Ibanez UCEW1FMTB

This is my Ibanez USA Custom Exotic Wood guitar number three: Flame Maple Transparent Blue UCEW1FMTB, made in 1990 and bought in July 2001. Stunning!

Serial Numer: F046300.

Although being two years older than my other two Customs, it shares some construction details such as the All-Access Neck Joint and the massive metal knobs (although I believe the knobs have been exchanged after-market). On the other hand, it has the original EDGE tremolo and the humbuckers sit in metal frames, while the 1992 UCEW models have the Lo-Pro EDGE and direct-mount pickups.

The most distinctive feature is the beautiful sharkfin inlayed neck, which was very popular on many high-end RG7x0 and S series guitars as well. The parts were made in the Japanese factory and assembled in Bensalem, PA/USA.
Glen of Jemsite says:

"Hi Oliver, that is a UCEW with the sharkfin inlay neck. [...] those were orderable with many neck and pickup combos and the production models were in '90 as the RG770 w/o the AANJ. This was surely done by the H&S Custom shop of Ibanez in the USA..."

Note how different this "transparent blue" finish looks compared to this one.

Some more close-up pictures:

And a scan from a promo poster (thanks to Jerry!): This shows a different pickup selection and plastic knobs which may have been replaced on mine.

All in all it's a player's dream and I'd like to say hello (and thank you) to the pre-owner Timo -- it was very nice and funny doing business with him. He said it was kinda hard parting with his guitar, but there's no reason to worry: the baby is in good hands and the best company.

Update March 2003: I replaced the stock IBZ USA humbuckers by two genuine DiMarzio pickups, also the original single-coil cover with an all-black cover. The guitar's looks now resemble the poster shot shown above. Check out the new pic:

Update November 2006: The tarnished EDGE vibrato and pickup mounting rings has now been replaced by a better-looking system, just to improve the looks.

Pickups	Neck	DiMarzio PAF Pro (F-spaced)
	Middle	IBZ USA by DiMarzio C2 (vertical humbucker)
	Bridge	DiMarzio MegaDrive (F-spaced)
Strings		GHS Boomers LOW .011-.053 tuned 2 half steps down

More info see Ibanez USA Custom Shop - The History on Jemsite.com.