Jeff - We need your learned opinion

[Mark Munchenberg (Munch)]

 Jeff,

Please check out the discussion thread "Would you buy an Iceman IC300 for $75?" under the Vintage and Custom Electrics topic.

There is a debate going on about whether the guitar in question was a factory prototype, a custom order, or an after market modification. Your help on this one would be much appreciated.

Thanks in advance,

Mark

[Jeff Hasselberger (Jhasse]

 Munch, et. al.

Is Dr. Frankenstein at it again? The mystery Iceman is pretty cool in an amoebic sort of way, but I don't have any direct personal knowledge of it. Back in the '70s, we believed that the Iceman had a kind of inviolable weirdness all its own. We were very reluctant to mess with its almost-perfect nuttiness.

I don't think that any of us in the US would've proposed this design (interesting as it may be). But that doesn't account for all the other wackos around the globe (especially those Aussies).  

Having been party to chopping up some perfectly serviceable guitars in my time, I can understand the "I wonder what it would look like if ..." line of thinking. To some of us of the design perversion, a slab bodied electric is just begging to be put on the bandsaw table and violated.

So here's my bottom line, with all due respect to JD, who's opinion is often more correct than mine. This appears to be a rather well-executed customer modification, although I will hold out the possibility that it is a prototype. If it is a prototype, the idea didn't originate in the US in the '70s.

Jeff

[JohnS]

 Jeff:

Thanks for responding.

Personally, I think the shape of the Iceman is perfect. Had it originated in the Gibson factory, I think the "holy trinity" of Vee, Explorer and Moderne would have become the "four horseman" with the Iceman bringing up the rear. Last, but certainly not least.

First question: what's the history on the design?

More questions: Regarding who might have modified this guitar at the factory, what kind of structure did Ibanez have? Where there other "Jeff Hasselbergers", with bandsaws, hammers (for cracking mirrors), and visions, in other countries? Did you have carte blanche to grab a piece of inventory and "go to town" on it?

Last question: was there a policy for disposal of prototypes and experiments that weren't accepted for production?