Musician Gear & Tech Discussion

I own a 3-pickup Ibanez Model 1803 solid-body (asymmetrical body) electric 6-string that I bought at a pawn shop around 15 years ago. The pawn shop owner played in local bands and told me this was the guitar he used to play gigs with. I paid $80 for it, and that included a "leatherette" gig bag. (I thought that was a pretty good deal at the time!)

I've done lots of Google searches, and I can't find any information about this guitar! The Ibanez website didn't have anything at all about it (just sales propaganda for their new models) I did find one photo posted by an Ibanez collector that showed an 1803 in amongst a bunch of other Ibanez guitars. A local music store owner told me that it was manufactured around 1965 or so, and that it was worth around $350, but that's all he could find out about it.

It has a flat neck, which I find particularly difficult to play, having played arched necks for all my life, and the pots are all really "grassy" and need replacement. I can't help thinking that it may have real value to an Ibanez collector in its original condition and configuration, but I have no idea how much to ask for it should I choose to part with it (I may not, read on for an explanation).

If nobody has any info or shows interest, I'll probably transplant a Strat neck onto it and replace all of the pots. The control system is kinda strange, with four 3-position rocker switches and - apparently 3 for pickups and one for "tone" (presumably a neck pickup shutoff and/or bridge pickup booster). I'm totally baffled by the rocker switches, as they don't seem to be directly associated with an individual pickup, and having 3 positions further complicates things.

All of the pickups are single-pole, so there's a considerable amount of hum, especially if playing under fluorescent lights. I'm weighing the prospects of replacing at least the bridge pickup with a decent Humbucker if I can find one at a reasonable price.

At worst, I consider this to be a "project" guitar - something to tinker with and customize into a very unique instrument. While I'm hardly an experienced luthier, I do know electronics and I'm good with hand tools - all that's really necessary to work on most guitar issues. At best, I may have a rare edition that's worth a lot of money (but I'm not holding my breath - it's not really a great guitar "as-is").

I'd really appreciate any input I get from anyone about this guitar, especially from the more experienced members of this forum - which appear to be quite numerous based on my observations thus far. Thanks in advance!

The pots should clean up if you just squirt a little contact cleaner in them. I thought I would have to replace the potsa in a 1966 Harmony when I got it, really nasty loud scratching when they were turned. A little contact cleaner and the original 1966 pots are still working right now. Same for the pots in my late 40's Electromuse lap steel.

I've shielded several of my guitars, not hard to do and it cuts down a lot of the noise. A little spray glue and some aluminum foil is all it takes, shielding paint can be used for pickup cavities, you have to make sure everything is grounded. Also check the ground system inside, if everything is not grounded well any guitar will hum regardless of pickups. Each pickup should have a ground to the back of a pot and the bridge should have a ground wire connected to those. The output jack is grounded too. If any of those is loose, missing or has a bad solder joint, you'll have some hum.

I would spray the pots with contact cleaner and check it, shield the pickup cavity and double check the grounds, and play the thing. If it's really a mid 60's Ibanez I wouldn't change anything at all unless absolutely necessary. That's why I've never sanded down the neck on my Harmony, it's pretty close to baseball bat but if I do any modifications it's not worth half as much. As it sits, I paid $2 for it at a yard sale, a little glue on the bridge plate (it was split), a "new" set of old open back tuners to replace 2 that were bent, and $1 each for 3 grommets on the tuner stems. Plus a set of strings...I could sell it right now for at least $300. Not interested in selling, it makes a great slide guitar and is playable for regular guitar even with the fat neck. I've been using onstage it since 1996.

I always prefer to leave a guitar like that as close to original as I can. Project guitars are things like cheap Squier Strats, no name guitars, Epiphones you can find by the dozen at pawn shops...one you've never seen before and can't find out much about I would leave it alone...fix what you can, play it or sell it.