Ibanez JEM Forum banner

my Jem project

10K views 56 replies 32 participants last post by  Bryancap77 
#1 ·
Hi

Thought I might make a thread about my first guitar project. It's going to be a black and silver Jem with mirror pickguard, Cosmo hardware, ebony fretboard with holoflek vine and with Sustainac Stealth Pro installed.

I made three photoshop renderings to choose my design.



I liked the one at the bottom the most.

I cut the monkey grip, lion claw, angled jack and routed for sustainiac and battery box on this RG body. I painted the body silver and then I masked of all the cracks (timeconsuming) and painted it with black on top.







More to come! =)

Tell me what you think!
/Tomas
 
See less See more
6
#3 ·
Looks great mate, that first photograph really plays with perspective, it make the can look like it on the floor and then that makes the can look like its a fire extinguisher size, it took my a while to work out what was going on, I worked it out, I've been drinking again. no seriously messed up photo. again kudos on the idea, lloking great.
 
#4 ·
Yes I had that guitar in mind when I drew my final design.

And yes, that actually is a fire-extinguisher sized can, and a huuge compressed air gun ;)

I'm now clearcoating it. Will have pics of that later.

I forgot to say that it will have a original edge trem in it... Havent decided on pick ups for bridge and middle yet. I've thought about evolutions... Any suggestions?
 
#11 ·
I got a neck from the bay which I've removed the fretboard from and I will attach a new pre-routed ebony board on it and inlay the vines and fret it myself. I've never done it before but I've read up on guitarbuilding and I am good at building stuff so I think I will be able to do it if I take my time. =)

Thanks again
 
#13 ·
Looks great, impressive work.

The bottom of the neck pocket looks a little rough, the paint makes the fibres stick out. I recommend sanding them down before assembly, in my experience contact between body and neck becomes better and that makes a difference in tone and sustain.
 
#14 ·
The neckpocket is masked off right now. It's just dust trapped in the paint ontop of the tape that makes it look that way =)

Today I've glued the new fretboard to the neck... Just letting it sit for a day or two to cure.

That ebony is a hard wood to work with =P
 
#16 ·
The clear was done with a rattlecan clear, made for carpaint. I sprayed about one can in thin layers waiting a couple of minutes between each coat. Then I let it cure over the night and when I came back I wetsanded it down with 400 to 800 grit and after that I got a new can of clear and repeated that. I think I went trough 4 cans of clear. After the fourth can I let it cure for 2 days and continued the wetsanding up to 2000 grit and finished it of with hand polishing with carpaint rubbing and polish. =)
 
#18 ·
Wet sanding is done with sandpaper made for that task. Ofcourse it can be used dry also =)
I let the paper sit over night in water with a drop of, (hmm dont know the word here) the stuff you would wash your dishes with, in it. The paper is often dipped into the water again to rince it and to pick more water onto the surface that is beeing sanded...
 
#21 ·
Update =)

The glue joint looks nice and I've now shaped the fretboard. I have started the 16" radiusing and need to keep going to thin the fretboard some more.

Oh and you might notice that the vine is a bit misaligned. Look at the leaves near the nut, it is placed more towards the low E side. I bought the fretboard on the bay and noticed that the vine was misaligned in regard to the fretslots, it was "tilting" to one side. =/ To keep the frets straight over the board I was forced to compromise and have a slightly tilted vine. I decided to go with it and not to buy another board because the ebony was nice and it wouldn't be too bad looking. And oh this is my first guitar project so I wont throw all my money into it =P

I think it will look great anyway =)

I will repaint the headstock and apply a new Ibanez logo again. It will be a white "tick" with chrome "Ibanez". I have the choice to apply the JEM logo. I want to... But should I do it? =P



 
#23 ·
The fretboard inlays are now complete and I will start the fretting as soon as the headstock clearcoating is completed. I've put the new Ibanez decal on there but I left the "jem" part out.

Did a quick test to see how it might look =) put a ugly scratchplate on it... will order a new one later on...
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top