Improving My Ibanez Grg

[Dirge for november]

Hello,

I recently started my second project, being the improvement of my Ibanez GRG 170DX. The guitar has always sounded quite crappy, and since the results of my previous project where so good, I never play it anymore. I wanted new reasons to want to play it again, as the neck is quite alright and so is the design.

I plan to do a swirl dip in red and black, covering the scratch plate and pickup cover (that is yet to be made). Because I had great urge to (My other guitar is in another country right now with my parents) I soldered the guitar together temporarily. Basically the changes made up till now:

1 p-90 (seymour duncan SP90-3) instead of HSH setup.

Scalloped last four frets as on a JEM to find out if I like it scalloped.

Different buttons (fender style, as on more expensive Ibanez guitars).

I encountered one problem on the way up till now:

The P-90, that is definitely a bridge edition, isn't lined out with the strings. The strings are wider spaced then the pole pieces. Basically the e strings are situated at the outer edge of the pole piece screws. Any idea how this can be possible? Besides this the guitar still sounds great, though I don't have enough volume/body on the thinner strings.

Pictures coming up as soon as I have access to a camera!

Edited August 18, 2008 by Dirge for november

[Prostheta]

I would spend the time getting it playing well first of all before you go applying a new finish or whatever as you may end up modifying the instrument to do so. Low end Ibanez models are generally decent quality for the money so you probably won't need to modify it really. Firm foam rubber under the pickups, new pickups, a setup and you should be good to be honest.

All in all, a very recoverable project - take the time and you'll have two nice instruments!

[Dudz]

your problem with the pole pieces not matching up is probably because the tremolo could be floyd spaced as I've heard somewhere that all ibanez trems use floyd rose string spacing even though they are not floyds. This means you would need to install a floyd spaced pickups for the pole pieces to match up with the strings. This might not be right but is most likely the problem from what I know becaus the neck pickup on a fixed guitar of mine is floyd spaced and it doesn't match up very well. You're ideas seem pretty good so far keep it up.

[Dirge for november]

Thanks for the feedback!. I'm sure that's exactly the problem I'm encountering. Is there any objection to moving the bridge configured pickup to middle position? (output wise) Because this would also greatly diminish the problem. I bought this pickup for this guitar, so I'm not really planning to put more money into it then planned beforehand.

@prostheta, I totally agree, and that is basically what i'm doing.

Edit: I've already had to modify the guitar to fit the p-90 soapbar of course

Edited August 18, 2008 by Dirge for november

[psw]

Hmmm...a p-90 is an odd choice for something like this and modding it to fit seems a little...well potentially messy. You know if you must jump on the P-90 thing (a bit of a fad I expect lately) you could have got a P-90 in a HB format that could have dropped right in and allowed swapping back to an HB later if you must.

I take it that along with the P-90 you are leaving the other pickups in it?

Anyway...P-90's are gibson pickups and have a much smaller string spread than a fender or similar tremolo equiped guitar. Ever noticed how EVH twisted his HB on the Frankenstein strat of his...this was not for tone, looks or lazyness...this was so he could at least get the outer poles to line up with the strings...of course, with a p-90 being a single coil (and often noisy too!) this is not going to be possible only making the string spread worse.

Not to worry...if it is only a little out, it will still pickup the vibrations of the strings...you don't notice a huge drop-out when strings are bent after all. Perhaps you will get them all a little off centre to even them out when the pickup is installed...you don't have much choice anyway.

I am really pushing playing with setup and intonation at the moment...nothing sounds as good as a guitar that plays in tune and suits your style...regardless of fancy electronics, pickups or paint job. A guitar like this is perfect for practicing all these little tweaks that make a guitar play really well and since you will be having to take it all apart, now is your chance to learn all you can...pretty soon you will be messing with this all the time...I just readjusted my main guitar again as I have been playing a lot lately and my finger strength is growing. Changing things like string gauge and action can dramatically change your "style" and is a bit of a rut buster too!

As for a swirly paint...I think there might be a tutorial here somewhere...sounds like a difficult proposition to get it to look good. Putting a pickguard on it is a little odd...and then painting the guitar and it sounds like a disaster waiting to happen...I know it would be if I tried it...satch did some fine work on his guitars with a felt pen you know if you want to reconsider...just a thought!

pete

[Dirge for november]

Okey thanks for the long reply!

The reason I picked a p-90 soapbar instead of a humbucker sized one is the way it looks. I definitely think it looks cool and recognisable such a pickup in a modern guitar like this. I'm leaving out all the other pickups, which is the biggest reason for needing a pickguard. This shouldn't tone down the look too much, as most more expensive Ibanez guitars have them. The empty space that belonged to the neck humbucker can later be used for the sustainer experiment I want to try somewhere in the future.

I'm not planning on spraying the thing including the pickguard, I'll do those seperate. I plan on dipping the whole thing though, as the pattern can then continue.

As you mentioned, this is exactly what you said, an experiment/training exercise. I already learned quite a lot from it.

The only work that needed doing to fit the p-90 was extending the humbucker hole to the same width as where the adjustment screws are usually located. I did this quite successfully with a chisel. It does need a pickguard to make it look proper, but I knew this from the start.

I don't understand your point about not being able to angle a single coil as its noisy, could you elaborate on this? (as I actually had a light bulb moment when you mentioned it (my thinner strings sound a bit bodyless)).

One last question: what does a fad mean? As I'm foreign I don't quite understand. Does it mean like a temporary fashion?

Edit: I didn't know about gibson vs. the rest string spacing. Explains a lot. Thanks

Edit 2: LOL, i'm being quite stupid. Of course changing the angle of the pickup only worsens the situation . It was late yesterday

Edited August 18, 2008 by Dirge for november

[Dirge for november]

Okey, I still had a wilkinson wraparound laying about for my next project, and as I believe it is also suitable as a replacement piece for a les paul junior, which also has a p-90, though a dog ear. I compared the string spacing of the wraparound with the trem. on my ibanez, and it seems it has exactly the same string spacing.

[Dirge for november]

I spoke to some more people about it, and they reckon the same as the above, so "seeming exactly the same" probably was just seeming. Anyhow, it sounds fine, and I'm not complaining.

UPDATE: I took it apart again to continue the work. I hand sawed the scratchplate yesterday. It still looks very shaky, but I guess this can be solved with some filing. The swirl testing hasn't come along very far, as Borax is unavailable in my country, I asked the question over at the finishing section, yet if you read this instead, do you know any suitable substitution for Borax?

When I get the time I'll post some progress pictures.

Cheers