The Jazz Guitar Chord Dictionary
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  1. #51

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    the yellow turns to a more antique color in time

    I think it is an excellent guitar, play easily and has a nice full tone.. great price!.

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    The Jazz Guitar Chord Dictionary
     
  3. #52

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    Quote Originally Posted by john_a
    IF it's something you crave, and you don't rely on having a bridge pickup, then the PM2 could be a nice replacement for the AKJ95. They may not be different enough from each other to justify keeping both.

    I own a PM2...

    John


    PM2 ebony fretboard can be burnished quite smooth
    Attachment 51748
    home made bridge base
    Hi John,

    That fingerboard is gorgeous. Can you share your technique?

    Thanks!

  4. #53

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    I have one that I bought used. It had a Seth Lover pu in it. The only thing I've changed is the tuners. The new ones have a much better feel.

    I've gigged with it and it works very well for me. I like it more than the Heritage I used to have and almost as much as my AS200 from 1980 that I used for 20 years.

    Mark

  5. #54

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    Looks like a sweet guitar. Play it in good health.

    I am not a fan of the "Super 58 Custom" Chinese pickup and have just replaced them in an AF 125 Custom. I believe that the instrument would probably benefit greatly from a pickup upgrade.

  6. #55

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    Quote Originally Posted by Alder Statesman
    Hi John,
    That fingerboard is gorgeous. Can you share your technique?
    Thanks!
    Sure, turns out I was just cleaning a different guitar last night in this same way (another Ibanez with ebony) so the key steps are fresh enough in mind. Sorry but I expect my reply is going to get long-winded, and probably seems like hi-jacking the thread..

    Start cleaning before any abrasive, you do not want to "sand" grime and push dirt into the grain.
    Use VM&P Naptha to just dampen a rag for wiping the board intially, and to clear off abrasive & wood dust during the process.
    Naptha is safe for finish, safe for bare wood, but do not flood the surface too wet, as you don't want to allow the naptha to disolve muck and then run it under fret into slot where it can't get wiped off, and could get rancid. So just enough naptha to get your rag fairly damp, and wipe off with another clean rag.

    I use 3m Polishing Papers, which are sold in a range of "grits" that are spec'd in microns, but you can find a rough correlation to standard P grits via Google if that helps. I would recommend getting the Zona 37-948 assortment 6 sheet package (ranges from 30 micron to 1 micron) to test for yourself. For $12.80 with free shipping on either Amazon or Ebay, there's plenty to try it out on a couple guitars.

    Cut small strips of the 3m paper, and use a rectangular pencil eraser as a sanding block to ensure you obtain a level surface (and not see grooves appear from applying pressure directly with fingers!) Use the papers dry, and clean away dust with damp (naptha) rag as needed. The coarsest 30 micron is about like P600 wet or dry sandpaper, but cuts better and much more evenly, so the work goes fast. Proceed with each progressively finer sheet 30; 15; 9; 3; 2 and you probably can quit before the 1 micron. That 1 micron sheet is ~14,000 grit and you will have to mark which side the abrasive is on, as it will feel as smooth to touch as the backing. Because the "grit" to micron charts show sort of a logarithmic scale, the steps from 9-3-2 (microns) really do make sense, and each finer sheet makes simple work of removing the previous sheet's scratches. Especially within the upper frets, there's no room to "sand with the grain" but with these extra fine sheets that's not an issue, I work cross grain and even with circular motion as the goal is to get it all flat without making a groove by tracking the paper against a fret. Easier to do it than explain it, watch what happens as you proceed and you'll find a technique that works for you.

    You can use all of the same materials to polish the frets, BUT do it in a separate step as you do not want to get the fret metal dust embedded into your fretboard wood. If you are doing the frets, don't rub that dirty paper onto the wood.

    Here's a pic from what I started on a different Ibanez last night, note the white pencil eraser (sanding block) has one corner edge sliced off to fit the narrow upper frets. I was lucky to score the 50 sheet sleeves of the 3M polishing papers I use most often (9, 3, and 2 micron) at a surplus store, but you can try the same stuff in the Zona assortment linked above. This pic is after the 9 micron paper, it is mostly flat now and the next work taking it to 2 micron will raise a shine with good DOI like my PM2, except this ebony has more light streaks compared to the jet black color on the PM2.

    And these polishing papers work well on guitar finishes too, things get level and even quickly and you spend far less time with buffing/polishing compounds. 3m sells these papers out of their electronics catalog, they are that far removed from standard papers in their marketing. I do have a sleeve of 0.3 micron but it is so fine I'd use it for cleaning CDs more often than on wood or even lacquer. For comparison, 0.25 micron is like 100,000 grit sandpaper. 3M actually sells 0.02 micron which I cannot imagine is even detectible by touch (it is tough for me to feel which side is "up" even on the 1 micron sheet!)

    Thoughts on Ibanez PM2?-9micron_sleeve2-jpg
    Thoughts on Ibanez PM2?-9micron_sleeve3-jpg

  7. #56

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    John,

    Thanks for such a great description of how to make fretboards look like yours. I will be following your instructions on my DA EXL-1 very soon.

  8. #57

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    Thought I would chime in here. Last night I made a trade in at a local guitar store and had no idea what I was going to buy. On the wall was a spotless good as new used 2017 PM2-AA. I played it for about five minutes and decided to buy it. With the trade, this guitar cost me, out of pocket, $250, so I have no complaints at all. Prior to this I was considering a new Peerless or something else and was willing to shell out up to $2k, but I feel like I caught a lucky break. I play for fun at home. My gigging days are far behind me.

    I had a number of jazz boxes in the past, Guild, Ibanez 175 from the late 70s and more. I t has flat wounds, maybe 12s? and the PM2 tone is what I was looking for. As some may say, unplugged it isn't very acoustic, but that isn't a concern for me. I don't have one type of neck preference over another. and have a range of instruments wth a range of necks I like playing. While this one does feel "thin" I felt comfortable with it right away. Not having a pick guard is a little strange when I'm NOT playing with a pick (is that ironic as Alanis would say?). Intonation is spot on, all harmonics are easily generated, it seems nice and balanced in tone from high to low pitch. I like the color and think it is a pretty guitar.

    Since this cost me so little out of pocket, I can't tell you this is the $1000 guitar to buy. If I were to be in a store with a range of $1000 arch tops to try, I do think this would be in the final decision group, but it is impossible for me to go further. So, if you can, put this one your list to try.

  9. #58

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    I wish the old Korean made PM20 had the tone of the Japanese made PM100; that guitar nailed Pat's tone but to me, the double cutaway looks silly and weird and have never seen a pic of Pat using it, even for a clinic etc...The PM2AA it's not bad but not as good as the PM20 in tone quality. It might have something to do with the chinese pickup it brings or the one piece mahogany neck the PM20 has. That leaves the PM35, which to me would rank the lowest of the 3. The PM200 is a great guitar and superior in tone to the PM100 but not by much, certainly not worth the $3,500 MSRP price. I would think that most serious guitarists would prefer to buy a 175 for that kind of money, unless you're a crazy Metheny fan....



    Cheers,
    Arnie..

  10. #59

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    Deke the best kept jazz guitar secret is a used Ibanez. Great price, great guitar even at the lower model end.
    Enjoy the PM2!

    Arnie you can easily get a PM200 well under MSRP (2300$ +/-) Which puts it well under $4000 175’s. Having a PM200 and having had several 175s I would never step back to the 175. Fujigen ‘J-Team ‘ build quality and craftsmanship put Nashville to shame. I’ve kept my Hutchins L5, but play the PM.

    And I’m not a ‘crazy Metheny fan’ I just appreciate quality and price value, and am not in awe of Nashville.

  11. #60

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    I had a pm100 and liked it a lot. But this model is very feedback prone in my experience. I don't mind the double cutaway and actually found it quite cool.

    One of the "signature" things of Pat is the 22 frets and a deeper cutaway to reach the upper frets. The PM20 had this, the PM35 and the new PM2 don't.
    The PM200 has it. I know, probably not important to a lot of players, but I don't get why they didn't include this deeper cutaway on the lower model...
    Personally I wished they went with the Pm20 shape for the newer PM2.

    Enough PM-talk

  12. #61

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    Quote Originally Posted by Rob MacKillop
    Here's my PM2 video - I swapped the pickup for a Harmonic Design Z90:

    Would be very interested to know more about this pickup swap on this particular instrument. The Z-90 could be "right up my alley", as they say. Tasteful playing, btw.

  13. #62

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    Well, the Z-90 is a single-coil pup, and I do love single-coil pups. There's one on Reverb just now:

    Harmonic Design Z90 Neck Pickup - Humbucker Sized Single Coil | Reverb

    Their website, with a nice quotation from Bill Frisell: Gibson Type Pickups Page

    Rob

  14. #63

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    Reading back in this thread, I see that you got the guitar back in 2013 and swapped to the Z-90 some 4 years later - true? The factory "super 58 custom" (or whatever it's called) gives a decent HB sound, so how would you compare the two pickups? I also like a good, characterful single coil.

    Thanks for the ad link.

  15. #64

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    Ran across this video of Jonathan Kreisberg putting a PM200 through its paces. Incredible playing! Nice sound too. Enjoy!


  16. #65

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    Anyone experience with the PM20?

  17. #66

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    I'm gonna say it again. Please... Anyone experience with the PM20?

  18. #67

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    Sorry, not me.
    But Korean/Cort Ibanez do have a good rep.
    Seen this?
    PM20 | Ibanez Wiki | Fandom

    Good luck!
    jk

  19. #68

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    Quote Originally Posted by jazzkritter
    Sorry, not me.
    But Korean/Cort Ibanez do have a good rep.
    Seen this?
    PM20 | Ibanez Wiki | Fandom

    Good luck!
    jk
    Yes I have seen these specs before, just asking few words from an actual owner. Thanks so much as well JK.

  20. #69

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    Anyone know thr rim depth on the PM2 as well as how the neck feels? Measurements would be great from anyone that owns one