Vintage Ibanez 1977 Challenger - Sunburst #70072

Ibanez 1977 Challenger, Maple Fingerboard, Sunburst

~Guitar pictured is the actual guitar that you will receive~

The Ibanez Challenger is a rare model from the end of the Japanese lawsuit era of the 1970s, built in the FujiGen factory.

When Gibson won their lawsuit against Japanese guitar makers for "copying" their instruments, Ibanez pivoted to slightly changing their headstocks and focusing on their own original models while phasing out the copycats. Because of the timing, the Challenger model was only made from '77-'78 and never made it into the Ibanez catalog during this transitional period.

The Challenger was Ibanez's high end version of their 2375 model, and was considered to be on par with or better than Fender's quality during that time of the CBS era.

This guitar features a solid katsura body, maple neck and fingerboard, and single coil pickups. It's in good condition for its age showing a lot of playwear throughout with scuffs, chipping, scratching, tarnishing, and aging. When it came in the bridge and neck pickup weren't working and were re-wound by our tech to their original low-output winding specs. The pickups currently read 4.7kΩ bridge and 4.8kΩ on the middle and neck. The truss rod is maxed out and it plays well after setup, and has a great vintage tone.

This Ibanez Challenger is perfect for a player or collector looking for an instrument with vintage sound, style, and charm from a unique period of electric guitar history.

For this item, returns accepted within 3 days of receiving merchandise. For any returns other than incorrect shipment or damaged goods, the buyer assumes responsibility for all return shipping costs. Empire Music reserves the right to refuse any return if the item is not returned in the condition in which it was delivered.