Jarock Bass (Ibanez Blazer)info

[Lorrainian]

Hi all

I have just purchased an late 70’s/early 80’s Jarock bass , the only info I can find is that they were made in the Ibanez factory -Japan 

any info on this would be very much appreciated including value

Thanks in advance

[Munurmunuh]

I found this post from 11 years ago

[Reggaebass]

Cool bass, there’s a few references to it on google, some are saying it’s pink shimmer 

[Maude]

I've seen that, or a bass just like it, in the last couple of weeks, but I don't where... or I've dreamt it up. 

I'm sure I remember the super cool pink sparkle. 

Very nice. 🙂👍

[Bassassin]

I believe this particular bass might have been discussed recently elsewhere on t''web, where I already said stuff about it, some of which I'll repeat for the interested. And the unconvinced.

This is part of a curious sub-genre of 80s MIJ instruments which is 'Japanese copies of Japanese originals'. It's not a Blazer, but a lower budget copy of a Blazer from a different factory. Not 100% clear which particular factory, but it's absolutely not made by Fujigen, which was the manufacturer of 70s & 80s Ibanez, including the Blazers.

These basses (and the guitar versions) appear branded Jarock, Madeira (sub-brand of Guild) and Oakland. The Oakland brand is thought to be connected to the Kiso (Nagano) Suzuki factory therefore it's speculated that these were made by Kiso, rather than Chushin Gakki, as the MIJ community had previously assumed.

These seem to be decent basses but are unlikely to be of the same quality as the Ibanez original - they feature generic closed-back tuners, not the Gotoh GB-1-based 'Hercules' units used on Blazers, the bridge is a standard BBOT type rather than the cast, heavy duty Blazer units, pickup is not the 'Super P-4' DiMarzio clone used by Ibanez, and I'd suspect the solid finish (also available in sparkly red & blue!) conceals a ply body, rather than the solid ash/sen used by Ibanez.

So, value-wise it depends. At a guess an original Ibanez Blazer will probably sell for about £350 - £450 these days, so this, being a budget Ibby copy, should realistically be a bit less, if I was sticking it on Ebay with a no-reserve auction I'd hope for maybe £200 - £250. Assuming I was being clear about exactly what it was - and what it wasn't.