1994 Ibanez Talman TC530-ROB
$1,099.99
A burst! ...and in my opinion, one of the best looking!
Serial: F408548
Built: March 1994
Finish: Royal Orangeburst (ROB)
Body: Resoncast
Total weight: 7 lb 8.7 oz
Checkout my model page on the TC530 for full specs.
This guitar plays beautifully and sounds amazing. Very clear tone! Includes original tremolo arm, and will come with a guitar soft bag.
I purchased the guitar awhile ago to help a friend who was looking for one, but things have changed, so it's available now! When this guitar arrived it was in much worse condition than was described. I put in a lot of work to bring it back to its original glory.
I took the guitar apart and found some interesting stuff, like stripped pickguard screw holes, mismatched pickups (one old, two newer reproduction), and the neck pickup was hot glued to the pickguard! It was also missing the correct knobs and was pretty nasty/dirty. Truss rod, string height, everything was out of spec.
I know most people will not care about originality, but I wanted everything to be back where it should have been.
To fix the wiring nightmare that someone left, I actually replaced everything with a full setup from one of my TC830 models. Pickups, wires, 5-way switch, jack, everything. All original, unmodified, and in great condition. It's the exact same setup between the TC530 and TC830. The only difference will be the wire color of the one wire going to the back claw. It's originally orange on the TC530, but it's black on everything else. I left this TC830 black wire in place. So now with everything replaced, the only solder that's been reflowed (since new) is the wire going to the back claw.
I filled the stripped pickguard screw holes with maple dowels and wood glue, then redrilled to proper depth.
I got a set of TC530 knobs (which is very hard to find). They have yellowed with age, but look great with the orange guitar.
Disassembled and cleaned everything.
The one mod I left in place was the aftermarket locking strap buttons. That's an actual upgrade I think most everyone will like.
You'll see in the pictures there's a few bumps and bruises, but nothing major. I've looked over it multiple times, and tried my best to capture everything. The most notable flaw is on the lower right side of the guitar (some indentions and paint chipping).
- It has the typical finish cracks near the neck pocket.
- output jack is original (see notes about TC830 wiring above) and can crackle with movement of cable. 5-way switch and pots are fairly noise free!
- The hairline crack (back of the headstock, near the tuners) is just in the gravure finish. This gravure finish easily bubbles and cracks with age (you'll probably see it bubble near the tuners on the front of the headstock eventually).
- Screws show some tarnishing, pickups have typical wear (but minimal).
- The pickguard shows pick scratching surface wear.
- The paint and hardware are all still very shiny and in excellent condition overall!
- Minimal to no fret wear!
The guitar has a nice patina and vibe.
Two interesting things I noticed about this specific guitar:
- The truss rod cover was cut slightly too short from the factory! There's a small gap.
- The left side of the pickguard (neck pocket) was slightly trimmed (from the factory) to fit around the neck!
Setup:
- Polished frets
- Clean and Oiled fretboard (Nomad F-ONE)
- Nomad TUNE-IT lubricant on nut and saddles
- Ernie Ball Slinky 9-42 strings
- Original (graphite) nut, slot depths are OK
- Removed truss rod nut and lubricated the threads with tri-flow
- Adjusted truss rod, neck relief to .012" (.305mm)
- Bridge pins set to 7.5mm (top to body)
- rear of bridge floating, ~2.5mm off body
- The pots, jack, and switch were de-oxidized with electronics cleaner and lubricant
- Set string heights and pickup heights
- Adjusted intonation
- carnuba wax on body
String heights @12th (hold 1st):
- E 2mm
- A 2.25mm
- D 2.4mm
- G 2.25mm
- B 2mm
- e 1.6mm
Pickup heights:
- Neck 2.5mm low side, 2mm high side
- Middle 2.5mm low, 2mm high
- Bridge 2mm low, 1.6mm high