Saber serial number

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Author Message   Jeff Posted on Friday, October 08, 2004 - 11:04 am:    Hello i have a DY Saber...from when they were still called sabers. my problem is i cant identify it for the life of me i have asked ibanez and several guitar collectors and they havnt had any clue now the serial number is 801775 and its on the neck attachment plate, but the problem is.....ive had a chancce to have played and owned several sabers and every one ive seen that has had the three seperate toggel switches has had Cosmo Black hardware or straight chrome but none have had black but mine has black hardware and it has the original backstop system as well. it has three black toggel switches, and it doesnt say anything on the headstock, its got small dot inlays now the best i could come up with is that it was produced in 88...but i dont think it was...also there is no F or C in front of the serial number i just would like to know what the hell this is if its a saber or an FGM. also it doesnt have stock pickups so that i cant give to help you out thanks for your time Jeff   Oscar Sarquiz Posted on Friday, October 08, 2004 - 11:04 am:    Hi, Jeff; at the risk of adding to your confusion my Saber, serial # 880591, shares some of the traits of yours, such as black hardware and small dot inlays (which I recently decided made it an S470 -but I could be wrong, since this may be a more recent model identification number). Anyway, mine is definitely an '88 model... but instead of the three toggles it has a regular five position Strat style sliding pickup selector switch, same as most current S models, I believe. My guess is that both our guitars come from a moment near the models' inception, when some experimentation was still going on. How does yours sound? Mine was always O.K. but really came alive after I changed the stock humbuckers and put in DiMarzios, PAF & Fred, imitating Satriani's old setup on his model. Not much help, huh?   Jeff Posted on Friday, October 08, 2004 - 11:04 am:    Ok that helps a little i figured it was from the beginning of the Saber series before they just called it the S because of legal infringments but mine is deffinatly a 540S i saw the add for mine and i have the add Frank Gambale is sittin in the picture...the only difference is mine has black hardware and the three togeels. i was also told it was a 540 by Ibanez but thats all they could tell me and yeah i replaced the bridge pickup with a Seymour Duncan JB and the two single coils are just stock but mine sounds amazing but im changing to an AIR norton or a steves special im not sure yet........i want some dimarzios.......i think i might get it painted too the paint is just too yellow for me Jeff   Jeff Posted on Friday, October 08, 2004 - 11:04 am:    oh yeah i forgot it has a black edge tremolo unlike the 470's that have a trs or lo trs2 if that can help anyone help me >?????? Jeff   Scott Posted on Friday, October 08, 2004 - 11:04 am:    It's definatly a Frank Gambale Model. An early one from the sound of it.. The original ones were yellow, and the toggle switches, I believe, were on that model. I would seriously urge you not to paint it. These havn't taken off yet like Jems have but they will, and as you know any refinish will seriously hurt the resale value, if that's important to you. I personally like the yellow. One question, does it have sharktooth inlays?   Jeff Posted on Friday, October 08, 2004 - 11:04 am:    No thats why i was skeptical to believe it was a Gambale model in the first place...although Frank has a version of his Sig series that have just small plain dot makers like mine Jeff   Scott Posted on Friday, October 08, 2004 - 11:04 am:    If I'm not mistaken, and I am quite a bit!!, then it's an early Gambale model. I remember seeing a picture of him in about '88 playing one with small dot inlays.   Oscar Sarquiz Posted on Friday, October 08, 2004 - 11:04 am:    Hold on, Scott... could this mean that mine -see above- is actually a 540S with small dots? Being an '88 model apparently negates it as a (later model) 470, I guess. What do you think? Óscar S.   Jeff Posted on Friday, October 08, 2004 - 11:04 am:    Ok so i wont paint it because i dont want to shell out the payola anyways so ill keep it the original yellow but what does this mean? is it worth anything? i paid 300$ for it used in a guitar shop and should i put in a Dimarzio Evoluton pickup in it? because i want a very good tone that is harmonicaly rich but not to distorted basically i want good sound i play alot of metal but im not to impressed with the high gain distortion im more of a mellow distortion with lots of harmonics...dripping with them i also want to replace the original single coils i was wondering i want sort of a texas twang tone in the other and a nice bluesy tone in the enck any ideas? im also looking to buy a Saber so if anyone has one for sale let me know Jeff   Scott Posted on Friday, October 08, 2004 - 11:04 am:    Oscar, Where was it made? It could be a 540 that was used to make the Gambale model. He liked the Sabers so his model was made off the Saber. But where it was made plays a part in what model number it is.   Oscar Sarquiz Posted on Friday, October 08, 2004 - 11:04 am:    Scott: Thanks for responding. It was made in the U.S. for sure; says so in the backplate around the neck screws. What do you think? Jeff: Keep it yellow, man! Haven't tried the Evolution, but a good, safe alternative for your needs is the DiMarzio PAF Pro: warm, rich, not too hot nor peaky. Hope this helps. Óscar   Jeff Posted on Friday, October 08, 2004 - 11:04 am:    Thanks Oscar i am in the market like i said for another saber if anyones is willing to sell or trade just let me know and i think im gunna get a Evolution and a PAF so we'll see how they fair i want emgs as well for my other saber i want an 81 and an 85 or should i get both 85's? Jeff   Scott Posted on Friday, October 08, 2004 - 11:04 am:    Oscar, No, the american address on your neckplate signifies that it was made in Japan. I don't know why they put an American address on the plate. If an Ibanez was made in the US they incorporate that into the name of it.. Example, the USRG30. Jeff, I don't know if I would put an Evolution in a S body, it is a very, VERY hot pickup, maybe too hot for an S body. I just put a PAF Pro in my S540FM and coil taped it (It has the S-S-H configuration) and man, does it sound sweet!! I really feel that the PAF Pro works well with the S body. Now, it depends on what sound your going for, I wanted a guitar that would give me nice clean tones so the PAF Pro was a good choice. I have 2 Evolutions on order for my RG420, that's gonna be my shred machine!! It depends on what tone your looking for... About the EMG's, I'm not too fond of 'em. With them being active, it's hard to get a medium sound from them, they are either full on or off, no real in between...   Oscar Sarquiz Posted on Friday, October 08, 2004 - 11:04 am:    Scott: further to above, you are right insofar as the neck backplate just has Ibanez' U.S. address at the time. There is no mention whatsoever of the guitar's country of origin, so I assume you are right about it being Japanese. Funny, though, that they should relinquish their usual national manufacturing pride and try to maskerade these early Sabers as "born in the U.S.A." Do you think it's definitely a Fujen Gakki instrument? For the record, my RBM (a Korean Cort, plainly stated on the serial code) is not that much worse. They are both very well made, although definitely not in the beauty sweepstakes boutique level of the present day top of the line S models. Thanks, again. Óscar S.   Scott Posted on Friday, October 08, 2004 - 11:04 am:    Oscar, It's strange, isn't it? Why would they put their distribution site address on the neckplate? I don't know why they didn't put "Made in Japan" or the more common "Japan" under the serial number. My serial number starts with an F so I know that means it was made at the Fujen plant. What does your serial number start with???   Oscar Sarquiz Posted on Friday, October 08, 2004 - 11:04 am:    Actually, Scott, exclusively what I understand is the year of manufacture: it's just # 880591, stamped onto the neck backplate above the "1726 Winchester Rd. Bensalem PA 19020 U.S.A." legend I mentioned. There is no other reference whatsoever as to the country of origin, either on the body or the neck. Color is Lipstick Red, BTW. Óscar Just FYI, Óscar.   jester Posted on Friday, October 08, 2004 - 11:04 am:    Didn't all the Gambale models have pickup rings that were flush (sunk) with the body? Does yours have those, or the normal "raised" ones?

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