Craig

Excellent job! What kind of finish did you use? I'm currently researching the finishing process and I have no idea what to use. Not even sure on what I want the final paint job to be, or color. I'd like something unique though.

Man that is one seriously hacked body.Good to see that you are willing to put the effort into it.I also repair abused guitars for practice and experimental finishes.What finish do you plan for this? Rich

yea, the body was in really bad shape. I had to grind out some of the burned wood where the guy had tried to use a heat gun to strip the paint.

The neck should be here this week.

I'm doing the routing this week for the cavity filling, and hope to have that part done by the end of the week.

I'm still debating on finishes. I don't really want anything fancy, just a solid color, or maybe a matte finish. I still have a lot of research to do on finishes, so it might be a few more weeks before I get started on the finish. I'll definitely keep pics updated.

Rich... do you have pics of guitars you've repaired? I'll do a search and see what I can find.

Any suggestions on the finish for my guitar are welcome. There are so many things that could be done.

I got this Ibanez RG570 body that I'm refurbishing into a PGM301 style.

This body was kind of hacked. It was already semi converted to a hardtail, but I plan on routing that out like the tutorial on this website. Let me know what you think. This is my first attempt ever at repairing/rebuilding.

http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/cdenney1274/album?.dir=/29c7

Hey there...you may want to check those links...I just get to a main page asking for a members password...not the actual picture!!! pete

Thanks! I tried it and it worked ok. How can I post the pics here directly?

This started out as an Ibanez RG570. The body was in really bad shape. I stripped the paint (still have a little more to do), grinded out the bad wood and filled in the wood deficiencies.

http://www.ripway.com/members/getfile.asp?...;project1%2Ejpg

http://www.ripway.com/members/getfile.asp?...;project3%2Ejpg

http://www.ripway.com/members/getfile.asp?...;project4%2Ejpg

http://www.ripway.com/members/getfile.asp?...;project6%2Ejpg

Body work:

http://www.ripway.com/members/getfile.asp?...092;body7%2EJPG

http://www.ripway.com/members/getfile.asp?...92;body12%2EJPG

http://www.ripway.com/members/getfile.asp?...92;body13%2EJPG

http://www.ripway.com/members/getfile.asp?...92;body14%2EJPG

I just finished stripping an RG body, and I had great results with a palm sander and 80 grit sandpaper. I tried the stripper first, but it didn't do a THING to that clearcoat. After the clearcoat was gone I went down to 120 grit paper to take the paint and primer off. Looks great!!

The guy who had this "project body" before me tried the heat gun thing. It burned some of the wood which I had to grind out with a Dremel. After it was all done I filled the missing wood and gouges with Bondo. If it wasn't for the color of the Bondo, you wouldn't have known that body had some serious damage to it.

Really, I think each of those strings has a distinclty different sound, earnie balls v. GHS strings inparticular sound extremely different. But maybe its just me, theres a lot of factors at play when it comes to strings.

Maybe my ears aren't that finely tuned I just seem to notice a bigger difference in feel than I do sound. I think GHS strings are much better than they used to be. That's mainly what I use now.

Nitefly is right, Fender strings definitely stay in tune. I only use Fender strings now on my Strat and Tele. I did notice a big difference in sound when I used Fender strings on Fender guitars. They actually sound like Fenders!

there still seems to be some red paint underneath it.

Filler? just a guess. I have seen red automotive filler before.

Good luck with the project!

It's mostly on the inside of the horns, where it's hard to sand. But I've gone through the clear coat, paint and the primer. I was just wondering if I should even bother sanding it, and if I could primer over top of it. It can clearly see the grain of the wood, that's why I was wondering if it was just stained from the paint.

I bought the body of an Ibanez RG570 that was in pretty bad shape. Apparently the guy who had the body tried to strip the paint himself using a heat gun, which burnt some of the wood pretty bad. Bad enough that I had to grind out the burnt wood with a Dremel just to get down to some healthy wood. I filled the gouges with Bondo, and I must say, for my first project like this it's looking pretty good. I've taken some photos of the construction that I'll post when I'm a little further into it.

I'm basically making my own Ibanez PGM301. I filled in the volume pot hole, so I'll just use the normal tone pot hole and put in a 500K volume pot. The trem cavity was already filled in, but not to my liking. I plan on routing the cavity like the tutorial from this website. My router should be here any day now. I found a DeWalt 1 3/4hp router with a fixed base, and also comes with a plunge base. I also got some bearing router bits, 3/8" and 1/2". This is one fun project!

One thing I found though, after I stripped the paint and got past the primer, there still seems to be some red paint underneath it. Can paint leech through primer into the wood and stain it? I'm guessing it's stained, because I'm finding it VERY hard to remove and sand off.

I'm learning a lot from this forum. Lots of good info here!!

In my experience of playing for about 17 years now, any string will last a long time if you take care of them. Wipe then down when you're done playing. I use Dunlop string cleaner & conditioner, and I've had the same strings on my guitars for 2 months now. They're still as shiny and sound as good as the first day I put them on.

As long as you go with a high quality string like D'Addario, Ernie Ball, GHS, Dean Markely, even Fender strings are good, you can't go wrong. I don't think there's much difference at ALL in the sound of the above mentioned strings. I think they all feel different though.

I hate changing strings, so I try to get as much life out of mine as possible.

Do you buy your strings at a guitar shop or online? Buying is bulk isn't a bad idea. I believe you can get about 10 sets for a little over $25.

I agree with Setch. The amount of glue "actually used" in the construction of the guitar (any guitar) is miniscule to the amount and density of wood that's actually there. The wood is so tightly compressed, even with 2 and 3 piece bodies or necks that there isn't going to be much, if any, difference in how much the wood actually resonates the sound and gives you your tone. We're not talking about HUGE gaps between the pieces of wood.

I ordered a Dremel last week, it should be here today. I didn't want a Dremel with a battery pack. Battery packs don't last long with anything. I did get a VERY reasonable price. My kit comes with the Flexshaft and 77 piece kit. Looking forward to using it!!