bassic instincts

I’ve always loved Ibanez basses from the late 1970s and early 80s. Not only are they solidly built and eminently playable, they’re elegant and original — ironically, Ibanez started out as a lawsuit-engendering manufacturer of excellent Fender and Gibson clones.

When Fender and Gibson both went through a disastrous quality slump during the 70s and 80s — both due to their being bought by uncaring, cost-cutting conglomerates — Ibanez stepped up to the plate with higher-quality Japanese manufacturing and modern designs. Already experiencing success in the guitar market, with celebrity users like Steve Miller, Cheap Trick’s Rick Nielsen and Kiss’ Paul Stanley, Ibanez’ basses were adopted by many high-profile new-wave musicians, such as Sting from The Police and Graham Maby of Joe Jackson’s band.

While Ibanez basses are inexpensive and plentiful on eBay, having moved to cheaper Korean production for the most part, certain older models are now starting to command vintage prices - like the Roadstar II RB999 pictured above - were produced in more limited quantities, or only for certain countries. I managed to snag this particular bass (a deal, by the way) by carefully searching different cities’ Craigslist pages; and I also found an example of its curious low-end cousin, the RB666, which apparently was only sold in Japan and Europe; the one I got has a sticker from a German music store. Ibanez had a similar instrument in its high-end Musician line, the MC888 — rarer and more expensive still.

Being someone with small hands, these small-bodied basses are a godsend. I wish they’d put them back into production.