Anyone seen a guitar like this before? What is it?

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shwappler
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Anyone seen a guitar like this before? What is it?

Post by shwappler » Fri May 06, 2016 6:52 am

This was my father`s guitar he used to play 25 years ago and i was wondering what`s up with it...is it rare? fake? replica?
I think it dates back from the 80's but i`m not sure nor is my father (he got it from an old friend).
Most likely its not a boss guitar but it still sounds great even today. I was wondering if anyone knows anything about the body type...have never seen a body like this (except the mockingbird that seems similar to it). How much would it cost to restore it entirely?
PS: Sorry if i post this in the wrong place.

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Re: Anyone seen a guitar like this before? What is it?

Post by countertext » Fri May 06, 2016 7:24 am

I've never heard of Boss-branded guitars before. That is a copy of a 1980s guitar - I can't remember whose design it is, maybe Ibanez or Jackson? - and the hardware suggests that it is Japanese or Korean. From the look of it, it would have been very inexpensive and not of particularly high quality.

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Re: Anyone seen a guitar like this before? What is it?

Post by countertext » Fri May 06, 2016 7:39 am

It's a copy of an Ibanez XV500. The Ibanez is from 1985, so it's reasonable to assume that your guitar was made soon after that.

Edit to add: I suspect "restoring" it is not really the right angle to take. If it were mine, I would clean it as thoroughly as possible, inside and out, replace that tuner, and give it a good setup. If it sounds and feels good, why make any changes?

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Re: Anyone seen a guitar like this before? What is it?

Post by shwappler » Fri May 06, 2016 7:51 am

countertext wrote:It's a copy of an Ibanez XV500. The Ibanez is from 1985, so it's reasonable to assume that your guitar was made soon after that.
Thank you very much ! I couldn't find this myself. Is it worth restoring just for personal use? or just money thrown on the window? I don't seem to find this body on any other guitars to buy a new one and i really love this shape.

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Re: Anyone seen a guitar like this before? What is it?

Post by countertext » Fri May 06, 2016 7:57 am

shwappler wrote:
countertext wrote:It's a copy of an Ibanez XV500. The Ibanez is from 1985, so it's reasonable to assume that your guitar was made soon after that.
Thank you very much ! I couldn't find this myself. Is it worth restoring just for personal use? or just money thrown on the window? I don't seem to find this body on any other guitars to buy a new one and i really love this shape.
Cleaning it up and putting new strings on it costs almost nothing. A replacement tuner would also be just a few bucks. It is definitely not a valuable guitar, marketwise, but it is surely pretty rare, so I would have it set up and then play it proudly. Better yet, go online and learn about setting up guitars yourself, and that's even less money you have to spend.

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Re: Anyone seen a guitar like this before? What is it?

Post by shwappler » Fri May 06, 2016 8:16 am

The thing is that some of its frets are broken so you can`t play up too high on the neck...and that`s out of my reach to repair or replace. The insides i can work out i have all the tools i need . As for the rest i can`t do much apart from cleaning, string replacement, and a few touches here and there.

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Re: Anyone seen a guitar like this before? What is it?

Post by countertext » Fri May 06, 2016 10:02 am

shwappler wrote:The thing is that some of its frets are broken so you can`t play up too high on the neck...and that`s out of my reach to repair or replace.
That weird! I wonder what happened to it... Still, if the rest of the neck is okay, clean it up and start rockin'! Maybe you could save up a little money and have the damaged frets replaced later.

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Re: Anyone seen a guitar like this before? What is it?

Post by shwappler » Fri May 06, 2016 10:13 am

Well...played 20 years by my father is what happened to it...still sounds great . Haven`t seen a replica like this before..its super durable and well made it seems.

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Re: Anyone seen a guitar like this before? What is it?

Post by Zork » Fri May 06, 2016 2:25 pm

My guess would be it's some cheap japanese guitar from the 60s or 70s like this...
Image
...with a probably homemade replacement body and a boss sticker.

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Re: Anyone seen a guitar like this before? What is it?

Post by mgeek » Sun May 08, 2016 1:10 pm

This thing is brilliant! I love it...the combo of the weird 80s shape but sixties looking hardware

Fretwork isn't that tough if you go slow and have a bit of patience. Well worth doing it yourself

What country are you in?

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Re: Anyone seen a guitar like this before? What is it?

Post by El Pelo » Thu May 19, 2016 4:55 am

I wonder if that was the original shape or if someone cut it like that?

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Re: Anyone seen a guitar like this before? What is it?

Post by countertext » Thu May 19, 2016 5:45 am

El Pelo wrote:I wonder if that was the original shape or if someone cut it like that?
The neck, pickguard, and hardware probably came from a guitar like the one Zork posted above. Maybe it's a homemade body.

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Re: Anyone seen a guitar like this before? What is it?

Post by Soselo » Mon May 23, 2016 7:47 am

Headstock looks like late '80s-to-modern Ibanez, which is strange considering the rest of it. This thing is extremely cool. Definitely get it playing but I wouldn't change much. One of a kind.

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Re: Anyone seen a guitar like this before? What is it?

Post by mgeek » Mon May 23, 2016 12:28 pm

OP seems to have gone a bit quiet, but the reason I asked about the country is that this is just giving off total 'only sold in Hungary/South Korea/Argentina or somewhere' sorta vibes to me, rather than being a guitar made by a big company and widely available across the world...would love to get confirmation or denial of that theory ;) -it doesn't look modified to me, bar the boss sticker

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