82DeanZ Posted October 2, 2004 Report Share Posted October 2, 2004 (edited) Hi all, I've always loved my JS series Ibanez guitars (I have two JS1000's - a Black Pearl and a Brunt Transparent Blue). One of my favorite JS guitars in terms of looks is the JS6 which can be viewed at Rick Beatty's site here: http://www.excaliberstudio.com/js6.html Unfortunately, this guitar is no longer being produced. Therefore, I thought it would be a great second project for me. I finished a JEM replica not too long ago and I thought this would offer additional challenge with the radiused edges. I already had a glued up blank composed of two pieces of authentic Honduran Mahogany. I used the readily available plans for the Ibanez Radius. Here is a sample picture of my progress so far: Here is a link to a couple of other progress pictures: Additional Progress Pictures The outline was of course done with a bandsaw. The radiusing was done with a spokeshave and two surforms (rat tail and plane) followed by 100 grit on a rubber block. Like the Ibanez JS6, it will be a hard tail. It will also be tung oiled like the JS6. However, I'm not sure if I'll go with the chrome hardware or perhaps gold or black cosmo. What do you guys think? Thanks for looking! Best Regards, Mike. Edited October 2, 2004 by 82DeanZ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scott Rosenberger Posted October 3, 2004 Report Share Posted October 3, 2004 Looks Great! Now you've got me wanting one Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
82DeanZ Posted October 3, 2004 Author Report Share Posted October 3, 2004 Thanks Scott! Now you've got me wanting one Go for it! I'm sure you could knock one out pretty fast. Best Regards, Mike. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
krizalid Posted October 4, 2004 Report Share Posted October 4, 2004 I think gold hardware would look fine on the tung oil finish. But if it's mine, i'll use the black cosmo hardware. Definitely look cool... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jon Bell Posted October 4, 2004 Report Share Posted October 4, 2004 Looks great. I'd go with black hardware I think it would compliment the dark wood nicely. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RGGR Posted October 4, 2004 Report Share Posted October 4, 2004 Looking very good. My compliments. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
82DeanZ Posted October 4, 2004 Author Report Share Posted October 4, 2004 Well, that's two votes for black! Honestly, that's the direction I was leaning as well. I played around with the Virtual Guitar online program and decided I liked the black hardware best. I'll try and post screen captures of the Virtual Guitars in the next day or two. RGGR: Thanks! I'm watching your thread to see how yours is going. Any more progress? You're doing the body shaping now I think. Man, that sure is a lot of work, right? On mine I think I am going to thin down the horns a little bit and deepen the lower cutaway some more and then I'll be done with the shaping. Would love to see some more pics of your guitar! Best Regards, Mike. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RGGR Posted October 4, 2004 Report Share Posted October 4, 2004 (edited) RGGR: Thanks! I'm watching your thread to see how yours is going. Any more progress? You're doing the body shaping now I think. I'm still waiting for my router bits to arrive from the US. Should be here any minute. Can't wait to dig in. You can understand that with a more than normal interest I have read your thread. ;-) This is also the first time I've seen a JS body done on this site. There are a couple of refinish projects available online but hardly any scratch projects. I like the work you have done so far. Sometimes I wish I could move along some faster, but I guess this will be one of those 2 year projects. (like first build done in 2 years, second one in 4 months, third one in 3 weeks.......) Keep us posted how things move along, how far along are you with the neck, or are you gonna give a secondhand JS neck a re-run??? Oh!.....and natural finish with gold hardware looks very classy, if you're after that kinda look. Black looks the business too. PS. How much for that model airplane??? ;-) Edited October 4, 2004 by RGGR Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
darren wilson Posted October 4, 2004 Report Share Posted October 4, 2004 That's looking awesome! Great work! I love the JS6/6000. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hyunsu Posted October 5, 2004 Report Share Posted October 5, 2004 Wow.. i think your guitar body will make really good sound.. good wood.. good luck.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
82DeanZ Posted October 5, 2004 Author Report Share Posted October 5, 2004 (edited) That's looking awesome! Great work! I love the JS6/6000. Thanks Darren. I know you're a big Ibanez fan since I'm pretty sure I see you over at JEMSITE all the time! Wow.. i think your guitar body will make really good sound.. good wood.. good luck.. Kamsahamnida! Thank you Hyunsu! Compared to the woods you get, mine is merely pedestrian! I will do my best. RGGR Wrote: Sometimes I wish I could move along some faster, but I guess this will be one of those 2 year projects. (like first build done in 2 years, second one in 4 months, third one in 3 weeks.......) I know exactly what you mean. My first project took almost five months! This one so far has taken me two Saturdays worth of effort. how far along are you with the neck, or are you gonna give a secondhand JS neck a re-run??? I have a very nice piece of Birdseye Maple for the neck. This weekend I ordered three fretboards from warmoth (Birdseye Maple, Indian Rosewood and Ebony - probably go with the Rosewood, although the Ebony might look nice too) and a truss rod from Stew Mac so I can get started on the neck as soon as everything arrives. Shouldn't be more that a week or so. I'll try and take more progress photos for this project. By the way, I like the way your neck looks. I think for my next project I will try a laminate neck. They look so cool. PS. How much for that model airplane??? ;-) Not for sale! Too much fun! Actually, the experience of building R/C models came in handy when I started building guitars. It gave me experience working with CA and Epoxies, sanding and even finishing skills. Best Regards, Mike. Edited October 5, 2004 by 82DeanZ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RGGR Posted October 5, 2004 Report Share Posted October 5, 2004 I can get started on the neck as soon as everything arrives. Shouldn't be more that a week or so. I'll try and take more progress photos for this project. By the way, I like the way your neck looks. I think for my next project I will try a laminate neck. They look so cool. I think so too. Saw couple examples online and then Marcel's cool 7 string. Later I found out that the K7's have a laminated neck too. My neck currently is waiting for her date with a bandsaw. I hope they get along. PS. How much for that model airplane??? ;-) Not for sale! Too much fun! What is it, an Extra 300??? Looking at the wing profile. Good luck with your neck. It's gonna have the regular 22 frets???? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fresh_Blood Posted October 5, 2004 Report Share Posted October 5, 2004 Hey, can you check length and width of the body of ibanez radius for me? I'm going to do one and have plans but can't understand measurements written there... Except that, hi to all. That is my first post on the board. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RGGR Posted October 5, 2004 Report Share Posted October 5, 2004 (edited) LOL!!! What length and what width? There are multiple on a Radius you know!! Why don't you just print the plans on 1:1 scale and make MDF template out of it. (or piece of paper for that matter). And why can't you understand the measurements, they are all on the plans. (1 inch = 25.4mm). Or are jpg's or dwg files not clear enough??? Here is link to original plans: http://www.speakeasy.org/~sven/site/radius.html Edited October 5, 2004 by RGGR Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
82DeanZ Posted October 6, 2004 Author Report Share Posted October 6, 2004 RGGR, What is it, an Extra 300??? Looking at the wing profile. Good luck with your neck. It's gonna have the regular 22 frets???? The plane on the stand is called a Dazzler made by Great Planes. It does in fact have a very large airfoil surface area which make for some killer acrobatics (think 3D). In a couple of the pictures you might see the remains of an Extra 300 which met a rather untimely and spectacular end when the wing mount broke loose mid flight. However, I have a direct replacement which I have yet to build which you can see in one of the pictures if you look closely. Yes, the neck will be the standard 22 frets. I'm trying to decide between rosewood and ebony for the fretboard. I'll be putting a graphtech nut and Planet Waves Autotrim tuners on it and a Hipshot hardtail bridge. Here is a close up of the Birdseye blank: The dimensions of the blank are 73.5 in long by 4 in wide by 15/16 in thick. Should be enough for two necks easily. Best Regards, Mike. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RGGR Posted October 6, 2004 Report Share Posted October 6, 2004 I'm trying to decide between rosewood and ebony for the fretboard. I like the feel of Rosewood, I like the look of Ebony. The dark wood of Ebony can really bring out the look a the guitar. I'm using chrome hardware and a Candy apple top coat, so I went for Ebony. You mentioned keeping the body without any top coat, so I think Rosewood will look better. Darn, seeing all those JSsssss is so exciting. ;-) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
82DeanZ Posted October 17, 2004 Author Report Share Posted October 17, 2004 Well, after not feeling well for a week or so I finally got back to work on my JS6 replica. I had purchased a nice piece of birdseye for the neck, but found out that it had a slight twist to it (see this discussion: http://projectguitar.ibforums.com/index.php?showtopic=11593). David Myka and Frank Falbo were kind enough to encourage me to have a go at straightening the blank out with my jointer and planer. I was able to flatten the blank quite well using just the jointer by being careful to pull the blank across the blade and not allowing it to corkscrew across. It's nice to know that something like this can be corrected. Here is a picture of the straightened blank after routing the truss rod channel. Looks like I'll get some nice figuring out of the blank as you can see. To the left you see the 3 fingerboards I picked up at Warmoth. For this neck I'm pretty sure I'll go with the Indian Rosewood (to be more true to the JS6). The Birdseye and Ebony fretboards sure are tempting though! I also picked up 4 necks worth of Dunlop 6105 as you can see as well. I'll be glueing the fretboard tonight or tomorrow. Thanks for looking! Best Regards, Mike. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
82DeanZ Posted October 17, 2004 Author Report Share Posted October 17, 2004 I went ahead and glued the Rosewood fretboard to my neck blank. Here's the pre-glue taping: Here's the picture of the fretboard glued and clamped: http://www.pariah-now.com/Guitar%20Build%2...ret%20Board.jpg Looks like I'll be ready to cut the outline tomorrow. Then all I have to do is the inlays, the frets, the back shaping, the headstock shaping....man necks sure a lot of work! Best Regards, Mike. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mahelcaya Posted October 17, 2004 Report Share Posted October 17, 2004 (edited) Beautiful work ! I always loved that model of Ibanez ! Edited October 17, 2004 by Mahelcaya Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
82DeanZ Posted October 17, 2004 Author Report Share Posted October 17, 2004 Thanks Mahelcaya!. O.K., today I rough cut the neck shape. Here is an in progress photo: Here are two more progress photos: Half way there! Done! One thing I noticed is that pencil marks are hard to see on rosewood. Especially after you generate a little sawdust! Next time I'll use a Sharpie to outline the neck cut. I've actually already done this for the final sand-to line. Also, did you notice that huge Swamp Ash blank behind my bandsaw? There's enough there for 3 one-piece blanks. I can't wait to dig into that stuff. As always, thanks for lookin'! Best Regards, Mike. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1nf1d3l Posted October 17, 2004 Report Share Posted October 17, 2004 Well, that's two votes for black! Honestly, that's the direction I was leaning as well. I played around with the Virtual Guitar online program and decided I liked the black hardware best. I'll try and post screen captures of the Virtual Guitars in the next day or two. just a quick question. what is the virtual guitar program??? and the guitars gonna look bitchin when its done. good luck with it Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
82DeanZ Posted October 17, 2004 Author Report Share Posted October 17, 2004 Hey thanks! Virtual guitar is an online configurator which lets you see what different combinations of options look like on a guitar. It is kind of cartoonish, but stills gives you a pretty good idea of what the guitar would look like. Here's the link: http://www.usacustomguitars.com/virtualguitar.html Best Regards, Mike. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1nf1d3l Posted October 17, 2004 Report Share Posted October 17, 2004 dude thanks!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
krazyderek Posted October 17, 2004 Report Share Posted October 17, 2004 great job on the body!! looking forward to seeing the completed guitar, and i vote chrome for the hardware, and use domb knobs too Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
82DeanZ Posted October 18, 2004 Author Report Share Posted October 18, 2004 Thanks Derek! O.K., so that's two for black and one for chrome. I've actually got the hardware for gold and black (including dome knobs by the way). I might as well get some chrome hardware since I'll be using it sooner or later anyway (besides the one-piece swamp ash I have a basswood blank, another mahogany blank and a super light two-piece swamp ash blank ready to go). Thanks for checking in on me Derek. Best Regards, Mike. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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