Ibanez #1 DT350 X series Destroyer

As alluded to recently I've just got hold of my first proper guitar again. Not one the same, but the very same guitar.

This was not my first guitar but it was my first 'proper' guitar. Back when I was young guitars were pretty pricey things and teenagers would settle for anything you could find or persuade your parents to buy you that wasn't totally rubbish.

So your first guitar was probably OK-ish, the days of unplayable tat being all that was available to the skint were receding, but you probably couldn't get quite what you wanted. When I went to college I took my first guitar, which was a late 70s or early 80s Columbus Les Paul copy. My partner in guitar disaster had a Squier strat with a single humbucker. We probably should have swapped knowing what we know now.

Anyway neither of us really had what we wanted although they were eminently playable guitars, perhaps if I'd just stuck with one guitar and practiced more I'd actually be able to play. My old Les Paul might even be collectible (although not valuable) now as all manner of 'vintage' Japanese stuff is getting that way even if I'd argue lots of it is 'old' rather than 'vintage'.

So, enter the Destroyer. It was summer 1989 (I think) and I wanted to be James Hetfield. I had a reasonable summer job fixing radio pagers and some money burning a hole in my pocket. This was an Explorer, it was jet black and it had a locking tremolo. Also in black. A slab of pure metal.

At some point I decided it needed more 'oomph' and I bought a set of active electronics from one of the shops on Denmark street that gave a bass/treble cut/boost circuit and wired it in. This was my first ever guitar modding project and it must have gone OK, it's still in the guitar and working today. I had to drill a hole for the third pot and fit some replacement knobs as it originally only had two. I still have the two original knobs in one of my boxes full of guitar parts.

Eventually I decided I wanted the money for something else so I sold it to my mate Dave, who used it in bands in the NE until he sold it himself to buy a Rickenbacker 4001. I hadn't been searching for this, I just stumbled across it on eBay and bought it off a guy in Brighouse. I recognised it because of the chrome knobs and active circuit, there really can't be any other guitars around the same.

It's in much the same condition I remember. There are a few more scratches but absolutely nothing untoward. It's 25 years old now and been used so you've kind of got to expect this. It even came in the minging bass case I bodged up to fit it all those years ago with the same graffiti and GB sticker I remember.

My cup of nostalgia overfloweth.

A long time ago Andy The Pugh proposed that eBay was like a great universal lending library and that anything you sold but later wanted could simply be replaced from there. This proves it.

On dangerous ground

Back in about 1990 I bought an X-series Ibanez Destroyer. It was black and very metal. I stuck an active bass/treble boost circuit in, which was my first guitar modding project.

In about 1993 I sold this to a mate, who then sold it on later to help buy a Rickenbacker 4001. This self same guitar has just turned up on eBay, I've stolen the pictures and stuck them up here.

The really scary thing is that I was not looking for this. It found me. I have a search for old Ibanez Roadstars going on eBay but not Destroyers. A Destroyer got picked up in this search that looked similar to my old one and it made me have a quick look to see what other Destroyers were for sale. This happened the same week as the guy listed my old guitar.

Wibble.

I've checked and I'm pretty sure it's my old guitar. There is a mark in the paint I remember and I had to drill a hole for a third pot when I fitted the active circuit and swapped the knobs to chrome. These Destroyers originally came with two controls and black plastic knobs.

There is a real chance I will buy this. It won't reclaim my youth, but I kind of want it back.

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Update: I seem to have just won this. ;-)