Iceman Gets a Bigsby | Part One

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Part One | Part Two | Part Three

This post is the first of three on a made-in-Korea Ibanez Iceman; more specifically an IC300DM. The guitar was sent in to have a Bigsby B5-style vibrato tailpiece and brass nut installed; and some electronics modifications carried out. 

For starters, the IC300DM features a bound solid wood body and set-in neck. The neck sports a white plastic nut, 24.75" scale bound rosewood fretboard (14" radius), 22 jumbo frets; and whitish dot inlays. The rosewood on this fretboard is so dark and close-grained that it looks like ebony from a distance.

I cannot say much about the original appointments or hardware configuration on this IC300DM as it had been worked on before coming into my shop. There was a freshly-routed round cavity on the butt-end of the body just below the strap button; which I assumed was for a plate-mounted output jack. 

On the back, another round cavity had been routed for a toggle switch, as on a Les Paul; and a cover had been already been installed. I noted that the cavity had not been routed deep enough for a toggle switch to poke through to the front, and besides that; a hole for the toggle switch itself had not been drilled.

The two pickup routs suggested that the body had been designed for two full-sized humbuckers, and these would have been paired with the existing electronics: a three-way toggle switch, plus master volume and tone pots. 

Meanwhile, the presence of string-through holes and bridge post bushings indicated that stringing was through-body; and the bridge most probably of the tune-o-matic variety. That's about it for this post. In the second post of this three-parter, I'll show you what was done to this Ibanez IC300DM Iceman in fulfilment of the owner's wishes.

Acknowledgement

BIGSBY is a registered trademark of Fender Musical Instruments Corp (FMIC)