan.
22 1/2 Frets.
Solid Top?
2 Tone, 2 Volume, 3 Way Toggle.
2 Humbucker Pickups (Pickups are from 25th anniversary Gibson Firebird, but I still have the originals.)
Not sure of wood type (very solid)
Finish is a beautiful cream finish. (Looks Exactly like Randy Rhoads' Cream Les Paul!!!!! very sweet!!)
string-thru tail piece + adjustable bridge.
All original gold hardware.
Nice fat neck! (I have large hands)

This guitar sounded great with the original equipment. Sounds even better with the gibson 25th anniversary firebird pickups!!!
I play through a gallian-krugar ML-250 amp and a Digitech RP-3 Multi-effects pedal.
This baby absolutly screams!!! Great sound from metal,punk,blues... you name it!!
I am only the second owner. The day I first saw it I absolutly fell in love!! I am a huge Randy Rhoads fan and it looks exactly like his cream Les Paul. The first time I played it it just melted right into my hands, I had to have it!!!

Since I am the second (and last!) owner of this guitar, I do not know how it was set up from the factory.
I love the fact that it weighs less than a Les Paul. The action is outstanding and low!!!
Had to "rebuild" the original nut (high e slot)by filing down part of another nut, mixing the filings w/ some super glue, and re-filling the original slot then re-fileing the slot to the same width. I know it sounds crazy, but it worked great and it kept all equipment original except for pickups!!!
Paint is original and near flawless. even still has origial"custom" nut cover.
This guitar is an absolute beauty!!!!

This is my favorite and most reliable of all my electrics. In the 10 years I have owned this guitar it has never let me down!!! I could go to a gig with this guitar alone and have no worries!!!

The only question I would ever have for Ibanez is... Where can I get another one!!!!

I have been playing for around 15 years. I have owned kramers, epiphones and several others too numerous to mention. This is my "Baby"!! If not for my wife it would be my one true love. I can't even think about "if it were stolen or lost" I'd cry my eyes out!!