Grateful Dead Music Forum

Anybody have thoughts on the below? Looks a bit banged up and I know nothing about those pickups other than they seem expensive on ebay. Any estimates on whether buying this at $650 is a really bad/okay idea?

http://cgi.ebay.com/Ibanez-Musician-MC3 ... 4a9fe62a51

I also have had some intrest in the several MC's on the Bay currently. Those PRS pickups look to me to be the new cheap pickups, not "Dragon" pickups. Im not sure about this, but I have owned several PRS guitars over the years including just recently a "new" PRS SE and those look like what came with that guitar. If so the pick ups are not worth as much as the guitar would be if they were the original. I may be alone here but if I were to buy an MC lower than a mint 500, I would "Jerryify" it. I think if that is what your after go for it!

The seller says its Natural Stain (NS). Its not its DS.
The pups look like they were put in half assed ...
serious dents and scuffs ....
name scratched into the cover plate ..... GOOD STICK ??????
vol knobs are changed out ....
$650.00 is too much.
http://www.noahjames.com/vintagepage/musician.html
love them guitars though


This is what mine looks like right now 4/01/2010
choppy choppy

I cant say anything about those particular PUs, but those guitars are awesome.
As far as carving up anything less than a mint 500, I couldnt disagree more
The 300 has all the switching options as the 400 and 500 so all one needs is and EQ
The 400 has the eq just like the 500 just a mahogany core vs maple
You can get a good jerry sound out of this guitar with the original PUs
Lastly, I dont believe jerry or bob moded their PUs on their mc400s
HTH
T

Looks stock

Bobby rocking it

I would have to agree with T as well (in fact I was the lucky one who bought his MC300). Granted it is my first so I am still exploring the different sounds, I am getting great tone out of the stock pickups.

This particular MC300 does have some significant wood damage which makes it a good candidate for work - but I am not sure I would touch a MC300 in decent condition.

Tennessee Jedi - those mods are going to look fantastic! Great work man!

alcorelectric wrote:I cant say anything about those particular PUs, but those guitars are awesome.
As far as carving up anything less than a mint 500, I couldnt disagree more
The 300 has all the switching options as the 400 and 500 so all one needs is and EQ
The 400 has the eq just like the 500 just a mahogany core vs maple
You can get a good jerry sound out of this guitar with the original PUs
Lastly, I dont believe jerry or bob moded their PUs on their mc400s
HTH
T

It really depends on condition of the instrument.
A mint 500 I would never touch. Once they are less then mint their values drop.
Same with a lesser model. That Ebay one has seen better days. You could find a nicer one for that price.
Mine had terrible dings and stuff but they sanded out nice.The Ebay one needs someone to put a lot of work into it or its kaput.
Or you could play it the way it is - maybe its a screamer ......

jkstraw wrote:
Tennessee Jedi - those mods are going to look fantastic! Great work man!

Thanks - wasnt me though

^^^^ I think it was this Dude ^^^^^^
Brian is one of us .....

Thanks everyone for the input. $650 did seem too much, esp. with all of those dings and when I looked closer at the pickup installation it does look pretty half-assed. Certainly content to stick with my Strat for the time being.