Devon8822 - Posted - 12/08/2011:  22:38:54

I just won this banjo on ebay, its an Ibanez from the late 70s, but I cannot figure out which model it is. I took a look at some old ibanez catalogs and it seems to be a little be different than any of the ones listed. The inlays and headstock inlays seem to be a bit different on this one. Can anybody help me out in identifying it? I figure its a higher end Ibanez because all of the other higher end Ibanez have fancier inlays. Any thoughts would be appreciated! Also, this is my first banjo, I am a guitarist who has wanted to pick up banjo for a long time. 



Ibanez catalog: ibanezwiki.com/display/CATALOG...st+Banjos



ebay.com/itm/200681351186?ssPa...00wt_1413

Edited by - Devon8822 on 12/08/2011 22:40:01

Norwegianplayer - Posted - 12/09/2011:  00:01:55

Looks like you got nice Ibanez! Some of theese Ibanez, Aria, and Kasuga japanese banjos (and guitars) came with very fancy inlays. They just called it "custom" in addition to their names.
My japanese Fender Leo is also a bit different in the inlays than catalogephotos.
That's the best I can figure. Maybe there are some other BHO members that know more. Anyway, theese banjos can, with a decent setup, sound very good

banjonz - Posted - 12/09/2011:  00:30:20

Hi Devon, welcome to the Hangout.. What you have is a post 70's 'Mountaineer' Model BJ350G (gold)... see link and scroll down.

noahjames.com/vintagepage/banjo.html

Although this model appears in the 1977 catalogue, you will see a design departure from the standard Gibson 'clones'  (called 'Masterclones) on this and the 'Hunter' models. I think this was because of pressure from Gibson and the threat of legal action ( although Gibson never patented any of their 'designs). I could be wrong about this though. These banjos were well made for the money and these as well as the 'Artist' models do come up from time to time on Ebay.

gradelyduck - Posted - 12/09/2011:  03:48:16

ebay.com/itm/200681351186?ssPa...00wt_1413

Looks like a cracker

Dr Ralph - Posted - 12/09/2011:  04:20:40

Theres a little bit of info here

hawthorne.fastie.com/asianbanjos/hk.htm

Good luck

SaggyBottom - Posted - 12/09/2011:  06:49:40

I have a Ibanez "Hunter" model from the same era. These are really nice banjos! Yours is much prettier than mine

kmwaters - Posted - 12/09/2011:  09:03:30

You done your mama proud!!

Fathand - Posted - 12/09/2011:  12:16:43

My first "real" banjo was an Ibanez artist, very similar to that except mine was a wreath inlay. You will enjoy it

dmiller - Posted - 12/09/2011:  12:32:08

Hey there Devon - - - Congrats!  Some of those old Japanese banjos from the 1970's,

sound a heck-uv-a-lot-better than you'd expect.  I should know - - - I have one too.

Mine's a 1974 GTR (made by Iida) that sounds almost as good as my 1962 Gibson.

Good luck with being a guitarist learning banjo.  Banjos are a ton of fun.

For the price you paid - - I'd say that's one good "first banjo".  

It's certainly better than my first banjo!    

Edited by - Lynne on 12/11/2011 08:22:30

grh2010 - Posted - 12/09/2011:  22:28:27

I was on it too and backed off at a certian price point, but you got an interesting piece at a good price.

picknsmile - Posted - 12/10/2011:  21:28:43

Now girls, let's not be that way!

picknsmile - Posted - 12/11/2011:  14:14:23

To clarify things for posterity, the preceding comment was made in response to an offensive bit of bickering. Those two posts were removed by the site overseers. That left my above comment being pointless and, clearly, idiotic sounding.

SaggyBottom - Posted - 12/12/2011:  06:34:03

Hey Devon-sorry to hi-jack your thread with my failed bit of sarcasm. Also apologize to anyone who thought I was serious. Here is an interesting pdf regarding Ibanez banjos from Stanger thought you might like to read it. It's a response I got after I bought my Hunter Ibanez.

Ibanez

Devon8822 - Posted - 12/13/2011:  13:48:44

Thanks for the info guys! I must have missed the "rude" posts, i never saw them.

Gradelyduck, what do you mean by "looks like a cracker"?


Banjonz, that "mountaineer" you pointed out definitely appears to have the same neck and inlays as mine, but the rest of it does look the same. Mine is not gold and it has a light finished maple back, hmmmm.

Devon8822 - Posted - 12/13/2011:  14:06:53

Did a bit of reading, and research. Thanks for that link SaggyBottom.

I think that my banjo might be a transitional year because it has features of both the 1977 catalog Artists, and features from the banjo series re-hash, in 1979. I looked up the serial number and mine is from 78 which fits nicely between those two years.

stanger - Posted - 12/13/2011:  19:34:24

Hi, Devon...
I'm the guy who had that email conversation with Jack (Soggybottom).

The Mountaineer was kind of an exercise in schizophrenia for Ibanez. They commissioned me to design the banjo that is seen on the cover of the 79 catalog and is seen at the bottom of those pics on Noah James vintage Ibanez site, but to my best knowledge, mine never entered production.

Apparently, at the same time I was working up a design, someone at Ibanez was doing the same, and that's the banjo seen in the ebay link you provided. Both of them ended up being called the Mountaineer. The one on ebay is blonde, which is rare for the model- my prototype is also blonde, but almost all of them were stained dark.

I got the prototype as payment for my design; I specified gold parts on it, but left the binding, purfling and other trim to them. My design features a stylized flower pot on the peghead- something Ibanez had never done, and for some unknown reason, they thought the pot needed a doo-dad, and carved a curlicue leaf into the pot on the flower pot inlay.

They're good banjos. I designed an earlier one, a Bi-Centennial model, for them in '75, and it was my main performance banjo for the next 35 years. It had a piezo pickup on it for all those years, and it was amped most of the time. While it's retired these days, it's still one of the most stable and durable banjos I have ever owned, has wonderful action, and it's fret spacing is as good as it gets. It sounds fine acoustically, but has a somewhat less complex tone than some of the other top-quality banjos I own. As a performance instrument, it was simply very hard to beat.

I have a picture of it on my home page.
regards,
stanger

gradelyduck - Posted - 12/15/2011:  01:00:43

quote:

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Originally posted by Devon8822

Thanks for the info guys! I must have missed the "rude" posts, i never saw them.



Gradelyduck, what do you mean by "looks like a cracker"?





Banjonz, that "mountaineer" you pointed out definitely appears to have the same neck and inlays as mine, but the rest of it does look the same. Mine is not gold and it has a light finished maple back, hmmmm.

 

A bit late replying but.. A cracker is a bit of all right, a nice piece or a humdinger if you like.

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