Ibanez RG350EXZ Restoration: Part Two

Quick Links:    Part One | Part Two | Part Three

In Part One, we examined the main features of the Ibanez RG350EXZ. Now, in this post, I'll talk about what was done to restore this guitar. We'll begin with the electronics, then. The pickups were in working condition; albeit a little cruddy. The control cavity components were totally shot, however. 

As can be seen in the pics, the pots, switch and output jack were either rusty, corroded, encrusted in salt; or a combination of all three. This being the case, the pickups were cleaned and polished to best of my ability; with extra care taken so as not to rub off the silk-screened characters. Following this, new Alpha A500K pots, five-way switch, poly 0.033uF cap and Neutrik/Rean NYS229 jack socket were wired in.

As for the Edge Zero II and ZPS3Fe, both were covered in grime; crud and dust. The entire tremolo system was dismantled, and serviced separately. The Edge Zero II was first subjected to electrolysis in a sodium bicarbonate bath, and after a close encounter with a heat gun; disassembled, lubed, and reassembled. The ZPS3Fe was taken apart, cleaned and lubed component by component; and finally put together again.

Basically all the hardware components were given a good cleaning, lube job and polish; as they were in a pitiful state. The objective was to save as many of the original components as possible. Sad to say, none of the pickguard or trem cavity screws were retained; as they were too corroded to be of any use.

Well, folks, that's about it for this post. Thanks for dropping by, and hope to see you again real soon. Stay safe, stay healthy; and God bless :)