Just added to the IbanezMandolin.com website, an entire section devoted to the specs and detals for every model of Ibanez Mandolin. The specs will be taken from scans of Ibanez Mandolin catalogs, with added details and editorial comments.

View the Ibanez Mandolin Models page.

A website reader has written in to share information on his Ibanez 527 mandolin, serial F778027. He says:

I am the third and proudest owner of Ibanez 527 #F778027. It has a crack on the top, one on the head stock,and a repaired crack in the neck. But it tunes up and sounds better than any mando I’ve had. I’ve been playing bluegrass mandolin since 2002, and I love this mandolin!

Pictures of a 1977 model 524 mandolin serial number H778014 are now in the serial number database. This is a one owner mandolin discussed in the interview with Dan Cole.

The second pre-serial number model 523 mandolin has been added to the serial number database.

It has the typical pre-serial number features of a torch inlay, bell shaped truss rod cover, and no label. The original owner says about it “No number, no paper or info inside. Nice mandolin, used to be mine before I bought a used 526. I bought this one new in the Netherlands after phoning all major and lesser musik shops in Holland. Found just one! was late 70’s, non original case when I bought it.”

This mandolin has been in the Spruce Pine Bluegrass Band. Here is a picture of the current owner playing it.

The 525 model was Ibanez’s F-4 style mandolin and featured an oval soundhole, no headstock binding, and a single ply truss rod cover.

Kevin has shared pictures of his early Ibanez 525 mandolin, which have been posted in the serial number database.

Kevin purchased this mandolin in about 2002 from Cripple Creek Music in Ashaland, Oregon, USA. There is no serial number and no label inside, dating it to about 1975, although the angled corner truss rod cover is normally seen on mandolins with serial numbers. The headstock inlay is also more typical of the 522 model. There appears to be an imprint on the back of the headstock reading Q10. This one appears to be a bit of a mystery!

A single picture of Bill Monroe’s A778085 mandolin has been added to the serial number database. This is the 527 that was auctioned in 2001. More pictures are needed and we are seeking contributions.

We’ve just published another exclusive article about the Ibanez mandolin auctioned by Monroe’s estate in 2001, complete with pictures and interviews. Read the details here. Credit to “f5loar” for generously supplying documents and memories from the auction day. We still need more pictures of this mandolin, and information on the current owner.

The articles section has been updated with a new interview with original owner Raul Blacksten. Raul was kind enough to share his story and pictures of his 1978 Ibanez 524 mandolin that he bought from McCabe’s in Santa Monica. He’s even still got the warranty card and receipt with it!

Here is an excerpt from the interview:

I’ve had it 29 years according to the receipt. I like the mando as an instrument and I like the Ibanez as a mando. I also own a 1953 Martin A-style that I bought a few years later to help out a friend who needed some money but the Ibanez is my favorite of the two. I have played many mandos over the years but never found one I liked better than my Ibanez.

Thanks to Trevor for sharing some great shots of his Ibanez 524, serial number F768038. View the gallery.

Thanks to one of our readers, Dick in Connecticut, USA, for sending in some vintage magazine adverts featuring Ibanez Mandolins and Bill Monroe. Dick says:

I went into my archive, as I remembered various ads for Ibanez mandolins. In the meantime, I found three copies of the old Pickin’ magazine, where the inner back cover was a full page 4 color ad showing an Ibanez banjo and mandolin under a shade tree, including the name of two US companies apparently doing the distribution: Elger Co. of Cornwells Heights PA and Chesbro Music of Idaho Falls ID.

This same ad appears identically in August 1975, October 1975 and January 1977 issues, as inner back cover. Perhaps it appears more often than this, I just found these three easily at hand. August 75 cover is Mac Wiseman, October 75 cover is Eddie Adcock, and Jan. 77 cover is Earl Scruggs.

There is also one where Bill Monroe endorsed the Ibanez, a nice upper body shot of him playing an Ibanez, and I remember it distinctly because he was wearing a suede leather cowboy hat, very unusual for him.

I found it in the August/September 1976 issue of Pickin’, inner back cover, a 4 color ad showing Monroe in the unusual suede leather cowboy hat, and Blue Grass Boy Randy Davis behind him playing bass. I remember being absolutely SHOCKED by this ad, and at the time I concluded (and I still believe) that someone put this mandolin in Monroe’s hands while he was touring Japan, told him it was a gift and furiously snapped some promotional photos before he laid it down. I would be fascinated to learn the whole story, especially if I was wrong about Monroe’s “acceptance” or “endorsement” of the mandolin. Of course, in later years Gibson “woke up”, patched things up with Bill and started running ads with his endorsements of Gibson mandolins.

The Pennsylvania and Idaho mailing addresses are now called “Ibanez”, in this ad. The cover of this issue of Pickin’ shows a wind up Victrola record player in sepia tones.

Editor’s note: the August 1975 ad is the earliest documented advertisement for an Ibanez mandolin. Has anyone got an earlier reference? The 524 mandolin that Monroe is shown playing is one of several he was given by Ibanez on a Japanese tour. Still looking for more pictures of him playing an Ibanez live.