ElysianGuitars Posted June 21, 2008 Report Share Posted June 21, 2008 got this in from UPS yesterday, paid 350 for it, shipped. http://www.elysian-online.com/RGA121/RGA121-5.jpg http://www.elysian-online.com/RGA121/RGA121-6.jpg D-Sonic and Air Norton pickups http://www.elysian-online.com/RGA121/RGA121-7.jpg Heres the donor neck, from an RG7421, i put an ebony board on it a long time ago. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ElysianGuitars Posted June 21, 2008 Author Report Share Posted June 21, 2008 (edited) now to fit a square peg in a round hole http://www.elysian-online.com/RGA121/RGA121-10.jpg routed out to fit, though i'm gonna wind up shimming the top side of the route a little bit. used my straight edge to properly align it to centerline. http://www.elysian-online.com/RGA121/RGA121-11.jpg sorry for the blurry fit, my camera's auto focus sucks. the donor neck has countersunk inserts in it, instead of screws, so it uses hex bolts, though i need to get 1 more(i lost one a LONG time ago), and i need to get some black washers to fit. today i'll route out the pickups, and in a week i'll make my decision on bridges. it'll either be an edge pro 7, lo pro edge 7, or tonepros tune-o-matic 7 bridge, just depends on what i can find first. i'll likely go the tonepros route though, as lo pro edge 7's aren't super easy to come by, and i don't want to pay 300 from ibanezrules. the pickups will be a d-sonic 7 for the bridge, and a new7 from an RG7620 for the neck. Edited June 21, 2008 by ElysianGuitars Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ElysianGuitars Posted June 21, 2008 Author Report Share Posted June 21, 2008 just routed the bridge pickup... wanted to leave the island that the stock pickup routes had, so i just routed the outer edge of my template. you can see 2 things in this pic besides that, 1 being that this finish is SUPER thin! i'm not sure why so thin, but its the thinnest Ibanez finish i've come across... just a few swipes with 220 grit can take it right off. the other is that i'm gluing my template right to the finish, gotta love titebond. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ElysianGuitars Posted June 21, 2008 Author Report Share Posted June 21, 2008 could anyone point me to a supplier of very thin veneers i could vacuum bag over the top of this thing? i'd like to give it a burst finish, but the previous owner messed up the top when he put in the petrucci switch and "filled" the oem 5 way switch. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ElysianGuitars Posted June 21, 2008 Author Report Share Posted June 21, 2008 http://www.elysian-online.com/RGA121/RGA121-13.jpg pickups routed, most of the finish is off. the black left on the maple top is just stain, not finish, itd take me a while with 220 grit to get through it(220 grit took all this off, and only took maybe 30 minutes to do, thats how thin this finish is!) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prostheta Posted June 21, 2008 Report Share Posted June 21, 2008 Thin finishes mean less process time in the factory making mass production instruments. Way back when I used to work in a plastics company, we decided to scale down the finish of the Polaroid compacts to two passes rather than the three previously used. Purely an economical decision. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ElysianGuitars Posted June 21, 2008 Author Report Share Posted June 21, 2008 Thin finishes mean less process time in the factory making mass production instruments. Way back when I used to work in a plastics company, we decided to scale down the finish of the Polaroid compacts to two passes rather than the three previously used. Purely an economical decision. thats what i figured. its also not a glossy finish, it was a satin finish, which i think makes it even cheaper for them to finish, no buffing or anything. any tips on where to get thin veneers? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prostheta Posted June 21, 2008 Report Share Posted June 21, 2008 Ebay? Veneer is cheap as anything to buy. You could spend more and buy a nicer, thicker piece of maple perhaps, and do a 1/4" drop top and refinish the headstock whilst you're at it! :-D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ElysianGuitars Posted June 21, 2008 Author Report Share Posted June 21, 2008 Ebay? Veneer is cheap as anything to buy. You could spend more and buy a nicer, thicker piece of maple perhaps, and do a 1/4" drop top and refinish the headstock whilst you're at it! :-D its got a 1/2" maple cap already, its a carved top RGA, and i'd rather not spend all the time to plane the cap off and give it a new one when i'm turning this around to sell for profit... just got the pups in the mail! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ElysianGuitars Posted June 22, 2008 Author Report Share Posted June 22, 2008 (edited) heres a new progress pic, i carved the lower horn a bit. i also sanded off all the rest of the finish, it is now a nude guitar next step is to make a template and route the bridge route out to a much easier to fill rectangle. i've decided this is going to use my RG7421 bridge, with a graphtech acoustiphonic 7 string setup. Edited June 22, 2008 by ElysianGuitars Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scab Posted June 22, 2008 Report Share Posted June 22, 2008 This is an awesome project man! I've always wanted to do this to a guitar, like a cheaper rg though.. All your progress pics look very clean and professional! look forward to seeing more.. Mike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ElysianGuitars Posted June 22, 2008 Author Report Share Posted June 22, 2008 This is an awesome project man! I've always wanted to do this to a guitar, like a cheaper rg though.. All your progress pics look very clean and professional! look forward to seeing more.. Mike with how cheap RG7's are nowadays, its more interesting to do it to models that aren't available as 7's, imo. especially this RGA, mahogany body and 1/2" maple cap, some real quality woods in it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prostheta Posted June 22, 2008 Report Share Posted June 22, 2008 Ebay? Veneer is cheap as anything to buy. You could spend more and buy a nicer, thicker piece of maple perhaps, and do a 1/4" drop top and refinish the headstock whilst you're at it! :-D its got a 1/2" maple cap already, its a carved top RGA, and i'd rather not spend all the time to plane the cap off and give it a new one when i'm turning this around to sell for profit... Ah, didn't realise it had a maple cap and I did't see it was carved....why have Ibanez popped on a non-figured 1/2" maple cap when you can't see the maple through the original finish? That beggars belief. I can't see Ibanez doing it for the purposes of tone.... :-\ I'd love to pick up an Ibanez S body and do exactly what you're doing here, except i'd probably end up making it an eight because i'm silly like that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ElysianGuitars Posted June 22, 2008 Author Report Share Posted June 22, 2008 Ebay? Veneer is cheap as anything to buy. You could spend more and buy a nicer, thicker piece of maple perhaps, and do a 1/4" drop top and refinish the headstock whilst you're at it! :-D its got a 1/2" maple cap already, its a carved top RGA, and i'd rather not spend all the time to plane the cap off and give it a new one when i'm turning this around to sell for profit... Ah, didn't realise it had a maple cap and I did't see it was carved....why have Ibanez popped on a non-figured 1/2" maple cap when you can't see the maple through the original finish? That beggars belief. I can't see Ibanez doing it for the purposes of tone.... :-\ I'd love to pick up an Ibanez S body and do exactly what you're doing here, except i'd probably end up making it an eight because i'm silly like that. actually, the finish is semi transparent, with enough light you can see through it easily, especially the mahogany on the back. there is also another version of the RGA121 with a fully trans finish, so you can see the maple and mahogany in all its glory, i figure the darker one i got is just made the same as the trans one because its easier to make all the guitars exactly the same besides finish. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prostheta Posted June 22, 2008 Report Share Posted June 22, 2008 Entirely plausible as a factory efficiency decision, true. Looking back at the linked photos, I see what you mean about the finish. I don't personally think that it warrants the "prestige" tag as the other prestige instruments i've played (and own) are beautiful instruments. As it stood, that instrument was a little....lacklustre in comparison. Even the finish looked dodgy at best! Ah well, such is entropy. I'll sit here and wait for the prestige II line to be released when they pick up the ball again. That said, the neck looked really nice. I presume you are selling it or saving it for another project? It looks ripe for a good ol' binding job being done on the headstock, fingerboard de-fretted and bound.... :-D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ElysianGuitars Posted June 22, 2008 Author Report Share Posted June 22, 2008 Entirely plausible as a factory efficiency decision, true. Looking back at the linked photos, I see what you mean about the finish. I don't personally think that it warrants the "prestige" tag as the other prestige instruments i've played (and own) are beautiful instruments. As it stood, that instrument was a little....lacklustre in comparison. Even the finish looked dodgy at best! Ah well, such is entropy. I'll sit here and wait for the prestige II line to be released when they pick up the ball again. That said, the neck looked really nice. I presume you are selling it or saving it for another project? It looks ripe for a good ol' binding job being done on the headstock, fingerboard de-fretted and bound.... :-D gonna sell it... i measured it with my digital calipers, and its .715" at the first fret! thats so frigging thin! its .792" at the 12th, not too bad, but man, its a THIN neck. i think the neck and fretwork alone are good for the prestige logo, its got better fret work than any RG i've ever played on, its pretty great to be honest. and for 800, not a bad price for a "prestige" line. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ElysianGuitars Posted June 22, 2008 Author Report Share Posted June 22, 2008 more progress, now i need to pick up some dowel rod, and make a block of maple to fit the spot i just routed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prostheta Posted June 22, 2008 Report Share Posted June 22, 2008 Oh yes, I forgot about the excellent fretwork on the Prestige instruments....silly me.... Your neck is actually *thicker* than my S1540FM, believe it or not! At the 2nd fret, it's something like 17-18mm (0.67" - 0.70") although I couldn't be more accurate without taking the strings off. I presume it's the same radius as mine. They are super necks to play on though. They make my EXPs feel like baseball bats :-\ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ElysianGuitars Posted June 22, 2008 Author Report Share Posted June 22, 2008 plug is made, its a tight fit, there is one area that has a gap, i'll fill it in with some super hard 24 hour epoxy after i sand it flush. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ElysianGuitars Posted June 24, 2008 Author Report Share Posted June 24, 2008 not exactly an update, but a change of plans. now instead of the graphtech ghost setup, i have sourced an Ibanez ZR7 tremelo from an S7320, this thing is gonna rule. in case you aren't familiar with the ZR style tremelos, you can read about them here Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr Brine Posted June 24, 2008 Report Share Posted June 24, 2008 this thing is going to be amazing when you're done, I cant wait to see it finished! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chonker Posted June 24, 2008 Report Share Posted June 24, 2008 (edited) ZR trem is by far my favourite, they are sooo smooth Also some good info on them here: http://www.jemsite.com/news/edge2003/index.htm Edited June 24, 2008 by Chonker Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Donut Man Posted June 25, 2008 Report Share Posted June 25, 2008 You're using a ZR? This is the first time I've ever seen anyone retrofit a ZR7 or even just a ZR! I can tell this will be awesome though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ElysianGuitars Posted June 25, 2008 Author Report Share Posted June 25, 2008 You're using a ZR? This is the first time I've ever seen anyone retrofit a ZR7 or even just a ZR! I can tell this will be awesome though. its gonna be a definite learning process, as i don't really have anything to go on specs wise with the ZR trem. i'm gonna head to guitar center and check out some S's, just to make sure i understand the entire setup before i even touch the body with a router. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dudz Posted June 26, 2008 Report Share Posted June 26, 2008 What do you guys think of the zr trems? Do they alter tone like a floyd or do they have a tone more like traditional trems? this is the only factor that would stop me from using them because I know that the tuning stability is good with them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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