30 year old Ibanez - Can We Save It?
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- Опубліковано 27 вер 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
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
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.
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.
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
00:20 I thought he was gonna say Glenn LMAO
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.
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
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.
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!
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
Really liking all the repair / modification videos lately. Excited to see more!
"That's an old, 94 guitar" - that moment I felt old really 😂
Yay new project and 🐈! 🤘🏻🎸😎❤️🔥
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!
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 think my friend has/had one of those. 90's Ibanez guitars were awesome.
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.
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
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
Project looking good! I agree with the other commenters on a finding a replacement bridge.
Nice work bud. Cant wait to see how it ends up
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!
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.
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.
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 !
@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.
You should check out Kahler's new stuff. Looks awesome. Especially the auto-latch
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).
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!...
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.
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!
I think holoflashing the body would be tight . Also, if it fits, get a gotoh 1996t for the bridge.
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.
Stoked for the rest of this series
Gotoh 1996T is the way to go in terms of an after-market floating bridge for any Ibanez!
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.
Gotoh 1996T trem will fit just fine in the guitar.
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.
Looking forward to see more videos about this guitar.
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.
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 have a Jewel Blue GRG270B which looks practically identical to this guitar (well... what this guitar used to look like) and I really want to try refinishing it now lol
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.
Very exciting project! Definitely throw a new Floyd of some kind in there. I'm very excited to see how this turns out
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.
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
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.
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.
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.
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.
Love it. I would put an original Floyd in it with nut. I would change the pickup, machine heads and put on strap locks.
I put Jalen pick-ups in my RG565 reissue Orange in color. There awesome pups
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 have an '01 MIJ RG7420 with a LO-TRS trem. my research over the years has uncovered that, supposedly, the Original Floyd is a direct replacement. the price and not knowing 100% for sure keeps holding me back.
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.
Swirl just looks right on an rg but.. neon crackle would be pretty cool. Trem wise, I would see what kind of parts are available on Franklin Guitar Works reverb page. They buy up b stock and factory seconds, anything they can't repair in house gets gutted and the parts get sold. It would be a good way to upgrade the hardware on a budget.
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
Gotoh GE1996 bridge and tonezone & airnorton Dimarzios. Works everytime.
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.
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.
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.
Here's one more vote for the swirl finish
Some might disagree, but I have used some emery foam blocks meant for prepping fingernails for nail varnish, on messed up frets. The finer sides of those blocks polished up those frets pretty darn nice, IMO. Then again I was experimenting on a fairly wrecked Ibanez, not too unlike the one you have there, TBH! Not those popsicle ones, but the elongated blocky ones from pound shops. I got 4 in a pack for a pound. ;)
P.S. Would love to see you and Colin from Science Of Loud, or Sam at Reloved Guitars do a collab on guitar rescue!
This video is 4 days old , is it still coat weather in ireland???😊
Did you finish the paint job or whole setup?
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.
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 condition of those knife edges worry me, it looks like the bridge height was adjusted with string tension. I’d like to see an Edge bridge go in, but most of the “universal” will work.
I have my dad’s Roadstar that he did a lot of work on. There’s a spot on the neck where he sanded through to the truss rod and had to be filled back in.
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
I'd say, if you want to drop tune it, the edge II with the zps system is my favourite floating bridge.
I think you definitely need to replace the bridge, those grooves are pretty deep. Those you'll want to find a bolt that is big enough to just catch the edge of the hole and then lightly wiggle and they should pop out of there. I'm thinking m8 bolt will work, fine threads better so as to not mess up the washer 👍 I love an Ibanez wizard neck 🤘
great video, excited to see how it comes out :)
Id say best bridge alternatives would be the Gotoh GE1996T or a schaller lock meister. Floyds are getting quite the premium but Schaller tends to be more reasonable. Schaller lockmeisters also have replaceable knife edges which is a nice addition. I recommend these both cause im unsure what the post spacing is for this RG!
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.
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 project. You don’t have to go high on grid. Please use a primer before the swirl. Ps. The water dip is called hydro dip. Please watch some vids about it
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.
What are those screws at the back of the neck? I've seen them once before, but I was never able to find out what they are.
hey, would be amazing to see this with a gotoh ge1996t bridge, DiMarzio pickups (or any pickups of your choice), graph tech ratio locking tuners, CTS 500k pots, schaller megaswith.
If you want to swap the bridge, the Gotoh GE1996T should be a perfect fit from the Lo TRS (same design of base plate). The Takeuchi is fixable, but I don't know if it's worth the effort. You can always upgrade to an Edge, but you might need to redrill the cavity. For the body, I think if you're removing the whole paint, you might want to scrape it off (I used a razor blade for when I restored my old Ibby). Pickup wise, the INF1 and 2 are average, you might want to check out the old V's from Ibanez/DiMarzio, the V7, V8 and S1 were the original ones from the 5xx series, or you can always go for a higher upgrade. I installed the V1-V2's on my old Ibanez and they sound sick, but I've noticed they increased the price the last couple of months, so I can't really suggest them as an upgrade.
Great project, can't wait to see the end result!
Ive just finished doing the same thing with my 30 year old Charvel that I hadn’t used for years. It had the same issue with the bridge. Bought a new one for 250 quid and tbh it made zero difference to the function of the bridge. Biggest difference was to put a bare knuckle polymath in the bridge position in place of the original weird charvel two single coil setup.
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.
Turn it into a relic instead of a swirl job. That would be much cooler in my opinion.
Agreed
Uncle Ben Eller did some swirls years ago and there should be video of it
i have a very similar rg470! it still has the original middle single coil and it honestly doesn't sound half bad in the 2nd and 4th position. no idea about the humbuckers tho, those were already replaced once i got it. the sc has a decent amount of output, making it a good combination with slightly hotter humbuckers.
also about that bridge: a gotoh ge1996t should be a drop in replacement, as long as you get the 33mm block version! im planning on upgrading my own with that exact bridge.
If you’re doing the swirl paint job, you should get a burnt chrome Floyd Rose, it’d match the æsthetic
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!
I have a Gotoh in Cosmo black, I might be persuaded to donate to the project
I’ve been wanting to hydro-dip my cheap RG, would love to see you give the swirl paint a shot.
In 1993 I got a Jem 77 GMC for my 18th Birthday m. Apparently it was the first one in Europe. It’s sat in a case for about 5 years as I have learned to hate Floyd Rose wiggle systems.
You might be able to file the knife edges flush, depending on how deep the chips are. It's not as hard as it sounds but you definitely need to go slow. Worst case, you either have to set it as a stop tail or you'll have to replace the bridge.
Concerning the finish, I kinda liked the way it looked all half ass sanded at the start and I would have just clear coated over it, but I like beat up finishes.
Lastly, with the pickups, I would just try em out. Worst case, you have to replace them.
I used to have a Japanese RG770 which was the top of the range Ibanez at the time with Dimarzio pickups, Edge Trem and Wizard neck. It was also blue but a lighter shade which I noticed would chip quite easily.
I just could not get on with the ultra thin, flat neck. It really didn't fit my hands at all. Shame as it was a well made guitar, despite the chipping on the paintwork.
Do you have the Floyd from the sustainer Jackson? That could work
If you're going to go full on with the Vai Swirl paint job then why not go with some DiMarzio PAF Pro's and HS-2 like was originally in the early JEM guitars? I switched out the pickups in my RG550 for the same set of pickups and they sound great. I prefer the PAF Pro's compared to the Evolution pickups.
I personally would replace any cheap Ibanez bridge with Gotoh Ge1996t if it lines up, that is the best bridge I've used