10pizza Posted August 15, 2017 Author Report Share Posted August 15, 2017 Time to get back to this topic. I still had my original Ibanez 440 body and neck lying around in my room. When I came back from Nicaragua early July I thought it to be nice to clean up my workspace and finish this project. Goals: keep cost low by using materials at hand Practice doing a spraycan finish with cheap paint with Tundraman's tutorial test new tools acquired from TMI (greece) Work needed: sand body to a refinishable state fill middle pickup cavity fill small dings/chips with filler and sand again spray primer, finish and clear lacquer refret the neck install used edge trem, tuners and electronics available in the following posts some pics with my comments/lessons learned attached in this post the body after initial sanding. The top still has the epoxy base layer on, the back doesn't. It was hell to remove it and with it came a lot of chips of wood, doing more damage to the body than good. so I decided to leave the rest of the epoxy layer and sand it smooth with the rest. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
10pizza Posted August 15, 2017 Author Report Share Posted August 15, 2017 next step: filling the middle pickup cavity. I used MDF wood to do this. Made a snug fit and glued it in. afterward I used filler a couple of times to get it smoothened out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
10pizza Posted August 15, 2017 Author Report Share Posted August 15, 2017 next step: primer I got a cheap can of spraying primer from a local budget store. It worked reasonably well, but major lesson learned: DON"T BE CHEAP ON PRIMER! I should have got me an extra can which I learned later on in the process... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
10pizza Posted August 15, 2017 Author Report Share Posted August 15, 2017 I sanded the body down after spraying the primer. I had to revisit a few places with some filler as well as the body dropped from the hanger .... After doing some more priming I sanded it down to a smooth top which looked perfect at the time for the final finish. I always wanted a neon-yellow guitar ( I predict a revival of 80's hair metal and neon-coloured guitars ! ) and I still had a can of neon-yellow spray paint available. Unfortunately I couldn't find a second can of the same colour/make so I had to do with just one. I've learned from spraying in the past to take it easy, and following Tundraman's tutorial went ok. Sprayed outdoor in my wood-store shed. Even wore a mask! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
10pizza Posted August 15, 2017 Author Report Share Posted August 15, 2017 My last finishing project I ended up with a clear coat being too thin, so this time I used 2 cans of clear spray lacquer and I let it cure for 2 weeks. In the mean time I started with refretting. I found out I already re-radiused the fretboard to 250mm so I could immediately start with the fret installation. Recently I acquired some tools from ebay from a shop in Greece called TMI. I got a fret-rocker, a sanding beam and a fret-press caul set which I used for this job. Previously I used my selfmade fretcaul holder, but this thing is much better! nice grooved cauls that make the job quite easy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
10pizza Posted August 15, 2017 Author Report Share Posted August 15, 2017 next step: flat sanding, crowning and finishing of the frets under supervision of our daughter Isabel I use my dremel tool to cut the frets even with the fretboard. After that I use my angled file to file them at an angle. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
10pizza Posted August 15, 2017 Author Report Share Posted August 15, 2017 Next: polishing. I used 1000grit to wetsand, followed by 1200 grit. Again I found the clear coat to be too thin in places, so I stopped there and switched to machine polishing. most of the places it turned out really nice, but here's where I found out that I should have done a better job on the primer and next time get 2 cans of finishing spray at minimum. Especially at the horns the finish is just not smooth enough and in several places you see the 'orange peel ' effect. From a distance though it looks just fine so I should use it just in great venues with a stage distant from the crowd Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
10pizza Posted August 15, 2017 Author Report Share Posted August 15, 2017 In the mean time I scored a couple of Dimarzio pickups from an auction site for good price and I went through my cabinet for some leftover electronics. I had to order studs and bolts from Germany (meinl) as I didn't have them with the Edge trem I scored a few years ago. Man, this stuff is really overpriced..... Got to try making my own sometime. so here's the end result with specs: Ibanez R440 body with Ultra neck 250mm Radius with jumbo frets Dimarzio AT-1 humbucker and Dimarzio Fast Track pickups Ibanez Edge III trem 1 volume, 1 tone with High pass filter and Coil splitter as used on Ibanez JS series GHS .09 set of strings As this is a used guitar with mostly used hardware I'm ok with the end result. If I'm going to do a new-build with a spray-finish, I'll have to do a better job. Learned a lot from this one though to help me improve! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr Natural Posted August 15, 2017 Report Share Posted August 15, 2017 3 hours ago, 10pizza said: under supervision of our daughter Isabel I see your trip was successful. Congrats DADDY! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
10pizza Posted August 15, 2017 Author Report Share Posted August 15, 2017 14 minutes ago, Mr Natural said: I see your trip was successful. Congrats DADDY! yes! thanks @Mr Natural! Spent 4,5 months in Nicaragua. Great experience. very nice country and a beautiful girl went back with us! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prostheta Posted August 15, 2017 Report Share Posted August 15, 2017 Congratulations, and you're an inspiration for doing such a humanist act. My hat is off to you. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RestorationAD Posted August 15, 2017 Report Share Posted August 15, 2017 3 hours ago, Prostheta said: Congratulations, and you're an inspiration for doing such a humanist act. My hat is off to you. +1 And nice choice of colors. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GregP Posted August 16, 2017 Report Share Posted August 16, 2017 That neon is too cool. Thanks for sharing this build! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
10pizza Posted April 20, 2020 Author Report Share Posted April 20, 2020 Follow up on this thread: I had 2 of these ibanez guitars. First one was done in yellow. Started work on the second one this year and had some help from two local artists this will also be a JS-style but with special painted finish (like the JS-ART models) What will be different on this one : radius. I finished the fretboard with 10" radius. frets: will use narrow jumbo frets this time. Got some new fretwire supplied by Rockinger in Germany pickups: I got a nice deal on a Sustainiac Stealth Pro kit, so I'll be installing that in the neck position. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prostheta Posted April 20, 2020 Report Share Posted April 20, 2020 Now that's a great job for being stuck at home! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
10pizza Posted April 20, 2020 Author Report Share Posted April 20, 2020 16 minutes ago, Prostheta said: Now that's a great job for being stuck at home yeah, my son had to do a drawing assignment, so I gave him this alternative job fun to share this project with the kids! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prostheta Posted April 20, 2020 Report Share Posted April 20, 2020 Hand painting a JS is Satch approved, so on that basis it gets my approval also. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JayT Posted April 20, 2020 Report Share Posted April 20, 2020 Great job! I think the end results are better than to be just "ok with" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
10pizza Posted April 20, 2020 Author Report Share Posted April 20, 2020 6 minutes ago, JayT said: Great job! I think the end results are better than to be just "ok with" thanks @JayT I am actually very pleased with it, The finish just could have been done better. I'm currently finishing the second one and it's a lot better! As in the tutorial : you gotta make sure your primingcoat is smooth as a billiards table!. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bizman62 Posted April 20, 2020 Report Share Posted April 20, 2020 6 hours ago, 10pizza said: fretwire supplied by Rockinger in Germany Is that sort of a wordplay? Rock in Ger(many)? Using child labour is also very recommandable as long as their smiles are that broad! And I just love your floors! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
10pizza Posted April 20, 2020 Author Report Share Posted April 20, 2020 haha, actually Rockinger is a supplier of guitar parts & tools in Germany, so no wordplay intended by me here, but they might have intended it that way yeah, ha. Never looked at it like that! the floors are the original floors from 1913 which we refinished, thnks 8 minutes ago, Bizman62 said: Using child labour is also very recommandable as long as their smiles are that broad! not smiling when they have to sand pickup and control cavities ! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
10pizza Posted May 5, 2020 Author Report Share Posted May 5, 2020 Last week I finished the body with clearcoat and sanded/polished it. Also I mounted all the hardware. Had to order a new locking nut as I apparantly used the original for another guitar. Spent about 1,5hrs soldering 18 wires for the Sustainiac installation. Was able to test it, it is FUN! hopefully this week I'll receive the special knobs and the new nut so I can finish it this weekend and show you guys the end result. I'm pretty pleased with it myself. going to have lots of fun playing this one i think! to be continued. ps. I did manage to timetravel back to 1998 this morning in my Audi TT (ime machine) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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