1970s Ibanez Al Caiola RS42216 - Any info appreciated!

[dusty tolex]

Hi,

I've been offered one of these guitars for sale locally. It's a 335-style Ibanez, maybe as old as early 70s. Hardly any info to be found on the net. Does anyone have experience with this guitar?

Thanks!

DT

[ddpphoto]

Al Caiola was one of the '60s session greats -- my first ever guitar record had him on the cover with a beautiful 'solid' gold Gretsch. That album was hardly rock and roll -- still - loved the look of that guitar. I think he usually played an Al Caiola model Epiphone and I'm guessing that the Ibanez was a copy of that. Al Caiola's albums featured instrumental covers of 'popular' songs -- Magnificent Seven, Bonanza etc. One thing I do remember is that he had a beautiful clean sound when he played. Thanks for the flashback and good luck with the guitar.

[KennyM]

I had two Ibanez guitars I bought back in the 70's. One was a Les Paul and the other a 335 style. I still have the Les Paul, but the 335 was also a killer guitar. I actually prefered the Ibanez guitars to what Gibson was putting out in the 70's.

I'm not sure how the Al Caiola model differed from their standard 335 guitar, but I found all of the 70's era Ibanez guitars to be great guitars. The one weak point was in the quality of their pickups. I always changed those out with something else. I might have put some better tuners on there also, at least my Les Paul has some Grovers.

If the guitar you're looking at is from the 70's, I would think it to be a really quality guitar.

[morlll]

I would buy it if it feels right.

How much are they asking?

[dusty tolex]

I dunno how much the guy is asking - he's not answering his emails. Nutty. Anyway, I found an image of the guitar, minus the Caiola signature:

http://www.break-even.org/ibanez/1970/guita.htm

Scroll down to the 2358R model near the bottom. That's exactly what the Al Caiola model looks like, but the AC model has a signature and extra stuff on the headstock.

Kenny M, do you include Super 80 (Flying Fingers) pick ups as among Ibanez pups you don't like? Or are earlier Ibanez pups obviously inferior to them.

cheers
dt

[mc5nrg]

Judging by the catalog link that is pretty early in the era of MIJ copy guitars.Note that the Al Caiola type has a bolt-on neck.Other weak spots in the guitars of that era include the hardware especially the bridges which often literally wear away.

My judgement is that it would be kind of cool and interesting but basically a mediocre/not so great copy type guitar.

[KennyM]

Kenny M, do you include Super 80 (Flying Fingers) pick ups as among Ibanez pups you don't like? Or are earlier Ibanez pups obviously inferior to them.

cheers
dt

I can't remember what pickups came on the guitar. I know they refered to them as "Super" something or other. I want to think they were Super 70's, but I suppose they could have been Super 80's. Seems like any other humbuckers of the era were better sounding than what Ibanez was using in the late 70's. The ones I would have swapped them with would be Dimarzio's and later on Seymour Duncan's. Those actually sounded better than what Gibson was even using at that time.

Your thread had me all nostalgic for Ibanez guitars and I started looking for some on Ebay. There are some pretty great deals for the "lawsuit" Les Pauls ($450-$650). Unfortunately, the "lawsuit" 335's seemed to go for a lot more, almost 2K. I think they're more popular because I think that's John Scofields main guitar.