How to tell a fake Ibanez or a real Ibanez??

[wanhansen]

Hey fellow guitarist..

I'm abit worried with my recent Ibanez RG370B i bought recently from a fellow softy..Firstly,i never heard of that model,and i did googled to gather more specs about that guitar,unfortunately,after i bought it..And not much review about it,infact,i can only find two picture of it..and also,i did research on how to spot a fakie,and mostly people around the world talking about fake Jem,but,what disappoint me is the serial number and the "made in korea" thingy really matches my guitar..my serial number is C03037912..and they mention serial number start with C and has a chop "made in korea" is a chibanez or a fake ibanez..

But then,i come across this website,http://www.ibanezrules.com/catalogs/reference/dating.htm,it stated there,under the Headstock Serial Stickers and i read thru Cort Serial Numbers,im totally confused..which one should i follow??and if ur good at it,please tell me if its a fake or not.. Thanks..

 

[KrAzYSeLL]

How to spot.

If you actually can trace back the serial number.. it isnt a fake.. your guitar was made in Korea . Cort factory if im not mistaken..Chibanez.. dun "MIK"
they usually make themselves "Team J Craft" if ya get what i mean..

 

[KrAzYSeLL]

As Long as it is not a "jem" it should be a real mik ibanez

 

[lokiregnarok]

...what disappoint me is the serial number and the "made in korea" thingy really matches my guitar..my serial number is C03037912..and they mention serial number start with C and has a chop "made in korea" is a chibanez or a fake ibanez..

Don't really get what you are trying to say. Are you trying to say it's a 'chibanez' cos the serial no. starts with C, implying 'china'?
anw, it's normal for ibanez guitars to start with a C. It indicates that Cort made this ibanez. 03037912 means it's made on March, 2003. and the 7912 is the prod. no. As for the model no. and why u can't find the photos, the model could be discontinued.

 

[relinquish69]

pictures would help us help you. one easy way to tell if it's real or fake is to see the "tick" on the headstock. the end always touches the sharpest point of the headstock.

If you have a MIK Ibanez, you should be happier. the QC is definitely a notch better. of course, you still have to give it a good set up for it to rock.

IMO do not be too concerned about Ibanez serial numbers. Unless it's a MIJ make of course.

 

[faekildare]

There isn't any fake RG370 or RG5(x)0 for that matter. Chibanez don't make fake none Jem/J custom models.

@Relinquish: I beg to differ your statement of MIK Ibanez having better QC to be honest. The MIK Ibanez has one of the worst QC among all the guitars I own. The recent Indonesian made Ibanez actually has very decent QC, among all those I've tried (Minus the Edge III which is Ibanez fault)

 

[relinquish69]

I've seen a fake RG550 once. the decal was way off, the horns on the body looked very off and the heel wasn't a 100% fit. I'm guessing it was either a freak refinish project or just a plain fake. considering the fact that there are many custom makers for Ibanez now, I wouldn't be surprised to see "part-o-RGs" floating around passing off as the real deal.

@faekildare

being an Ibanez fan myself, I'm sure we love our Ibanez guitars for one main reason. Yes, the trem!

I like the MIK Ibanez guitars especially the RG4XX series cos despite being a lower-mid range model, they are still using trems like Edge pro / Lo-TRS (Takeuchi) which I find very remarkable. In terms of QC I've owned a few RGAs and they were of decent built (I say this only because I feel they cannot compare to the MIJ Ibanez guitars in terms of build quality).

I can't make a fair comparison to which has better QC cos I've never owned an MIK and MII Ibanez at the same time but what I can say is I'm very disappointed with the current Edge III trems. stability is still there that I agree but reliability is a definite no for me. considering that the saddles break like no one's business and replacements are not readily available, I just can't live with that.

ok, enough with that little rant. end of the day, it's all the trem's fault haha!

 

[faekildare]

Pretty sure it wasn't a fake RG550 you seen. If it was a project, then it is not a RG550 in the first place. However, one thing you are right about is, there can be nasty people who decide to build their own project RG with inferior parts and pass it off as the real deal to unsuspecting buyers. That, we have no control of but however, it definitely isn't in the Chibanez line. LOL.

I like Ibanez for 2 reasons. The neck and the Trem. I own a few Ibanez and have played many over time (calling me an Ibanez freak is appropriate) and I can tell you the distinct difference between the makes of different countries, and to a certain extend, most of the more well known necks.

A little clarification, MIK Ibanez never had Edge pro / Lo-TRS (Takeuchi). Those are the MIJs. The MIKs only had shit such as Lo-Trs II, Edge Pro II, Edge III and ILT1. Edge III = Avoid if you can Trem. LOL. However, this year is a revolution. The MII line actually has Edge Zero II, which is a solid trem by itself. Not as solid as the MIJ trems but none the less, solid. As a matter of fact, the ZR trems that comes with the S series are a blast to play with. Agreed that most of the time, it's the trem that spoils it. However, non MIJ Ibanez has a problem of hiding their flaws. When I removed the locking nut of my MIK Ibanez, I saw that the holes for the nut is WAY off till the point that one of the holes is only half a hole. Doesn't affect anything much but it just irritates me. Another thing is... instead of sporting a Wizard II neck, it has a GIO neck (I did the measurements). So yea, bad after taste of Korean guitars for me.

Sorry about my ranting too. LOL.

 

[faekildare]

Oh, one more thing, Chibanez are making JS and PGM series recently. Do take note. A way to spot a Chibanez is the trem. I've written a guide on Ibanez Trems and if the JEM/JR/Jcustom doesn't have any of those Trems mentioned, it's probably a fake.

Lower end Jem, JS and PGM are out of this equation by the way. Some of them comes with the Lo-Trs. Do feel free to add in and inform me if I missed anything.

http://theguitarotaku.blogspot.com/2011/08/ibanez-edge.html

 

[relinquish69]

A little clarification, MIK Ibanez never had Edge pro / Lo-TRS (Takeuchi). Those are the MIJs. The MIKs only had shit such as Lo-Trs II, Edge Pro II, Edge III and ILT1. Edge III = Avoid if you can Trem. LOL. However, this year is a revolution. The MII line actually has Edge Zero II, which is a solid trem by itself. Not as solid as the MIJ trems but none the less, solid. As a matter of fact, the ZR trems that comes with the S series are a blast to play with. Agreed that most of the time, it's the trem that spoils it. However, non MIJ Ibanez has a problem of hiding their flaws. When I removed the locking nut of my MIK Ibanez, I saw that the holes for the nut is WAY off till the point that one of the holes is only half a hole. Doesn't affect anything much but it just irritates me. Another thing is... instead of sporting a Wizard II neck, it has a GIO neck (I did the measurements). So yea, bad after taste of Korean guitars for me.

Opps! Yeah sorry this ones my mistake. must have been smoking something wrong.

The biggest difference between MIJ and MIK is the neck (Wizard I and Wizard II respectively) and the Wizard II is a whole lot thicker compared to the Wizard I. Just a curious question, which models did you come across that had such QC problems? I used to own a few SZ series and those were good IMO.

OT:
The Chibanez line is making improvements over the years. I came across a Chibanez Jem7V with "Dimarzio" pickups. Apparently they managed to copy the same big font as those Dimarzios that were made in the early days. Flip underneath and you will be disappointed. From far they look pretty good no doubt about it.

QC wise those Chibanez guitars are crap only because most of those come with crappy routing at the bridge area which makes tuning a big problem.

 

[faekildare]

The biggest difference between the Wizard I and Wizard II isn't only the thickness unfortunately. I learned that after shaving down my wizard II necks. One big difference is the neck shape. Wizard I also thin, also has a comfortable grip to hold on. Think of it like super thin D shape. The Wizard II is fat and chuncky. Like a C shape. The ones now are 2mm differences in terms of thickness, however, the back of it is just fat. So it gives you the illusion that the neck feels like a baseball bat. The Jem neck, which has the same thickness as the Wizard II neck on the other hand feels much thinner. This is once again due to the back profile of the neck.

Another huge difference is the radius between both. the extra 30mm in super wizard I actually makes the fretboard feels a lot flatter compared to wizard II. This is especially very noticeable when you hit the high frets either when chording or soloing.

The MIK Ibanez I had was the RG270DX. made in 2001. The last of it's line I think. After that it went on and became GRG270DX.

Most Chibanez has that "Dimarzio" Pickup now. Some even has the "Lo Pro edge". I still want to buy one so that I can diamante it and show the world what difference it is compared to the real thing though. However, I am not willing to spent huge money on it. If you have a chance to break down the Chibanez, you will see that they use Chinese maple for neck and Asian Basswood for the body with really bad craftsmanship. It is however impressive if you can last a night of performance with it and smashing it at the last song thought. From far will look like you are smashing a Jem. LOL.

 

[ShredAddict]

guys after so much discussion, the TS has yet to upload a picture of his Ibanez for us to verify whether it's a real or fake.

we are waiting.....................

 

[faekildare]

I think there is no need to. The info he has given has already tell us it's a real MIK Ibanez.

 

[wanhansen]

here are some pics maybe some of you need it to tell if its a fake or not..
the f-hole is just a sticker btw,i pasted it myself..

 

[relinquish69]

by all means legit. chop.

 

[faekildare]

I cannot see photos but, from your description, legit. LOL.