30 year old Ibanez - Can We Save It?
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- Опубликовано: 26 сен 2024
- This is an Ibanez RG470JB from 1994, or at least it was.... It's had a bit of a hard life and is currently just parts. I plan to swirl this guitar and restore it back into playing condition. Join me on the journey.
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Doom Style Industrial Metal
Karl Casey @ White Bat Audio
Music from #InAudio: inaudio.org/
Track Name. Bamboo
I don’t know what it is about working on guitars that attracts cats, but I’m not complaining 🐈
Jazz cats?
maybe they smelled all the hair on that headstock 😂
@@blortslompson2388it’s theirs lol
If I play my guitar at home, I am instantly bombarded by my Mow Mow (that's her name) she crawls up onto my shoulders and then lowers her butt down to my guitar until I can't strum without petting her. ..... She's insane.
I have to close the door if I want to practice - and we cat owners all know how well closed doors are accepted in the house🙄
I have no personal experience with the INF pickups, however my good friend who is also my own personal Ibanez expert (he's owned a good 30+ over the years) told me they are very very underwhelming. Usable, but underwhelming.
Hey, ho, chap. A few tips (this is the internet so plenty of disagreement I'm sure.)
1, don't Sand to too high a grit or the paint won't take. The dust will fill the grains of the wood and paint won't have anything to stick to. 120-200 is loads, there'll be plenty of sanding later.
2, don't clean with water, use isopropyl alcohol or acetone from the chemist or beautician. You don't want that water trapped inside the wood behind the paint or the wood will misbehave once the paint is sealed.
3, this paint is from the 90s or earlier so use a respirator as the lead content could be high.
4. It looks like you're hand sanding the edges off the pickup cavities and rear belly bevel. Staple the sandpaper to a wooden block or use an orbital sander or the shape will come out a bit uneven.
Have a look at "Gotoh GE1996T Floyd Rose style locking tremolo" if it will fit of course ;)
I really think you should replace the bridge, maybe just for piece of mind.
Way worth the money! I have upgraded one on my RG and it's solid. Very stable and smooth. It should fit no problem, but you need to make some measurements. String and post spacings, size, post etc. You will have to change posts inserts probably and use the original Gotoh posts that came with bridge. Very important.
Came here to second the Gotoh 1996. I have done two into guitars, Ibanez 450 and Schecter Sustainer and it transformed the guitars.
You want to save some money, just get a baseplate and swap your saddles and stuff to the better baseplate. It's only the crappy metal used in the baseplate that you really need to replace🤷
I love the ge 1996t but something doesnt sit right about an ibanez without an edge trem
Those are perfect but i dont think they are drop in replacement
A word of advice on going direct-to-body mount on the pickups... the deep routes on the high/low sides of the pickups are made that deep to have enough room for the long humbucker mounting screws when using a pickguard. If you try to screw into the wood at the bottom of those routes, you risk going through the back of the guitar. I suggest filling those routes by gluing small pieces of alder, mahogany, or maple (something hard) to about 1/2 the depth. That will give you enough wood to screw into without risking going through the back.
This is great advice.
Yeah that's a great point you make there
It's always good seeing old instruments restored and put back into working condition. This is your typical Basswood body Ibby, which is pretty much par for the course on all of them these days. Under that catalysed poly finish, there'll be gobs of nuke-proof filler/sealant. You really don't want to be getting into that, because only bad times exist within. Also, do use a hand flat sanding block on the flat surfaces....finger sanding is a recipe for all sorts of issues around edges and transitions between hard/soft layers of finish. Am watching.
@@HighGainGuitar OMG, a paragraph! 🤦🏻
@scramblesthedeathdealer it was a joke and also you have an awesome pedal collection bro, I wish I had half of the pedals you have
@@HighGainGuitar Gotcha. And thank you. I've been collecting pedals since maybe 1997, trying for a full Boss compact pedal collection one day.
00:20 I thought he was gonna say Glenn LMAO
What a coincidence, I recently bought a quite beaten RG550 from 1994 with the idea of restoring it. That one has an Ibanez Lo-Pro Edge and works brilliantly. AFAIK those Japan-made Ibanez-branded bridges were made by Gotoh. Gotoh's own 1996 floyd rose might be worth checking. Just one thing: don't be so confident that all replacement bridtes have the same measures. Whatever you decide, measure what you have and check the manufacturer's documentation. It will be still over 200€ but if the guitar has been sitting for years, you can wait a little longer and save the money for it. I vote it would be worth it!
I would drop fill any small dents with super glue, and spray it with a compatible primer before the swirl. Makes it easier to start with a nice, flat, smooth surface in the beginning. I like the color swirl you're thinking of doing on it. You could buy Dimarzios in any of the colors of that swirl and it will look awesome.
Colored pickups can really make a guitar "pop" and look really cool.
Bare Knuckles as well
You just can’t beat an rg. Criminally underrated. Better than any fender, better than a les Paul. Best guitar I’ve ever had is a 1999 7 string rg from japan. I used to hate the paint job, but ive grown to love it. I call it “not black”. It’s also the only 7 string linkin park ever used, so that’s cool. I’m building an original swirl jem right now that has a super cool story. Apparently it’s one of the swirls for Steve but he didn’t like how the swirl came out so the painter guy just sold the body to the guy I’m buying it from, and apparently he got in a lot of trouble for selling these, but somehow I scored it. I only go to one guitar shop ever. The owner is the guy who painted the jungle satriani guitar. Coolest looking guitar ever. You gotta check it out.
100K subs are creeping up mate. Well done. Love the channel.
I own a 2003 or so, Prestige, Japanese made, RG 7-string. The stock bridge didn’t stay in tune very well. I replaced it with an original Floyd Rose. It required a small route in the tremolo cavity, though. So I took it to my trusty guitar tech. I don’t have a router or a proper workspace. Since it doesn’t cost much, I would suggest doing that. My tech said they were able to use the original pivot studs. Which he said,was made by Gotoh and are good quality… I would replace the pick ups with DiMarzio PAF ‘59. Dimarzio makes most of Ibanez’s pick ups, so replacing it with top quality DiMarzio’s will be a perfect match. They’re a very tonally balanced and versatile pick up. Korn used them on their Ibanez 7-strings back in the day. You can go from nice cleans to heavy down tuned metal… Hope the project goes well and I can’t wait to see the results… You have a great channel, man keep it up
Love the older RG models, playability, overal build, feel/ how it vibrates. Great guitars.
Can't wait to see it finished.
I also still own one (J RG550), it was my first electric back in the day.
"That's an old, 94 guitar" - that moment I felt old really 😂
The worn denim look is kinda cool.
I was just gonna say, that is a great look,
i would totally keep it.
I like it as well.
Yeah, just finish it with some clear laquer, and maybe brass hardware
I agree. Testament to your teenage tinkering! Relic it up even more on the edges. Lightly sand the deep gouge scratches. Add some linseed or gunstock oil. Or don't!
@@arunkarthikma3121 Worn brass hardware and that denim finish would look awesome! Some kind of "vegan" Solar Cannibalismo :D
I've owned a few Ibanez guitars from the early 90's, quite a lot for how young I am (21).
My first ever Ibanez is a Euro model 93' EX270, a made in Korea entry level model that's the equivalent of the GIOs of today. My dad and I found it when I was 10 for something like the equivalent of 150$, I don't have it anymore and the hardware sucked but it was built incredibly well, not far at all from current WMI produced guitars.
I have gotten since a couple of MIJ guitars from that same era, a 93' RG450 when I was 14 and a 90' 440S at the end of last year, they're just incredible! The 440S is one of my mains and that RG is my favorite for downtuning.
They're built like tanks, they survived through so much at their 30+ years of life, even older than me!
Another thing I like about them so much is that while they can be considered vintage but they're not collectors guitars (except for maybe an original 87' 550 in Desert Sun Yellow), you don't have to worry when you're tinkering with them. On both of my 90's Ibanez guitars I've done some wiring mods while keeping the stock pickups (which I love), and I'm not afraid dinging them and adding to their stories :)
As far as mods go, put Bare Knuckle Nailbomb Alnicos + a True Grit single coil (these are the closest there is to the V1 S1 V2 from the original 550), and put a Gotoh 1996 bridge, it's similar enough to the original Edge and people with old cheaper models usually put this bridge as a replacement for the crappy TRS bridges
Funny story, I did this a couple years back too with my old samick.
I watched a bunch of videos from Colin Scott's channel about painting and finishing, and said to myself, "YeAH, mE tOo!!"
Sanded it down, took everything off it. Had to sand it off again when my first paint attempt flopped. Finished the project in 2022 having started it in 2016 (with some professional help when it became clear I was in over my head in some places.) use it pretty regularly now.
I'm already subscribed, but that cat is awesome, and I would never have been able to say no to it!
Yay new project and 🐈! 🤘🏻🎸😎❤️🔥
Those are original Ibanez Infinity pickups. Definitely keep them.
Yeah keep them. You can always change them later if you want.
I love these kind of videos. I love taking old pawn shop finds and modding the shit out of them. Im actually restarting a very similar project i had to stop about 6 months ago. It's a cheap Epiphone bolt on neck Les Paul Special. I put a belly carve in it, an arm bevel, carved the heel down, recessed neck bolt ferrules to delete the neck plate, and thats where its been for 6 months.
I'd say get a new FR, Some D'Addario Auto-Trim locking tuners, and some black chrome covers on whatever pickup you choose. I don't really know a lot about the types of pickups you'd use in something like that. I know more about the vintage Gibson PAF style clones from Gibson, Seymore Duncan, etc... I'm guessing that kind of sound isnt what you're looking for.
I love the swirl idea and the colors are planning to go with. I swirled an RG7620 a year or two ago and after a bunch of testing it turned out fantastic. Used a 2K clear in a spray can that worked out nicely but it did need 2 cans in my case for some reason. The INF pickups in this guitar are OK but if you're rehabbing this thing going the full nine on the electronics is worth it. I would 100% swap the bridge unless you plan to block it. Whatever kind ya like but if you are partial to ibanez and can make an Edge work thats the move. If you want to go a step further on the neck, Ben Eller has a great video on refinishing the neck with gunstock oil/wax. I did an RG550 and plan on doing my 7620 and other 550 the first one turned out so great. Happy to see you bringing this one back from the dead!
Gotoh bridge and hardware! And I nice 5 way wiring loom
Really liking all the repair / modification videos lately. Excited to see more!
One man's journey, is another man's epiphany! When you sanded down the front of the body, I suddenly realized that for my next Tele build, I want a distressed denim looking body, with white pickguard and gold hardware
I think my friend has/had one of those. 90's Ibanez guitars were awesome.
Dude I have the same guitar! 1994 Korean Samic-made RG470BK. Tuners are among the best I've touched. Neck is perfect. Locked the floyd (a must) and gave her Seymour Duncans and new electronics overhaul (cause you know, budget stuff). Went and gave her a kiss right now. She don't look 30 :D
If you want it to be a super shredder Iyet versatile I'd suggest getting the Brandon Ellis Parallel Axis. It's a hybrid of two magnets, a hot one and a cooler one - mismatched outputs. Which means that it has a really cool sound that cuts really uniquely due to the mismatched coils. Plus it's a parallel axis, it looks cool with the parallel magnets.
I still have my RG470 lefty, which I purchased new from Mansons, Exeter in 1997 for £400. It was my first 'proper' guitar. I remember the bridge being the obvious weak point, even though I'd only being playing for a year. It never returned to pitch correctly. The 'infinity' pickups were also pretty lifeless. I eventually had all the pickups/electronics replaced and the bridge replaced with a Schaller floyd that I found on ebay. I've only kept it for sentimental reasons and never really play it.
Project looking good! I agree with the other commenters on a finding a replacement bridge.
it is possible for these types of knife edges to be brought back to life with a hobbyists file.
As long as the remaining bridge has enough leeway without touching the body,
you can move all saddles back a little.
Three things:
You can always give the bridge a try before replacing it, but I'd wager $500 it's going to audibly and physically "clunk" every time you pull that bar.
About the finishing: You need to invest in a dual-orbital electric sander, you are NOT going to be happy with the results if you rely on hand sanding; it is always going to feel 'amateur' under inspection and to the touch.
Also, you need to paint the body before the swirl. If you want a brighter swirl, start with white yellow or silver. Just dipping the guitar as is is going to result in a pretty drab swirl.
After the fresh sanding it's looking like a well loved pair of jeans! Super excited to see what comes next.
Pro tip, you can use oil based spray paint on a vat of water to do hyrdrodipping if you dont wanna deal with chemicals and things. I've also heard of people using nail polish. Could be some decent options to look into!
I have restored a 270, 370, 450 and 550. old RG's are awesome.
That bridge looks pretty much identical to a Gotoh 1996T. Order it, it's absolutely worth it. Cheap, reliable, easy.
If you consider using the old original bridge you need to deck it so that it can only dive. This would negate any tuning problems with bad knive edges. I do this with a couple of glued cent pieces between body and tremolo block. Good luck!
Gotoh 1996T trem will fit just fine in the guitar.
Hell yeah! Good luck - I just did the same thing to my Ibanez RG from the 90s (first guitar I purchased after mowing a ton of lawns as a kid) I 'restored it' almost back to factory, the old pickups are long gone and I upgraded the other electronics while I was in there.
It is one of my favorite playing guitars, but I could be biased because I spent countless hours on it.
I have a Korean made ibanez s series from the same era. My bridge had the same indents that yours had, so i replaced it with a made in Germany Floyd Rose Bridge. It ended up being one of best purchases I've ever made. It stays in tune super well. I also recommend replacing the nut clamping blocks.
if you want a tip when leveling paint/clear coats or wood, use something hard and flat like a straight block of wood or those hard rubber sanding blocks, it will help to work evenly the surface and results are better !
Nice work bud. Cant wait to see how it ends up
Stoked for the rest of this series
@KDH: A suggestion for you for a tool to polish frets. Look into dremel-like devices that are lower speed, such as ones used in nail salons and such. Sounds weird, but trust me. They can be fitted with various felt buffing wheels and the lower RPMs and smaller profile of the units means better control for things like fret polishing vs full power fat Dremel tools.
Use a bit of automotive metal compound on each fret. A small dab will do. Then have at it with the nail salon dremel tool and buffing wheels.
I've been doing this on all my guitars for a few years and the results are spectacular IMO. Yes, some decent care is needed to avoid contact with the fretboard, but that's easily done since the units I refer to are so easily controlled.
Consider it! A toothpaste tube of good metal polish will last you decades for this useage.
I've seen someone put an original floyd rose on an Ibanez, that might be worth it. Granted it's more than a replacement of the original, but it's a huge step up in quality.
These videos are always fun! I’ve restored a few beat up guitars too. Once it’s finished and playing, it always makes me feel like a sword-smith refinishing a blade 😅
This is gonna be fun!... I used to paint an old JS100 I had every couple of years... Great guitar!. I wasnt brave enough to do a swirl either!. And thats exactly why only a swirl will do for this!... That wzd neck looked great after a bit of a clean, this thing will play!...
Man this brings back a lot of memories... I had one just like that, also a 94 from Samick Korea. Traded it a few years later... I miss it dearly.
You probably know this as well as probably everyone else that reads this, but as far as pickups go if you change the magnet you change the sound to a certain degree, it is a great budget option. Though at the same time it is not needed but probably a wanted improvement, yeah change the pots out to full size, if you need to make room a steady hand and a roughter as long as there is room is the best and cheap way to get that room, a Dremel is second best
Gotoh 1996T is the way to go in terms of an after-market floating bridge for any Ibanez!
If you want to change something, then do so by all means. Don't be concerned about whether or not you 'should' do something, just do whatever you feel is best.
Time to drop a Gotoh in. I have a Samick from 1992 and the bridge still works flawlessly. The only thing I had to change were the tuners because I wanted locking tuners for faster string changes.
I think it would be worth doing an Ebay search for an Ibanez Floyd style bridge as they do vary slightly from the typical Floyd designs. I would definitely swap out those control pots and switch along with the tone capacitor. While changing the capacitor type will not effect the sound, these components do age so a new one which will cost pennies is a reliability investment. From what I have read the Infinity line pickups in this model were not very good so they may be worth changing out if you want this to be a working guitar. Vai uses DiMarzio pickups and if you were after something like what he'd use, it might be worth going that route.
You should check out Kahler's new stuff. Looks awesome. Especially the auto-latch
Looking forward to see more videos about this guitar.
I love Ibanez RGs, I have 7 of them (well, one is in pieces because I used some of the parts to fix up my son's Gio).
Love it. I would put an original Floyd in it with nut. I would change the pickup, machine heads and put on strap locks.
Make sure you sand it to high grit slowly stepping up the grit. Other than that as long as you keep dust off it while painting and curing anything you do to it will look great in the end. I've put back together many I had laying around, used cheap paint and ordered glitter for one and was surprised when I wasnt even really trying. The clear coat in the end is really imprtant.
If you want to upgrade pickups but what to keep the Ibanez vibe and sound, the V1, S1, V2 pickup set sound sweet and you can get them fairly priced. Not to mention, it keeps everything in the family!
Gotoh GE1996 bridge and tonezone & airnorton Dimarzios. Works everytime.
Almost click on "do not recommand" when I saw the title, saying to myself "not another one fake restoration vid"... And then I saw it's from KDH.... Ok, let me get my coffee and listen, watch, learn!
Here's one more vote for the swirl finish
The Gotoh 1996T is generally accepted as THE drop in replacement bridge for these guitars. Hope this helps!
I think holoflashing the body would be tight . Also, if it fits, get a gotoh 1996t for the bridge.
Great content Kieran as always. Replacing ibanez bridges with OFRs or gotohs not always idea,l fit wise. I'd sand/file those grooves in the bridge pivots out a little so they are smooth and not catching. Check no burrs or raggy bits on the posts either. Have a go with it like that with a little 3 in 1 at the contact points . There will still be enough play in the saddles for intonation. If any catching after that, new bridge time...but as I say you will probably need an ibanez, Edge or variant 🤘
Very exciting project! Definitely throw a new Floyd of some kind in there. I'm very excited to see how this turns out
The ebay should have a base plate, perhaps if you want the original vibe, but I like the gotoh floyd very much and I am still a fan of the OFR.
My Roadstar II from 1985 is one of my old riff machines. The frets have to be changed and I also want to change the neck pickup (Seymoure Duncan Sentient humbucker). I already changed the other pickups, a Seymoure Duncan JB humbucker in the bridge and a DiMarzio Satch Track in the middle position. It is still a very good guitar and my first guitar that still let me feel good. The very first guitar was a bad copy of a Stratocaster from East Germany and after buying this Ibanez I have had my first real electric guitar. Today I have 7 different guitars, but I must say that the necks from Ibanez are special and I enjoy to play on these.
Upgrade everything. Especially the bridge and the pickups. I’d suggest gotoh mgt tuners because it makes string changes with the Floyd way quicker and easier. You don’t have to worry about wrapping the string around the tuner to lock the string. Just lock one end, lock the other, cut excess, and tune.
I'm wanting to the same with my first ever guitar, an Ibanez EX from 92. They were definitely budget guitars, but the neck and body are absolutely killer. I'll be upgrading all the electronics and putting a new Floyd in it. I'm looking at getting just silver Floyd and taking it to a local body shop and having it powder coated white which I think would look great with clean white pickups and hardware.
Had an Ibanez RD 550 from the same era it was purple with a purple mirror pick guard. Played and stayed in tune really well. It had the same pickup configuration except i think they were called V1 ect. I really didn't like the pickups unless they were played with gain not great for clean. Also the neck i liked the Wide fingerboard but not the thin neck just didn't work for my little sausage fingers. It sat in the basement for a couple of years so i ended up giving it to one of my friends.
I put Jalen pick-ups in my RG565 reissue Orange in color. There awesome pups
seems to me a swirl would be a pretty advanced paint method especially if you've never successfully painted a guitar before or a pedal.
what i did for some pedal graphics was print them on stickers and then the clear coat over them seals the stickers in so you cant feel them,just need to be careful with the first few clear coats and do them very lightly so the stickers dont lift off the body.
Turn it into a relic instead of a swirl job. That would be much cooler in my opinion.
Agreed
I saw multiple posts on the Internet that seemed to indicate that an original Floyd rose would work as a drop in replacement for the Lo TRS. Many said that a Gotoh could work but not without slight modification to either the route, the holes for the studs, or the length of the screws.
If you can replace the lo trs trem, I would. That is of course only if you can be sure that what you buy will work.
I have a Korean made EX series from about 1990. It was never in that bad of shape, but I replaced the pickups with Lace Sensors and 5 toggle switches for 64 pickup combinations, and a Fender TBX. Leveled the frets and gave it a setup and it plays like a dream. Looks like a shredder guitar but sounds like a Strat.
Also required a new pick guard. Ibanez didn’t have an exact replacement, but close enough. I just had to trim it and drill a couple of new screw holes.
Really cool idea of restoring your kinda teenagerhood guitar and makind it amazing, you should add some DylanTalksTone cerakote pickups, that would look really cool.
If you're doing a series, I would really like an additional long video edited from the important footage of all of the other videos, like a short movie tldr version of the series. Also, Fishman Fluence are a safe bet, and way better then those original pickups, I had them on my old Ibanez as well, but that's playing it safe, I would probably try Lace sensors for an Ibanez RG.
Before going the swirl route take a look at holoflashing the front. It's not hard to do at all and looks killer. You can paint the sides and back of the guitar black.
Looking forward to seeing this guitar develop! For the bridge, I would definitely get the best licensed Floyd Rose you feel comfortable spending your money on.
If you're planning on making this a guitar you're proud of, you don't wanna be looking at that bridge thinking "I shoulda got a better one!" later on.
A Gotoh locking trem should be a drop in fit on this guitar. you may want to check, i believe the string locking screws are longer than a OFR, but they probably match the screws on that trem.
Gotta match the headstock to the body!
Gotoh 1996 is one of the better options. Get Floyd locking intonation screws as the bottom are longer and may not fit the route. Also the both posts are bigger and some end up cracking their post holes trying to drill them out. You can use the originals or any Floyd posts as an alternative. I've got a 470 MIJ body from that era I'm pairing with a repaired MIK neck that I plan to add the same bridge to.
You can fit most floyd roses in that route but keep in mind its a “lo” trs which means its sort of low profile. The string lock screws dont stick out far like on standard floyd roses. Theyll still fit but it might be tight fit. Look for the floyd rose pro (i think) the one that has short saddle string lock screws.
Replace the bridge like for like. It'll be worth what you pay for it, in my opinion, in terms of the use you'll get out of it.
Those inf pickups are great. I have an obscure RGEX Ibanez from the early 90's too. The purple one with gold hardware....keep the pickups.
Gotoh 1996T for the bridge for sure
Route out the neck and middle pickup cavities into a swimming pool, hide an overdrive pedal circuit in there, cover with a custom pickguiard, the pedal will be the guitats secret wepon!
Awesome video. I just picked up a 1999 rg470 just a couple days ago! Plans on stripping, refinishing, pretty sold on the ge1996t, and undecided on new pickups still.
Yeah man. Upgraded! I’m looking for an Ibanez since ages out of my birth year.
Put a new bridge in it, nice electronics and tuning machines. Just spec it out.
With the finish tho, use a sanding machine please 😅 an orbital sander or so. Otherwise you will lose the joy in hand sanding it all 🥲
I'm not typically a fan of swirls. Just personal preference. I do think it would be funny, though, to do something kind of ironic like a colorblind swirl, on the body, that's just a bunch of different greys. Then, on the pickups, where you usually expect just black, you could drop in bare knuckles and have all 5 bobbins done in different colors from the iceman that motivated you to dig this back out and work on it again.
Everybody is gonna say "gotoh 1996, gotoh 1996" for the trem. That's the flavor of the week in the Floyd world. I think it would be cool to retrofit one of the super weird Ibanez trems into it, though, like the zr or something.
Nice! I own a RG470 in the same dark blue colour. Not sure when it was made, but I think I bought it in '97. I really liked it back in the day, but it hasn't been used for many years now. The frets need some work and there are a few other issues as well. Probably worth fixing in the future by someone with proper skills (not me), but it's most likely not the first one I'll focus on. It'll be interesting to see how yours turn out.
Dont sand it too fine at first. The scratches from the sanding help create a mechanical bond between the paint and the body in addition to the chemical bond.
Fender did the swril paint by hand in 1983 and again in 2013.
I bought my RG550 second hand in 1991. I'm not sure what year it was made, I'm guessing late 1980's? It had a maple fingerboard on it, and the original trem, I always hated it as the arm just wouldn't stay where I wanted it to, no matter how many new bushings I put on it. But now it's got a new neck, a rosewood fingerboard, new pots, new switch, new jack socket, new switch tip, new knobs, all of them are bright coloured, new D'marrzio pickups that again are bright coloured, and a new Schaller lockmiester trem, that's a million times better than the original trem. It's made in Germany, and it's gold, so there's a lot of colours going on. But it's the guitar it always should have been now.
Oh i was hoping you would find it in the local tip covered in mud and just like magic the neck and parts are there next a sparkly brand new guitar ,glad you got round to finally getting started hope you finish it this time good luck
If you’re doing the swirl paint job, you should get a burnt chrome Floyd Rose, it’d match the æsthetic
great video, excited to see how it comes out :)
Also any trem you replace it with needs to be set to 400mm radius to match the wizard II and locking nut.
You could swap out the nut too but fretboard radius is still an issue.
I've done the same as you and restored a few older ibanezes but I always pick the MIJ models with 430mm radius, the Edge trem is far superior.
Also Ibanez sound a lot better when they don't have 3mm of hard brittle resin paint on them like they do from factory.
You and sixstringtv are like pallet swaps of each other.
Yes change the bridge for a Floyd original if it fits. Also if you are gonna do the swirl paint finish you should also do the headstock
The most economical way to switch the bridge is a Gotoh 1996T. Great bridge and lowest cost. The posts will not line up, so you will have to fill in the holes and redrill, but you'd have to do that with a Floyd Rose, as well.
I'll immediately say CTS pots, pickups it kinda depends on what you're after, at least test the old ones to make sure they work, switch maybe.
For those washers, I don't know the name of the tool, but I've definitely seen an L shaped needle like thing used on some luthier videos for things like truss rod removal. Definitely want something that can go in the middle and then pry up from underneath.
One odd idea, while you have the sandpaper out, you might be able to smooth out the belly cut, though it would probably take ages to do so