1981 Ibanez Blazer BL-400: Part Two

Quick Links:    Part One | Part Two | Part Three | Part Four

In Part One of this series, we took a brief introductory look at this truly fine Ibanez BL-400 solidbody. Now, in this instalment; let's discuss the big cleanup. The main idea here was to retain as many original components as possible; and write off whatever was beyond saving. 

And so began the arduous task of removing years of caked-on sweat, crud, grime, goo, rust, corrosion; and general yuckiness.  This task involved electrolysis, sodium bicarbonate, dishwashing liquid, heat, abrasives, Autosol metal polish; and lots of elbow grease. 

When it was all over, I breathed a huge sigh of relief. As expected, most of the screws and springs were beyond redemption. We thank them for their faithful service all these years; and may they enjoy a blessed afterlife.

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 :)

 

 

Fender Japan ST54 Stratocaster Restoration

This appears to be an MIJ ST54 Strat. The body is from an "ST54-128" while the neck is from an "ST54-117." Among its most prominent features are (i) a nitro-finished sunburst ash body, (ii) one-piece 7.25" radius maple neck with skunk stripe and neck heel truss rod adjustment, (iii) 21 narrow vintage frets, (iv) vintage-style tuners, (v) black dot fretboard inlays, (vi) six-screw vintage-style tremolo bridge with Fender-stamped bent steel saddles, (vii) single round vintage-style string tree; and (viii) single-ply white pickguard.

The neck and middle pickups appear to be stock Fender Alnicos, complete with Gavitt-style leads; while the bridge is a Seymour Duncan JB Jr. The wiring's a barely-functioning mess, and someone's definitely been in here with a soldering iron; most probably while replacing the stock bridge pickup with the JB Jr. Electronics-wise, all components (except the pickups) will be upgraded. This upgrade would include full shielding, Gavitt wiring, CTS pots, CRL 5-way switch, Sprague "Orange Drop" tone cap, and Switchcraft #11 output jack.

As for the body, it's been thoroughly abused; courtesy of an ill-executed "relic" job. Chisel marks can be clearly seen and lots of gnarly raw wood's been exposed. Decay and mould have already started to set in, so I'll be cleaning, sanding, staining and sealing the affected sections of the body.

On to the hardware, then. Rust, tarnish and corrosion are the order of the day here; so I'll be restoring what I can, and replacing what can't be saved. The owner isn't happy with the vintage frets, and would like the neck refretted with jumbos. Now, as the ultra-thin fretboard lacquer is already badly cracked and chipped, I'll be sanding it all off and restaining/refinishing the entire fretboard.

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Yamaha SG-2000

First introduced in July 1976, the Yamaha SG-2000 represents, in my humble opinion; the epitome of Japanese solidbody guitar craftsmanship. It's no wonder then, that in its 1978 catalog, Yamaha describes the SG-2000 as being targeted towards "those who demand the very finest in both feel and sound." That being said, let's take a look at some of this guitar's distinguishing features.

Body

• Five-ply binding
• Carved, "mildly figured" three-piece maple top
• "T-Cross maple and mahogany construction:" laminated maple and mahogany body, with the grain of the center section "set perpendicular" to the sides
• Contoured back, top waist "scoop"
• Deep double cutaways 

Neck
Three-piece mahogany/maple/mahogany laminated neck-through design

Fretboard
Bound black mahogany (not ebony), 22 frets, 24.75" scale length, 13" radius, mother-of-pearl "split-wing" inlays

Headstock
Five-ply binding, "double-dipped shape," block lettering logo, three-piece floral inlay.

Hardware

• Gold-plated 
• Fully adjustable bridge rests on two thumbwheels that screw into a recessed solid brass sustain block/plate
• Tailpiece features a "harp and scroll" motif
• "Precise torque" tuning machines (15:1 ratio) with "kidney shaped" knobs 

Electronics

• Two volume pots, two tone pots (no push-pull coil split function), 3-way toggle switch
• Pickup, switch and control cavities fully shielded with shielding paint
• Two "powerful open-type" Alnico V humbuckers with "individually adjustable polepieces." Three machine screws allow for pickup height and alignment adjustments ("tri-mounting")  

The tobacco brown SG-2000 featured today was in particularly bad shape when sent to me; most probably due to prolonged neglect and (I suspect) abuse. Grime, rust, crud, tarnish, dings and dents was the order of the day here. On the plus side, I noted that the guitar had been recently been refretted and fitted with a bone nut. The electronics were a tad noisy, but this was soon cured with a few squirts of electrical contact cleaner.

Perhaps the toughest task I had to deal with was removing as much rust, crud and grime from the gold-plated hardware without taking off too much metal. Thankfully, I managed to accomplish this via electrolysis. Then there was the black mahogany fretboard, suffering from years of solidified sweat and grime caking the wood in between the badly tarnished frets. It took lots of careful scraping, lighter fluid, lemon oil, 0000 steel wool and Autosol to get the job done; but the results were worth it.

After reinstalling the hardware, this baby was given an all-round wax and polish, strung up with 10s, and plugged into an amp for a final check. Boy, did it sing!

References
Premier Guitar
Yamaha Musicians Forum
Vintage Yamaha Guitars
Vintage Guitar Magazine