Ibanez Musician MC500 1978 Specifications:
- Body type: Solid body
- Neck joint: 1978–1980: Neck-thru w/ smooth heel
- Bridge: Gibraltar w/ sustain block
- Tailpiece: Gibraltar w/ “cloud” ornament
- Knob style: Sure Grip (gold)
- Hardware color: Gold
- Neck type: Musician
- Scale length: 628mm/ 24¾”
- Fingerboard material: Ebony
- Fingerboard inlays: Abalone dots
- Nut: Half bone/ half brass (1 23/32″ /43.7mm)
- Machine heads: VelveTune II w/ pearloid buttons
- Pickup configuration: HH
- Bridge pickup: Ibanez Super 88 (H)
- Neck pickup: Ibanez Super 88 (H)
- Controls: Single volume / 3-way toggle pickup selector / Preamp boost/cut / 3-band EQ (bass/mid/treble) / 2 Tri-sound switches / EQ toggle
The MC500 is a Musician series solid body electric guitar model introduced by Ibanez for 1978. It was made in Japan by FujiGenwith production starting in late 1977.
Like most Musician models, the MC500 features neck through body construction. It has body wings made up of a maple core sandwiched between two layers of ash with a carved top on a seven-piece rock maple and black walnut neck with an oversized headstock to enhance sustain and a 24-fret ebony fingerboard with abalone dot position markers. Components include a pair of Ibanez Super 88 humbucking pickups mounted in integrated plastic covers, a Tune-o-matic style Gibraltar bridge mounted in a sustain block recessed into the neck, a Gibraltar slotted tailpiece with scalloped “cloud” ornament, a bone and brass nut, rubberized Sure Grip control knobs and VelveTune machine heads.
The MC500 has active electronics consisting of a master volume control, a 3-way pickup selector mounted on the upper horn, a preamp gain (boost/ cut) control, a 3-band EQ (bass, mid and treble), a pair of Tri-sound switches to allow each pickup to be coil split or reverse phase, and an EQ on/off toggle. Ibanez refers to this configuration as the EQ Tone System.
This guitar is wonderful to play and offers an incredible range of tones.
Original hard travel case included.