Ibanez refinish project

[339 in june]

Thank you for sharing information. Is it true that spraying is kind of difficult?

Yes, it needs a little practice to be comfortable.
Two basic rules :
1. Always spray OUTSIDE !
2. Less is better than more ! (per layer)

[hans halmackenreuter]

Thank you all for your advice! I do wear a mask and I work outside otherwise my girlfriend would have killed me right away.

According to the spruce-top. It looks like we are talking about 3 layers of wood. So Ibanez definition of solid-spruce seems to be different than my definition of solid-spruce but I don't mind that.

Today I continued with back of the guitar. It looks a lot better now

[hans halmackenreuter]

[DanOwens]

Great work!

How have you stripped the guitar so far? Just hand-sanding with a loose bit of sandpaper or have you used chemicals?

[hans halmackenreuter]

Great work!

How have you stripped the guitar so far? Just hand-sanding with a loose bit of sandpaper or have you used chemicals?

Thank you!
Just sandpaper! It was really the hardest part! I'm happy that I did it but I highly doubt that I'll ever do something like this again. The shellac-polish on the other hand was really the fun part.

[DanOwens]

I've found a cheap AFJ but I too hate the colour; I'd love to strip it.

[hans halmackenreuter]

Well it's possible, but the sanding part is though and delicate. If you choose to do so than make sure you use some good sandpaper and a mask.

[hans halmackenreuter]

This kind of sandpaper comes in handy for the curvatures of your guitar! For example the cutaway and in general the sides of the guitar.

[jazzbow]

Nice one mate. Poly finish is a PIA to remove.

[bluefonia]

hans halmackenreuter: Congratulations, - it looks very nice indeed. How many layers of shellack (if that´s the right english word) did you add in the french polishing ?

As an alternative to french polish or lacquer, Truoil is a fantastic solution. (To my knowledge Musicmann among others use it on their necks). I have removed the laucquer from most of my guitar necks as I generally don't like the feel of lacquer - be it poly or nitro - and put Truoil on instead.
Truoil is added in several thin layers and can be polished to mirror shine if wanted. A Truoil surface feels very smooth and your hand never slips or sticks. Technical it is very fine too as it keeps moisture from entering the wood.

[hans halmackenreuter]

Nice one mate. Poly finish is a PIA to remove.

Thank you!
Yeah the poly finish was indeed a PIA to remove.

[hans halmackenreuter]

hans halmackenreuter: Congratulations, - it looks very nice indeed. How many layers of shellack (if that´s the right english word) did you add in the french polishing ?

As an alternative to french polish or lacquer, Truoil is a fantastic solution. (To my knowledge Musicmann among others use it on their necks). I have removed the laucquer from most of my guitar necks as I generally don't like the feel of lacquer - be it poly or nitro - and put Truoil on instead.
Truoil is added in several thin layers and can be polished to mirror shine if wanted. A Truoil surface feels very smooth and your hand never slips or sticks. Technical it is very fine too as it keeps moisture from entering the wood.

Tanks!

Well I did 3 polishing session’s on the back, side and top. On the neck I just did 2 session's so far (on the pictures the neck wasn't polished yet) but I think I leave it like that since it looks and feels already nice.

[rio]

They need to hire you to finish their guitars - that looks awesome.


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[pingu]

I just purchased a used afj81 in sunset red
mine has a basic Gibson style tailpiece too
Coincidence !
Amazing bang for the buck aren't they
The previous owner has fitted a Kent designed
P90 in HB format
So I'm seeing if I dig that ...
(Might go for a VVibe Cc eventually tho)

I way prefer the refinish job on yours
really nice job man ...

I'm not gonna be taking that job on tho !
I just live with the Sunset red I think

Have you done any fret levelling smoothing
duties on yours ?
I think the fretwork is slightly too high on mine

Any thoughts on the fret work on these great
Jazz boxes ?

[hans halmackenreuter]

They need to hire you to finish their guitars - that looks awesome.


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Thank you for your kind words!

[hans halmackenreuter]

I just purchased a used afj81 in sunset red
mine has a basic Gibson style tailpiece too
Coincidence !
Amazing bang for the buck aren't they
The previous owner has fitted a Kent designed
P90 in HB format
So I'm seeing if I dig that ...
(Might go for a VVibe Cc eventually tho)

I way prefer the refinish job on yours
really nice job man ...

I'm not gonna be taking that job on tho !
I just live with the Sunset red I think

Have you done any fret levelling smoothing
duties on yours ?
I think the fretwork is slightly too high on mine

Any thoughts on the fret work on these great
Jazz boxes ?

I do think too that the guitar is a lot bang for the buck and once you have tuned some things it is really fun to play. The p90 thing is great but I imagine that a CC-PU would sound great, too.

I didn't had to do any fret levelling - it was fine on mine. I'm afraid I can't give you a general idea about the fret work on these jazz boxes since I haven't played many ibby's in that price range.

[bluefonia]

(Might go for a VVibe Cc eventually tho)

I have a Vintage Vibe CC in my Eastman 403 and it sounds just fantastic. There are included 3 different magnets with the pu, so you can swap them till you get your preferred sound. As I remember I used the alnico 5 in mine.

[SamBooka]

Now that I'm retired I've been considering refinishing a "wounded" black ES-335. I'm guessing the wood below the black will be pretty well stained from the black and a trans black finish would be interesting. Thx for the links to stewmac and the stripping vid. I may finally "get around to it"

Real Gibson 335 shouldnt be poly.. you will have a much easier go of it. Just beware of solvents that can eat through biding.