Found this puppy on Craigslist last night, went to look at it today, and was offered a deal I couldn't refuse.

It's an Ibanex Axstar AXB50 4 string. These have been called both the "Poor Man's Philip Kubicki Factor" and "Steinberger better than Steinberger".

They were made in the mid-80's during the headless bass trend. There's also a 5 string model, one with active humbuckers, and this one with passive humbuckers.

I read a few articles on them before contacting the seller, and most people say the same thing: that the bass is one of the fastest, easiest playing basses they've ever known.

It's a 34" scale, 24 fret, and has a small body (similar in shape to a Spector actually). The body is Basswood, the neck 1 piece Maple, and the fretboard Rosewood. The humbuckers are really hot to be passive, and the tone is quite nice; the controls are silent, and there is nary a buzz, crackle, or squeal (not bad for a 25+ year old bass). The neck is faster than my Fender Standard Jazz, and way easy to play. These seem to sell for $300-$500 on the used market, and I got mine for less than 1/2 the low end, so I'm kind of stoked.






Looks like mine is an '86. Really a pretty sweet bass for well under $200.

Yup. They had the Axstar guitars & basses.
The Roadstar guitar & basses
The Lonestar electric acoustics
The Artstar guitar

There may have been others.

The Axstar was made in 85 & 86.

I sued to own a Lonestar


I wish I still had it....the guy I sold it to sold it off. Awesome guitar...got great acoustic sounds, played like a Les Paul, and you could play it through an amp and it had almost as much grit and gain as a solid body electric.