An Ibanez fixer upper Les Paul...

[Blazer]

Today I attended a vintage guitar fair where I bought a rather unfortunate victim of eighties "let's make it look metal" ethic. Believe it or not but this WAS an early seventies Ibanez Les Paul Custom copy with the lawsuit "open book" headstock. It has three dimarzio pickups and again was fitted with "Everything-and-the-kitchen-sink-is-also-included" switching options. But for 75 Euro's I don't consider it a bad deal, there's a lot of usable parts on this one.



Well I removed that Junk from the Ibanez' top revealing THIS.


As you can see it had a couple of home applied (rattle can) re-finishes which also covered the body bindings. Also, as I suspected, the middle pickup is not original and the hole is rather crudely made.

Now if I were crazy...


Nah, I'm gonna fix this puppy up properly.

[pbrocker56]

I actually like the red and bare wood, almost reminds me of a very worn cherry burst, but with spray paint, of course.

What finishes are you thinking?

[Chris P.]

Good luck with repairing it! I always love three pick up SGs and LPs. And if you ever sell the MelodyMaker, PM me, cos my girlfriend maybe wants one!

[Saf]

Great thing, I saw it do it was on the stand from de witte?

[OldManC]

If it were mine I'd put it back together as-is. I might fill the smaller (un-used) toggle holes (and put a proper toggle switch up top), but other than that I think it would look killer just like that. Is that a bolt neck? Not that it matters, just curious. One of the best Ibanez LPs I ever heard was a bolt neck from the late 70's.

[Blazer]

Today I started the stripping.


You guys wouldn't believe me if I tell you that I came across four colors, note also that there's no Mahogany anywhere to be found...


There's some of the original finish still left within the cutaway, the previous owner apparently couldn't remove it from that spot.


The previous owner glued in the neck using two component resin, the same stuff used to restore cars with, as a result it sat way too high in the pocket, but chopping away that junk rectified that.

Nice snug join, just as intended.

Next on the agenda: fill that middle rout and the holes where the mini toggles sat and bring the guitar body away to have it professionally finished in black.

You know, I bought this guitar at the stand of a shop in Amsterdam, I'm seriously thinking of bringing it back to the shop after the Restoration is complete, I wonder if they would recognize it.

[sniper]

nice binding beneath the contact paper

[Blazer]

A little update here.

I routed out the space between the pickups and filled it with a solid piece of maple that I carved to match the carving of the body, I then routed the whole thing for two humbuckers.

I know, it doesn't look like much but when the humbuckers are in you don't see the mismatching pickup routs.

And I also filled the holes where the mini switches sat. and sanded the whole thing smooth, you won't see the things after the guitar is finished in black.


And here's a little preview on what it will look like finished.

[Pilgrim]

Filling in that extra pickup rout was a great idea.  I thought it looked very odd before that - and you did beautiful work!

[shadowcastaz]

Thats a great job  putting the block in the mid pup space.
Be careful with the plugs your putin in the top !. The plugs are end grain or from a dowel ,I assume .  They will move or expand  as weather /humidity changes and you will see  round circles under your finish. . This is due to the grain in the top being  horizontal and the plug being verticle.
Id recommend  you get a plug cutter  the same size as the holes and cut some plugs from the face of a maple board and line the grain up with the  top. . the wood will move in the same direction , in theory, and less chance of   the plugs showing in your finish . I have also taken  plugs from under the pups  to use the same wood.
I can send you a pic of a headstock I plugged and re drilled.  In the light you can see the plugs plain as day . . I do need to re paint it so its gonna get the face grain treatment to eliminate the circles.M

[drbassman]

I agree, good idea, it assures nice tight, straight lines.  Looking good!

[shadowcastaz]

Ypu will kick yourself in the ass every time light reflects on your controls are remind you of those fuggin holes.

[Blazer]

Well I put it together to test the pickups and to check if I need to lower the neck in the pocket.


The Pickups work flawlessly but the string spacing of the bridge is a little too narrow.


And this picture shows that I have to set the neck in lower, because the bridge needs to be extremely high to make this guitar playable.


So now it's ready to be primed and painted.

[Blazer]

Well with the body being painted there was not really much I could do on this project, so I started to look around for replacement tuners, seeing as how the guitar came with a mish-mash of Schallers which didn't exactly made the guitar look good.

So I went to my local store and was scouting their pile of spare parts when all of a sudden a box caught my eye...

Okay, new old stock thirty year old Ibanez Tuners, and I need tuners for a 33 year old Ibanez, it didn't take me long to put two and two together. And when I opened the box my smile got even wider.


They were in the color I was looking for, how perfect do you want destiny to become?


I still have to do some repairs on chipping and flaking of the finish of the headstock but the tuners make a perfect fit here.

[Dave W]

Serendipity!