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Keeping the LNG!

4K views 41 replies 18 participants last post by  ripnujabes 
#1 ·
Made some solid bank today, so i can afford to keep my LNG :twisted:

Anyways, a few questions:

a) How should i preserve the signature/serial number? I remember someone had these clear plastic things you could put on them or something along those lines?

b) If I swap the pickups should I be sure to keep them, original pots, etc?

c) Should I refret it? The frets are totally fine as they are right now but I want to get some jumbo stainless steel frets thrown on because I love the feel of SS frets.


Thoughts?
 
#5 ·
Made some solid bank today, so i can afford to keep my LNG :twisted:

Anyways, a few questions:

a) How should i preserve the signature/serial number? I remember someone had these clear plastic things you could put on them or something along those lines?

b) If I swap the pickups should I be sure to keep them, original pots, etc?

c) Should I refret it? The frets are totally fine as they are right now but I want to get some jumbo stainless steel frets thrown on because I love the feel of SS frets.

Thoughts?
I keep everything.

I used to be a serious vintage collector so original is good. Stuff like refinishing body and/or neck, refretting, and rewiring can improve looks and sound, but can seriously hurt vintage value. I know because I refretted an old Telecaster but lost half the value on the thing. Sure, it didn't play and fretted out but collectors (often not players at all) pay the big bucks for original things.

So I am OK with swapping out pups, rewiring, and refretting a common cheap thing like my Artcore but I would think twice about messing with a old Jem which can soon be considered a vintage guitar. Case in point is a couple of 50s strats I played the other day. One is totally original, almost rendered unplayable due to wear on frets and edges of neck but about $25K. Right next to it is an identical guitar but with refret (still 40 years old but little wear) and solid rewiring with working pots and switches. That guitar, far more playable and better sounding, is less than half the price. While the latter is meant to be played and enjoyed, the original one is strictly an investment sure to increasingly go up in value as players hack up and repair old, vintage guitars not knowing how much damage they are doing to value and guitar history.
 
#6 ·
I wouldn't mess with the frets. If you wanted to swap the electronics to make it a better player, first off you want to keep all the originals and second you want to mess with wiring as little as possible. If I were going to do that, I'd desolder the output wires from the jack and then remove the entire harness as one piece. Obviously, you'd have to replicate the entire harness, but that isn't terribly hard.

I've actually found that the wiring doesn't always work that great on these old Jems. The neck pickup doesn't work at all on my LNG. I had the same issue with my PBK, but all it took was desoldering and resoldering the wires to the switch and then everything worked fine. I think that the old solder joints just have a tendency to lose their continuity.
 
#7 ·
I wouldn't mess with the frets. If you wanted to swap the electronics to make it a better player, first off you want to keep all the originals and second you want to mess with wiring as little as possible. If I were going to do that, I'd desolder the output wires from the jack and then remove the entire harness as one piece. Obviously, you'd have to replicate the entire harness, but that isn't terribly hard.
+1

This way you can revert back to original factory wiring as it came out to the store for the collectors who won't accept anything less.

Also if you have the original paperwork and hang tags, it can add 20% percent or more to the value of a vintage guitar.

Collectors are, and should be, concerned most about originality and not playability. An original, but shorted out buzzing guitar with flattened frets is still far more desirable to a collector than a guitar that has a newly refretted neck and brand new pots and harness without any noise. The trick for a collector is to get an instrument, flaws and all, the way it was from the factory. While I have seen a far more stable four bolt plate put on an old three bolt, tilt neck Fender from some of its worst days after CBS, the collector wants that CBS era neck with the original three bolt neck and questionable tilt neck monstrosity on the guitar. The ill advised three bolt neck was one of the things that defined the hostile CBS takeover and such a guitar is to show Fender's history, even if it was bad.

Let's say many early Jems suffered from bad wiring and/or pots. The player would want to replace that ASAP but the collector needs it to stay put. Just do as poster mentioned and take out the whole thing in one piece and rebuilt new wiring harness for the playability and sound.
 
#8 ·
Well clearly Jems are barely 25 years old at this point and are still relatively easy to find, so I'm not currently seeing any real demand for them in rough or otherwise unplayable condition. Hang tags, warranty cards and other "case candy" definitely add significant value, but overall the guitars are judged almost entirely on appearance, the more mint the better. I will say that unless things like pickups are obviously changed, I don't see people asking about how original the wiring is.

Will it eventually become more like Fender and Gibson? Perhaps, especially as more and more guitars get into the hands of collectors and fewer end up up for sale.

I will point out that I don't believe there's anything special about the pots used in early Jems. They're exactly the same ones used in every RG, with the exception of the volume bleed circuit on the volume pot. A lot of the other hardware will give away an '87, but not the pots of the switch.
 
#14 ·
i dont know how true is it...but a guitar tech in my area told me that the pots used on older jem77 are different from nowadays jem..and its not the same with older RGs either...he told me not dispose the pots even after changing to other newer better pots...keep it in case i want to sell the jem in the future....well maybe a beaten up jem wont be as higher value as 1960s gibson or fender guitars...the more beaten up your jem the more lower the value...because jems are invented only in 87-90s era...
 
#9 ·
See, I'm not really too concerned with resale to be honest. I just don't want to be "that" dick that ruins the guitar for the next owner in the future.

I have never been a huge vai fan but always loved his guitars and like them more for the 90s death metal bands like Morbid Angel I saw playing them when I was younger.

But anyways, you guys think it should be fine if i just remove the original knobs/switch tip and put them in the case plus the full wiring harness?

I like the neck pickup but i need something less flubby for the bridge.
 
#10 ·
See, I'm not really too concerned with resale to be honest. I just don't want to be "that" dick that ruins the guitar for the next owner in the future.

I have never been a huge vai fan but always loved his guitars and like them more for the 90s death metal bands like Morbid Angel I saw playing them when I was younger.

But anyways, you guys think it should be fine if i just remove the original knobs/switch tip and put them in the case plus the full wiring harness?

I like the neck pickup but i need something less flubby for the bridge.
Go for it, man!

Just keep all of the original parts in that bag for future use.

As far as protecting the signature, you can use that clear film that others use. Some people mask off the area and spray dusting coats of clear over the signature and any squiggles--but that film will work fine.
 
#16 ·
It will all depend on the same variables that we have now.
How bad does somebody want it--and how much bacon they're willing to peel off for it.

Today, just because something old is hanging in a store with a higher price tag does not mean it's worth it, nor will sell for that.

Look at eBay--even the so-called "guitar dealers."
Do a search for an RG550.
You'll see some in good condition listed with BIN for $500-600, yet someone else selling a beater for a grand.
Not a serpent, either. Not even a DX. Just a plain 'ol black, blue or other common finish.
 
#18 ·
I have a question.....not to be offensive, or contrary, or anything of the sort, but why buy a guitar that you want to play if you can't make it your own.

It sounds like you want to PLAY this guitar, which will decrease the retail value I'm assuming, but if you're not looking to ever sell it (I don't know why you'd buy a guitar that you want to play, knowing you're eventually going to sell it), then what does it hurt to make it the way you want it?

I just bought a guitar a little while ago that, if I ever sold it, I would lose my ass on, but is by far the best playing Ibanez I've ever personally picked up....so to me, it was a win.

If that's your goal, then I would suggest following your heart, just don't have them glue the frets in, and you can have it re-fretted if you need to re-sell.
 
#19 ·
Because there's tons of guitars out there that are basically the same thing that aren't sought after collectors items.

He could buy a player DY that's 100% the same guitar with a different paint job for way less money and do whatever he wants to it without really worrying about killing the value.
 
#21 ·
You have a really nice LNG with a palm rest and the original case. I see it as a collectors piece and not a player. I think you should leave it as a collectors piece. You can always buy a players condition guitar, be it a JEM, or 700 or 500 series to mod and play. How many people actually have a nice condition LNG with the palm rest and pyramid case? Not many, and the value will only increase with time. You have probably one of the top 3 most expensive collectible JEMs. LNG, 10th, and DNA.
 
#22 ·
THIS^^^^^

I've wrestled with selling my LNG with palmrest and pyramid case--and seriously hope it doesn't sell...lol.

But--to get back to topic, I hardly played it--if ever.
That's what the other guitars were for. I'd play the other Jems and RGs--and use the RGs as my pickup review test beds.
I'd NEVER consider replacing a single thing on my LNG--not one.

Yes, a guitar is meant to be played, as previously pointed out. But, when a certain brand/model gets to a status like the LNG--you have to start thinking long term.
"What if you ever had to sell it?" etc....
You'd want top dollar for a rare beast with all original parts.
 
#23 ·
Just an observation about the palmrest... So this guy sued Ibanez for using his patented palm rest after seeing it on a LNG. After that, I never ever again saw another product with the much contested palmrest... Smart move by that guy :rolleyes: He should have waited until Ibanez had produced thousands of palmrest equipped guitars, and THEN he should have sued. Then Ibanez would have settled for sure and all Edges would have been equipped with a palmrest. Just sayin' :mrgreen: ;)
 
#26 ·
If you love the way it plays then play it man...that's the reason it was built. If you (it's owner) get more enjoyment from playing it than keeping it in a case and pulling it out to stare at it once in a while, then just play it.

To hell with the resale value...You could get hit by a bus tomorrow and a pristine condition LNG won't do you a damn bit of good laying under a tire :p
 
#28 ·
To answer your question; you would be that "guy". If you want to hack up a guitar, there are plenty less expensive Jems and RG's to do that with. I rarely pull my LNG out of its case and usually when I do it's for something special. I have RG's and custom Jem's that I've built to my specs to play on a daily basis. Why anyone would want to hack up the Jem that started it all is beyond me.
 
#30 ·
As far as reasons to keep a guitar in top shape even if you intend on keeping it, here's my reasoning.

GAS hits hard and fast. Half the jems I've bought I've intended on keeping... But then of course I'd see something I want that I didn't have and off they'd go. It's nice to have the ability to get any guitar you want by getting rid of one you have.

The only guitars id never get rid of, ever, are my ibanez gio, Gibson SG standard, and Fender Mexican strat. Everything else is expendable.
 
#32 ·
If you're not going to play it and enjoy it without wearing gloves and labcoat inside a plastic bubble sitting on a sofa with plastic covers on it, you have no business owning it.
They are instruments made to be played and enjoyed, and not hostages of greedy hoarders for brief moments of "hey look at me".

I play the hell out of all my guitars and the last thing on my mind is what it will be worth trying to gouge it on someone else. It's worth far more to me because of the enjoyment I get out of PLAYING IT.;)
 
#38 ·
Yeah it's kind of mean because it deprives someone else who enjoys collecting of an opportunity to collect.

I don't want to be "that" guy so I've started the hunt. Will put a sustainer into whatever I get, stainless steel frets, etc :D
On the other hand... it would drive up the price of all the other mint LNG's out there if you did "fix" it up a little... That would make more than a few collectors happy instead of just one :p
 
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