You’re looking at a vintage, andrare, Ibanez Artist mandolin.

It is a model 524 in the AV (antique violin)finish and was crafted by hand at the Fujigen factory in Matsumoto Japan inOctober, 1977.

The spec’s on these instrumentsinclude; hand carved solid spruce top, solid maple back and sides, hard mapleneck with adjustable truss rod, ebony fingerboard with fancy mother of pearlinlays and polished gold plated metal parts. You may notice a strikingsimilarity between this Ibanez and the Gibson Loar F5 as Ibanez was trying to replicatemany of the high end instruments from the United States at the time.

This Ibanez 524 is in greatcondition. The hand rubbed finish has only minor polish swirls and thehardware is in equally great condition as shown in the pic’s. Though thebinding has developed a cream patina with some darker areas, it is all intactand solid with no separation or deterioration. The original tuners, pick guardand Ibanez tailpiece are all present. The scroll head stock is solid and free from any cracks or repairs. Thetortoise shell veneer on the head stock is beautiful but has some discoloration by the nut and e string post but is alsosolid.This mandolin could benefit from a set-up and new set of strings.

These mandolins were all handmadeand included the luthier’s signature on the inside tag (see pic #11). A numberof bluegrass artists included Ibanez mandolins in their lineup because of theiroverall quality and beautiful tone. Some of those artists included Ralph Lewis,Carl Jackson and even the father of bluegrass himself Mr. Bill Monroe (see pic #12).

This gorgeous instrument comeswith the original deluxe rectangle hard shell case that is extremely clean andfits the mandolin like a glove. There is an extra bridge that may be theoriginal and is also included. These mandolins rarely come up for sale as those that own them, tend to keep them. This one has been part of a friends Ibanez collection for quite sometime and she is in the process of downsizing as her playing days are coming to an end. Her message \"it\'s time to pass this on to a new picker.\"

Sale and shipping toCONUS only

Please feel free toask questions, good luck and God bless