| 540S Black Cherry (1988) (more images) | 
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- For the post-1992 540S, see S540.
The 540S is an S series solid body electric guitar model introduced by Ibanez in 1987. It was originally called the PRO540 Saber as part of the Roadstar II/Roadstar Pro series
It was the initial model in what would come to be known as the S series. The series is distinguished by the sleek double cutaway body shape which is arched on the top and back resulting in a fairly light guitar with thin edges.
The 540S features a mahogany body bolted to a maple Wizard neck with a 22-fret rosewood fretboard with dot position markers. It uses IBZ/USA pickups made by DiMarzio with a humbucker mounted in a pickup ring at the bridge and single-coils (which Ibanez describes as "vertical humbucking" pickups) in the middle and neck positions. Components include a double locking tremolo bridge with a locking nut and Gotoh tuning machines.
The 540S has a traditional bolt-on neck joint with a stamped metal plate.
For 1991 the original Edge tremolo was replaced by the new low-profile version.
The 540SL is a left-handed version. The 540SFM is a similar model with a flame maple top. The 540SLTD is a similar model with a humbucking pickup in place of the single-coil in the neck position (i.e. HSH pickup configuration).
In 1992 a new version of the 540S was sold alongside this model in the United States. The new version has a humbucker replacing the single-coil pickup in the neck position and a maple fretboard. For 1993 the HSH version would be renamed the S540 and continued while this HSS version of the 540S was discontinued.
Specifications
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Controls
Before it was equipped with the now common five-way lever pickup selector, the 540S had individual on/off switches for each of its three pickups. On the 1987 models, the volume pot had a push/pull switch for coil tapping the bridge humbucker.
For 1988, this functionality was provided via a three-way toggle (position 1: off; position 2: coil tap; position 3: on) in the RG560 sold in the United States. In the 1988 European RG560 these three switches are replaced by a five-way lever. This simplified 5-way switch approach was adopted worldwide in 1989.
Images
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Sources
- 1987 PRO540 dealer sheet (page 2)
- 1988 Europe catalog (pages 10–11)
- 1989 Japan catalog (page 11)
- 1990 USA catalog (pages 10–10B)
- 1991 Europe catalog (pages 22–23)
- 1992 USA catalog (pages 16–17)
