Here's one you don't see every day! For sale in my home country:
https://www.trademe.co.nz/Browse/Lis...?id=3096506571
Looks nice. 1 x $NZ = 1.5 $US
Can't seem to find any info on line about this model. Is it all solid wood?
Bazz.
Here's one you don't see every day! For sale in my home country:
https://www.trademe.co.nz/Browse/Lis...?id=3096506571
Looks nice. 1 x $NZ = 1.5 $US
Can't seem to find any info on line about this model. Is it all solid wood?
Bazz.
Last edited by Bazz Jass; May-17-2021 at 7:12pm.
One of the members here has the Ibanez catalogues, so he may be able to answer your question.
Doubt it’s all that rare although maybe in NZ. If that’s the original case, it’s probably late 70s. If you’ve the time to wade through tha catalogues (dogalogues?) you’ll find them here - http://s93105080.onlinehome.us/Ibanez-Catalogs/
It looks like is one: http://s93105080.onlinehome.us/Ibane.../1976-6/04.jpg
Yes, a 525. Found the same catalogue image online.
It certainly is rare if you're googling Ibanez model 525! Not a bean of a review or any sort of opinion. I had to search hard (just by searching for 70s Ibanez catalogues) to find that one image.
Try and find another image of a 525. Apart from that one catalogue image. There's nothing out there... Maybe super unpopular??
My friend is looking for a nice mando, and lives locally to the seller. I think it might be worth $US1000? All solid carved...
Just because you consider it to be “rare” doesn’t mean that it’s worth a small fortune. I have a 524 - you’ll find it in the same 1976 catalogue - they weren’t particularly cheap in their day - I think, with a bit of trading, it cost me something like £300 and, for comparison, a couple of years earlier I’d paid £190 for a new Martin guitar. They were heavily built and finished although their sound was probably not much worse than the eqivalent Gibson models of the time. Today, the Gibsons from that period are probably the most unpopular and seem to sell based purely on the name on the headstock rather than for their sound.
“F” models of any period tend to make more money that the equivalent “A” models and I certainly wouldn’t expect to get more than £700 or £800 for mine. The simple fact is that you can probably get a better sounding and new mandolin for much the same price.
Good advice. Will be good to pass all this on to my friend. In reality, here in New Zealand we are limited to one or two low-end F mandolins at best (never all solid), so it's not much fun shopping. My friend is very musical, and will be trying the mandolin this week. He won't buy it if it's terrible I'm sure.
Not many oval-hole F-model mandolins being made in the recent past, so I would consider this one somewhat "rare." If you're right about the exchange rate, though, I'd hesitate to pay $1350 US for it.
Allen Hopkins
Gibsn: '54 F5 3pt F2 A-N Custm K1 m'cello
Natl Triolian Dobro mando
Victoria b-back Merrill alumnm b-back
H-O mandolinetto
Stradolin Vega banjolin
Sobell'dola Washburn b-back'dola
Eastmn: 615'dola 805 m'cello
Flatiron 3K OM
Bazz wrote:
"I think it's likely to sell for around $US800."
That would be way overpriced for what one receives in return.
These really weren't that good...
I keep looking at the prices for this and thinking they are really generous but I don't live in the country where it's located.
"It's comparable to playing a cheese slicer."
--M. Stillion
"Bargain instruments are no bargains if you can't play them"
--J. Garber
I think it is in fact rare. Very few of the F4 style were kicking around then. Yes they were in the catalogs but certainly in the UK I doubt I ever saw an oval hole F style. $800 would not seem out of place, even if it was a pressed top etc. I never found the Ibanez Fs very loud at all but they looked pretty and many a one was bought on their looks.
I bought my 524 because it was the best instrument I could find at the time - there wasn’t that much around back in those days. A few people seemed to share my view. A couple of people I knew had them; even Dave Pegg turned up with one. Given the choice, I wouldn’t buy one today, there are better options. I haven’t played mine for nearly 20 years.
Rare doesn't automatically equate to more valuable unfortunately. There's generally a reason they didn't make or sell more of them.
"It's comparable to playing a cheese slicer."
--M. Stillion
"Bargain instruments are no bargains if you can't play them"
--J. Garber
QI completely agree that anything’s rarity is in direct relativity to its desire and prospective audience. If there were ten gazillion of these things out there and five gazillion people wanted one the rarity is nil. Since there are (maybe) 2000 of them and they are apparently in the hands of folks that like them consequently not coming to market very often there is a certain amount of rarity there. Whether that makes them really valuable is another story.
Timothy F. Lewis
"If brains was lard, that boy couldn't grease a very big skillet" J.D. Clampett
"The paths of experimentation twist and turn through mountains of miscalculations, and often lose themselves in error and darkness!"
--Leslie Daniel, "The Brain That Wouldn't Die."
Some tunes: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCa1...SV2qtug/videos
Hi, I purchased this mandolin and am very happy with it. I have been interested in these Ibanez 1970's mandolins from 3 friends purchasing examples then. 2 of these were good but one was a bit dead. The one I have is quite loud with a good punch. The finish as with all Ibanez instruments from this time is a bit too heavy. These mandolins are well made and solid but I have always wondered if stripping of the factory finish and replacing it with something more suttle. I did this to my Ibanez banjo from the same vintage and have preferred this to the original.
To get the mandolin set up the way I prefer it I have lowered the action and worked on the bridge to correct the intonation on the A strings. Now it plays well and is comfortable
I remember buying my 524 quite well - it was 1976. I was talking to a friend who worked in the local music shop and asked him if he ever had any decent mandolins in. “As it happens” he said “we’ve just got this one in” and produced this black case from beneath the counter. I opened the case to discover that nobody had ever bothered to tune the thing so I sat down to try it. As I got it up to pitch, it was clear that it had been put together by somebody who knew what they were doing - the action and intonation were perfect and I don’t remember ever touching it until I stopped playing it in 2002. Strangely, it doesn’t have a serial number so I’ve always assumed it was possibly an early prototype.
That said, it is too heavily built and finished and consequently lacks volume. Personally, given the alternatives available nowadays, I wouldn’t bother trying to improve it’s sound. The other thing to bear in mind is that the Ibanez mandolins from this period tend to suffer from binding rot and I’ve seen cases where the celuloid headstock veneer had also deteriorated - the pickguard started to deteriorate on mine quite some time ago.
If you like them, fair enough but, for me, I’ve moved on and have better instruments to play. I very much doubt that stripping the finish on a banjo would do anything to its sound!
Refinishing my Ibanez banjo wasn't done for the sound. The dipped in plastic finish just annoyed me. At the time I was playing this Ibanez 5 string and a Washburn tenor in a professional Irish music pub band 5 to 7 nights per week so to make myself happy I refinished it as the original finish annoyed me. I purchased this banjo new in 1976 and still have it. I have improved it over the years. In the early 1980's because I had a friend working in a foundry I had a new bronze tone ring cast and replaced the original die cast tone ring. If you hold the original on one finger and give it a tap, the sound it makes is clunk. Do the same with the bronze one, you get a nice ringing sound. The customized banjo tone reflects this. The Ibanez banjo is well made, it has great bones. I didn't buy it as an investment but to play it, I prefer my evolved version and will keep it until I die.
I will leave the Ibanez mandolin as I like it as is. I have a 1918 Gibson A that I like as well. I have always liked old Gibson A's for Celtic music. I like the sound and play-ability of the Gibson also the Ibanez also I value that they are also different. The mandolin I recently purchased that has surprised me the most is an early 1990's Chinese manufacture Washburn. It has the warmth of my Gibson with more power and volume, nice thin antique finish, and not too heavily built. But when you look at if, the Gibson was made 100 years ago, in the USA, from good materials, by good craftsmen. who probably were not paid that well considering their skill. The Washburn, made recently in China, from good materials, by skilled craftsmen because the manufacturer does not have to pay them that well. There is a lot of skilled labor that goes into making a good F5 style mandolin.
Locally there is another 80's Washburn up for auction. I don't need to buy another one but I will keep an eye on the price if it sells. There is a limited market for mandolins here in NZ so some go quite cheaply. I purchases my old Gibson for a great price. The seller had lined up an old Gibson F4 and need a quick sale. At the price I paid for My Gibson A I could not pass it up. If the Washburn does not sell and the price drops enough I might purchase it and play around with re-finishing and seeing what can be done with it, as with all these Asian mandolins it will be well made solid, a bit too heavily constructed with a liquid plastic finish.
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