Blueprint

[Infiknight]

Hi all,

I'm departing on my first venture into doing any sort of work to my guitar and so far have been picking up a lot of good knowledge from here. Thank you.

The 'project' (its not quite as exciting as many I've seen) is to take my trusty 1994 Ibanez S470 axe and strip the black body down to the mahogany and if its a nice natural effect then I may just clear coat it and go forward with the other little adjustments.

BUT, the problem is that I may also like to add a flamed maple top to it or perhaps a cut from this wood: http://www.woodveneeruk.co.uk/proddetail.p...rod=fiddlemaple I can then coat over and get a nice effect.

Another idea is to put a top on the headstock and body (instead of the maple) from this: http://www.capitalcrispin.com/ebony_macassar.aspx

I realize that I may sound like someone who's picking out visually attractive things but has no idea of the workings

I'm faced with a few problems:

1. Are there any problems using the Ebony maccassar?

2. Getting the accurate measurement for the body and headstock (anyone know where I can get blueprints?)

3. As I don't have the facilities or space where might I look to have the wood cut

4. How to apply the wood on the S470 as its not a flat surface and not symmetrically curved.

5. How to put an inlay into the body/neck

6. How to replace the plastic 'buttons' on the neck

I apologise if I'm asking too much of you but I can't find any info and the closest guitar man to me who is knowledgeable isn't very helpfull (he's after some cash - if I had it I would ask him to take the project on).

Thanks in advance!

[Denis]

Hi all,

I'm departing on my first venture into doing any sort of work to my guitar and so far have been picking up a lot of good knowledge from here. Thank you.

The 'project' (its not quite as exciting as many I've seen) is to take my trusty 1994 Ibanez S470 axe and strip the black body down to the mahogany and if its a nice natural effect then I may just clear coat it and go forward with the other little adjustments.

BUT, the problem is that I may also like to add a flamed maple top to it or perhaps a cut from this wood: http://www.woodveneeruk.co.uk/proddetail.p...rod=fiddlemaple I can then coat over and get a nice effect.

Another idea is to put a top on the headstock and body (instead of the maple) from this: http://www.capitalcrispin.com/ebony_macassar.aspx

I realize that I may sound like someone who's picking out visually attractive things but has no idea of the workings

I'm faced with a few problems:

1. Are there any problems using the Ebony maccassar?

2. Getting the accurate measurement for the body and headstock (anyone know where I can get blueprints?)

3. As I don't have the facilities or space where might I look to have the wood cut

4. How to apply the wood on the S470 as its not a flat surface and not symmetrically curved.

5. How to put an inlay into the body/neck

6. How to replace the plastic 'buttons' on the neck

I apologise if I'm asking too much of you but I can't find any info and the closest guitar man to me who is knowledgeable isn't very helpfull (he's after some cash - if I had it I would ask him to take the project on).

Thanks in advance!

As a fellow newbie, my opinion is that you are trying to do a lot of quite difficult things without a lot of knowledge - That adds up to a load of risks.

Applying veneer has been a very steep learning curve for me, and that was on an uncontoured body. So steep that I decided to forget it. It's even more difficult for you with a contoured body AND inlays. As far as I know, the only reliable way to apply veneer is with a vacuum press, and those are not cheap this side of the pond.

As far as measurements go, youv'e got them - use the S470 as templates. That's what I did wirh my first build, and I intend to use the drawings from the Fender website when I make my next.

I don't want to damp your enthusiasm, but I would do a lot more research and maybe get some cheap veneer from ebay and try out the techniques before getting to grips with your Ibanez.

[fryovanni]

From the post it sounds like you want to strip down a body and give it a face lift (a fresh coat of lipstick). If you want to use thin veneer go look up methods and adhesives for veneering. It is not easy to use, and requires a good bit of understanding and practice to get clean results. Applying to non flat surfaces does add a degree of difficulty. Either way do some searching there are a lot of resources on the web for this.

As far as inlay methods, it depends on the type of inlay you are using, and what the surface you are placing the material in. Are you planning to use pre-cut inlay or cutting your own? A good book on how to inlay will go a long way to figuring out tools, and methods. You can get set up with tools fairly inexpensively, but it requires patience and practice to get clean results. If all you want to do is replace plastic dots. You need to figure out the size of the dots, purchase new dots in whatever material you want to use. Removing plastic dots is not difficult, but you need to be patient, and take care not to damage the surrounding wood. Then replace the dots and level the surface. doing this without removing frets is doable, but will make it a bit more difficult to get a clean polished finish.

Good Luck,

Rich

[Infiknight]

Thank you for getting back to me guys. You're quite right to speculate that the job may be too much for me and given that I don't have the correct tools or experience with them I'm unlikely to go ahead with the veneering. I'll probably have some fun with stripping it and checking out the natural finish

However, I'll also make some phonecalls to see how much a vacuum press may cost in the UK. Anyone have any ideas? I think this way I will at least have the opportunity to cut out the shape for myself and learn a new skill.