Grand Wazoo Posted August 15, 2013 Share Posted August 15, 2013 (edited) This is a true blast from the past, I've found a very similar Ibanez Roadstar II P/J bass to the one I used to have 30+ years ago, it's all original and in pretty decent conditions for the age. (Oh and it was reasonably priced too) [url="http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/251318762388?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1423.l2649"]http://www.ebay.co.u...984.m1423.l2649[/url] Edited August 16, 2013 by Grand Wazoo Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MisterFingers Posted August 16, 2013 Share Posted August 16, 2013 A good looking bass for sure - have you got it yet? Play ok? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gary mac Posted August 16, 2013 Share Posted August 16, 2013 Handsome, love the tuners. Enjoy your pressie Fran. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paul h Posted August 16, 2013 Share Posted August 16, 2013 Gorgeous. I would have killed for one of those back in the day. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grand Wazoo Posted August 16, 2013 Author Share Posted August 16, 2013 [quote name='MisterFingers' timestamp='1376641249' post='2177116'] A good looking bass for sure - have you got it yet? Play ok? [/quote] Hasn't arrived yet, I've only just bought it yesterday, the dealer said he has a return policy that in case of any obscure problems like a tussrod that won't work or a badly warped neck, he will issue a full refund once I return it to him. I'll report on it when I get and hopefully send a few more pics. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cosmo Valdemar Posted August 16, 2013 Share Posted August 16, 2013 Love it. Looks just like my Blazer, same colour and everything. Just with an extra pickup. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grand Wazoo Posted August 21, 2013 Author Share Posted August 21, 2013 (edited) So... the bass arrived yesterday at work and barely had time to look at it in my lunch break, I could immediately tell that it was a good'n despited the condition it came in which I thought was nothing threathening after I had a go at it, basically it was as if it had never seen a polishing cloth for over 20 years, it had grime all over and especially on the fretboard, where il looked like either sweat or dried up spit was all over it, it came with flatwound strings so my initial hard on excitement made my willy shrink immediately back into dorment position (lol) still I though wait till I get you home.... the bridge was filthy with grime, sweat, gunk, dust and probably pubic hair all over it, the thing was in a real state, why would people keep basses in these condition is beyond me. So I got it home and put on some surgical gloves as I didn't want to touch that sh|te and got to work on it with all my tools and cleaning material. Off came the offending flatwound strings and I removed the bridge, the saddles and soaked the lot in WD40, then brushed it clean. I had to lift the pickups off the body to clean properly around them, removed the scratchplate and cleaned all the cavities, removed the neck and inspected the pocket and cleaned off the grime and gunk from it, removed and refit the machine heads after soaking them in wd40, and about 2 hours later I refitted the bridge, the saddles and everything else, I slapped some proper roundwound strings on it, plugged it in and it sounded huge!, lots of harmonics, deep and warm sound from the P style pickup, not too fond of the J pickup solo but used in combination with the P sounded sweet. The intonation was all over the shop so I have adjusted the saddle intonation, straightened the trussrod and by the time I got to bed that bass sounded and played a million dollars. I love the fact that the neck is more of a Jazz narrow type but at the same time while it's narrow by the nut it is also very chunky and beefy at the back, a very solid neck overall and the trussrod works perfectly. When I got it it looked as it had been fished out from the bottom of a lake so I feared that the trussrod might have been difficult to barge but luckily all worked ok. It's a passive bass and it is well screened so there are no hum nor buzz when plugged it, which goes to show that manufacturing quality of these earlier Japanese basses was second to none, I have cheked on the Ibanez guru website by entering the serial number and the result read the following: [i][b]Your guitar was made at the Terada Plant, Japan March 1984, Production Number: 4111[/b][/i] So here are the pics I just took this morning in daylight, after having cleaned it properly, look how nice it looks now, should have seen it earlier.... [url="http://www.flickr.com/photos/fcamardo_night_time_photography/9558968387/"][/url] [url="http://www.flickr.com/photos/fcamardo_night_time_photography/9558968387/"]Ibanez 1984 Roadster II Bass[/url] by [url="http://www.flickr.com/people/fcamardo_night_time_photography/"]F. Camardo Photography™ © 2013[/url], on Flickr [url="http://www.flickr.com/photos/fcamardo_night_time_photography/9561761278/"][/url] [url="http://www.flickr.com/photos/fcamardo_night_time_photography/9561761278/"]Ibanez 1984 Roadster II Bass[/url] by [url="http://www.flickr.com/people/fcamardo_night_time_photography/"]F. Camardo Photography™ © 2013[/url], on Flickr [url="http://www.flickr.com/photos/fcamardo_night_time_photography/9561763870/"][/url] [url="http://www.flickr.com/photos/fcamardo_night_time_photography/9561763870/"]Ibanez 1984 Roadster II Bass[/url] by [url="http://www.flickr.com/people/fcamardo_night_time_photography/"]F. Camardo Photography™ © 2013[/url], on Flickr [url="http://www.flickr.com/photos/fcamardo_night_time_photography/9558976157/"][/url] [url="http://www.flickr.com/photos/fcamardo_night_time_photography/9558976157/"]Ibanez 1984 Roadster II Bass[/url] by [url="http://www.flickr.com/people/fcamardo_night_time_photography/"]F. Camardo Photography™ © 2013[/url], on Flickr [url="http://www.flickr.com/photos/fcamardo_night_time_photography/9558978663/"][/url] [url="http://www.flickr.com/photos/fcamardo_night_time_photography/9558978663/"]Ibanez 1984 Roadster II Bass[/url] by [url="http://www.flickr.com/people/fcamardo_night_time_photography/"]F. Camardo Photography™ © 2013[/url], on Flickr [url="http://www.flickr.com/photos/fcamardo_night_time_photography/9558981631/"][/url] [url="http://www.flickr.com/photos/fcamardo_night_time_photography/9558981631/"]Ibanez 1984 Roadster II Bass[/url] by [url="http://www.flickr.com/people/fcamardo_night_time_photography/"]F. Camardo Photography™ © 2013[/url], on Flickr [url="http://www.flickr.com/photos/fcamardo_night_time_photography/9558984161/"][/url] [url="http://www.flickr.com/photos/fcamardo_night_time_photography/9558984161/"]Ibanez 1984 Roadster II Bass[/url] by [url="http://www.flickr.com/people/fcamardo_night_time_photography/"]F. Camardo Photography™ © 2013[/url], on Flickr [url="http://www.flickr.com/photos/fcamardo_night_time_photography/9558986865/"][/url] [url="http://www.flickr.com/photos/fcamardo_night_time_photography/9558986865/"]Ibanez 1984 Roadster II Bass[/url] by [url="http://www.flickr.com/people/fcamardo_night_time_photography/"]F. Camardo Photography™ © 2013[/url], on Flickr [url="http://www.flickr.com/photos/fcamardo_night_time_photography/9558989345/"][/url] [url="http://www.flickr.com/photos/fcamardo_night_time_photography/9558989345/"]Ibanez 1984 Roadster II Bass[/url] by [url="http://www.flickr.com/people/fcamardo_night_time_photography/"]F. Camardo Photography™ © 2013[/url], on Flickr Edited August 21, 2013 by Grand Wazoo Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gary mac Posted August 21, 2013 Share Posted August 21, 2013 That's looking great Fran. Excellent work Sir Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
swanbrook Posted August 21, 2013 Share Posted August 21, 2013 Super cool ! Love the tuners !! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Urban Bassman Posted August 21, 2013 Share Posted August 21, 2013 Good job on the clean up Sir! Great looking bass. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grayn Posted August 21, 2013 Share Posted August 21, 2013 Gorgeous bass and well done for recovering it from the Clampets. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bassman Sam Posted August 21, 2013 Share Posted August 21, 2013 That looks like new Fran, sweet. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mr zed Posted August 21, 2013 Share Posted August 21, 2013 Looks stunning - now you need to get to work on your garden bench Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Horizontalste Posted August 21, 2013 Share Posted August 21, 2013 Looks great, what a transformation. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Truckstop Posted August 21, 2013 Share Posted August 21, 2013 Gorgeous! I miss myBlazers Truckstop Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
megallica Posted August 21, 2013 Share Posted August 21, 2013 Love it, was tempted to bid on this too but a lack of funds meant I had to give it a miss. Great job on the clean up, out of curiousity is the nut width 40mm like the other Roadstars I've played? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grand Wazoo Posted August 22, 2013 Author Share Posted August 22, 2013 (edited) [quote name='megallica' timestamp='1377121814' post='2183782'] Love it, was tempted to bid on this too but a lack of funds meant I had to give it a miss. Great job on the clean up, out of curiousity is the nut width 40mm like the other Roadstars I've played? [/quote] Yes I have just measured it today to add it to my worksheet (see below) The nut is 40mm which is in between a Jazz 38.1mm and a Precision at 41.3mm The body is Basswood and Birch, and it weighs 4.17kg / 9.19lbs which is a comfortable weight, nothing will beat the 7.6lbs that my Dingwall ABZ5 weighs but you really don't notice the difference I've found the spec page on the net at this link: [url="http://www.ibanezrules.com/catalogs/us/1984/roadstar2/p06.jpg"]http://www.ibanezrul...adstar2/p06.jpg[/url] [url="http://s144.photobucket.com/user/xt660/media/BassFactfile_zps1058a18d.jpg.html"][/url] Edited August 22, 2013 by Grand Wazoo Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
megallica Posted August 22, 2013 Share Posted August 22, 2013 (edited) [quote name='Grand Wazoo' timestamp='1377140882' post='2183900'] Yes I have just measured it today to add it to my worksheet (see below) The nut is 40mm which is in between a Jazz 38.1mm and a Precision at 41.3mm The body is Basswood and Birch, and it weighs 4.17kg / 9.19lbs which is a comfortable weight, nothing will beat the 7.6lbs that my Dingwall ABZ5 weighs but you really don't notice the difference I've found the spec page on the net at this link: [url="http://www.ibanezrules.com/catalogs/us/1984/roadstar2/p06.jpg"]http://www.ibanezrul...adstar2/p06.jpg[/url] [url="http://s144.photobucket.com/user/xt660/media/BassFactfile_zps1058a18d.jpg.html"][/url] [/quote] That's one of the many things I like about Roadstars, they are somewhere in between P and J neck dimensions. The Roadster neck feels more Precision like it's still 40mm but it has a deeper profile. Edited August 22, 2013 by megallica Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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