My JS700 with JS6 envy

[stratoskier]

Greetings,
I never did post pics of this project guitar I finished (more-or-less) awhile back. It started life as a JS700, though it might be hard to tell that now. I refinished the body to a natural tung oil (formerly cherry red), routed the P90 pickup cavities to accomodate a Fred and PAF-Pro, replaced the original wrap-around bridge with a Gibraltar III (as on the SZ models), and replaced the neck with a very nice bound RT650 neck (minus the last 2 frets). The only scary part was drilling the holes for the string-through-body bridge.

I'm very happy with the results. The only thing I still need to do is to replace the Magnum locking tuners with graduated height Sperzels. The reason is that the headstock isn't angled, and the strings need more tension passing over the nut.

OK, now let's see if I know how to link the links to the pics...

Cheers,
Bert

Overview

Front

Rear

[hanban]

killer axe!

must be killer for blues man

enjoy, it even matches your floor

[darren wilson]

Wow... nice conversion!

Now if only Ibanez put out a Mike Mushok model that looked like that!

[zEr0]

Very nice!

I didn't know there were any Satriani models with binded fretboards. Congratulations!

[darren wilson]

Originally Posted by zEr0

I didn't know there were any Satriani models with binded fretboards.

Originally Posted by stratoskier

... and replaced the neck with a very nice bound RT650 neck (minus the last 2 frets).

[Snaar'n Bennie]

Verry nice! I'm going to buy a Jap. version of the JS 700 myself tomorrow!

[zEr0]

Originally Posted by darren wilson

OOps....... my fault . Guess the world is not perfect after all.

[darren wilson]

That's seriously one of the best uses for a JS700 i've seen. Those things are a dime a dozen, but if you can strip 'em down and route them out for humbuckers to get a JS6/6000 vibe, that's great!

Stratoskier: You can also get Gotoh Magnum Lock tuners with graduated posts. I've got a set. If yours are 6-inline with non-staggered posts, i might consider trading. Mine have staggered posts, but they're going on a Carvin Bolt neck with a tilted headstock.

[EnigmaUV7]

Beautiful, it's hard to go wrong with a tung oil finish on a nice slab o' wood. The tone of the guitar isn't being held back by heavy finish now either. :P

[stratoskier]

Thanks for the comments on the guitar. It was a pretty fun project and it's a guitar that will now get a lot of air time. The real trick on the conversion was the bridge. Standard post spacing is wider (3-1/4") than on the Shortstop bridge of the JS700. But I had a hunch that Ibanez stuck with the non-standard spacing when they designed the Gibraltar III for the SZ's. I posted a question here and a Jemsiter came through with a post measurement on his SZ. So I ordered one and sure enough it was an exact drop-in fit. If that hadn't worked, I would have just stuck with the wraparound Shortstop, but for some reason it just didn't feel right to me.

Darren, I already ordered some Sperzels from StewMac, but I'll think about whether I could use them on something else. I'll let you know if a trade would work. Thanks for bringing it up.
Bert

[Two hands31]

Originally Posted by darren wilson

Wow... nice conversion!

Now if only Ibanez put out a Mike Mushok model that looked like that!

My thoughts exactly

[BucketBot]

Nice one Bert!

Hopefully someday I'll catch you at Music Villa with it and get to check it out! Along with all your other guitars you want to sell me!

[screamndemon69]

i don't know the specs on that model - is that a mahogany body? it looks sweet!
i would love to know how the tone comes across if it is a mahogany body.

[stratoskier]

Yup, it's a mahogany body. I think the only mahogany JS's have been the JS6/6000 (very pricey in the auction market) and this one (the JS700). I'm assuming the JS90HAM wasn't mahogany, but I don't know much about that model -- someone else will know. The JS700 was sold in 96-98. It had two P90 pickups, only came in transparent red, and had a wraparound bridge. Most were made in Korea, but a few were made in Japan (see other threads for more on this).

The guitar I modded really doesn't have much in common with the original JS700 anymore, since the only original part is the body (LOL). I didn't mean to go so far with it: The original plan was only to refinish it and drop in humbuckers. But I just kept dinking around with it until I wound up with this.

As far as the tone, it's VERY full sounding, but it's hard to know how much is due to the mahogany body and how much to the fixed bridge. I defintely like having a fixed bridge alternative to all the floating trem guitars I have. This guitar fills a major niche that was missing in my lineup.
Bert

[Tom B]

very nice !