The Luxury Explorer: 1982 Ibanez Destroyer II

The Luxury Explorer: 1982 Ibanez Destroyer II

So the way these reviews of clients' guitars work is like this: a client comes for a job, I look at the guitar, if the guitar interests me enough then I decide to make the review, ask permission, do the job, take pictures, write notes, and then it goes on the list. The guitar in this review happened to be a forgotten file, so things are a bit blurry, but I'll go with it.

I'm a conventional guy, and the older I get the more conventional I get. With that said, when something speaks back it's just inevitable, as an individual you just resonate with the thing, and in this case this Ibanez Destroyer II spoke to me very loudly. The craftsmanship of this instrument is just outstanding.

The Luxury Explorer: 1982 Ibanez Destroyer II

To me this guitar screams Iron Maiden 80's, in particular Adrian Smith's guitar, it just looks like that. This one in particular is from 1982, from the well renowned Fujigen factory (or Terada). I'm not a guitar historian, don't claim to be, nor am I interested in being one. But this one might be a mahogany body, maple neck, rosewood fretboard, with a 24.75" scale. As we all know, Japan in those days was the stone in the shoe for Fender and Gibson, so specs are usually around those two brands.

At the moment I didn't have a scale with me, so I didn't take note of the weight, but as far as I remember it wasn't that heavy. With that I mean in the 4kg range, by suspicion a bit on top of the 4kg mark. Now for some that's mother-in-law-hanging-from-your-shoulders territory, but for me 4kg is just an average guitar if you're into old Gibsons. With the invention of gourmet coffee making as a profession, people have gotten weaker I guess.

This is like a closet vintage guitar with a bit of use, frets are original and practically new, pickups are original too, this guitar has been unmolested for the last 44 years, which is incredible. I'm an average height man, 174cm, and this guitar to my taste is just too big. Don't take me wrong, it's very comfortable and balanced, while sitting or standing, but still, in my humble opinion, Explorers and the likes, same as Vs and the likes, are guitars to be seen playing while making big movements with the arms, you know, rock star shit. Average people get into these instruments more as nostalgia, or having that thing that connects you to that X player. If I had one, it'd be nice on the wall. That's just me, ok!

For a 44 year old instrument you can tell Ibanez people were already thinking they had to go thin with the necks, this one is going that way, you can see the future ahead in this. But this one isn't thin, more meat than a Gibson Explorer from that era, wider with more shoulders too, but very comfortable.

Hardware is top notch here, same Gotoh quality, though here it's branded Ibanez. I don't have information about Gotoh at the time, I could brave that (former google it), or ask AI, but if I can, so can you, so be my guest. The bridge has lots of room for intonation, tailpiece is easy to string, and tuners work very well for a guitar this old.

Pickups in this guitar are original, Ibanez labeled. I just don't need to look up information about them online, they're just Dimarzio Distortion or Duncan Distortion wannabes, those were the leading pickups of the years, every rock star "needed" them, so Ibanez took inspiration from those pickups. This is talking about the bridge pickup obviously, as for the neck pickup I'd say it's more likely to be PAF inspired or the like. Very good pickups, they're very articulate, they respond well to the picking, nothing to complain about.

Compared to the Gibson of the time (famous James Hetfield Explorer for example), this one seems to be a luxury version of those Gibsons, that's why they were scared. This is a crazy good guitar, the detail is just top quality. The top is beautiful but it's unclear if it's solid or just a veneer, regardless, even that looks amazing.

There's nothing to add here, good guitar, looks good, plays good, what do I have to rant about... nothing! Peace!