awesome swirl
I've been kinda wondering what had became of this guitar.

 

Just got back from ET Guitars down in Mittagong - though it's 4 days later, today is Xmas day for me !

I got the decal from best-decals.com

Got Ernie to put the neck on for me to make sure everything was ok and he also gave the neck some TLC so it looks like new !

Next step is tracking down a cosmo 42mm locking nut, string tree and a wiring diagram.

 

Looking very cool!

 

Can't wait to see it all put toghether!

 

Looks awesome.

 

Wow impressive, how much are you spending in time/money for making this beauty?

 

Haha I don't wanna think about it...but I kept a spreadsheet and it's cost me about $1,500 Aussie $ which are pretty much on parity with US $ at the moment. That also includes about $150 I spent on the electric sander and consumables for that - which I'll be able to use on my next project too. And as for the time, well I only would have spent that time sitting on my ass playing xBox anyway, I went slowly and took my time with her as well because I honestly didn't know what I was doing.

I originally thought I had spent too much money when I first bought her but when you factor in I pretty much got a full edge tremelo system with it that would have cost me around $300 by itself I did pretty good.

I really enjoyed sanding her back and repairing that trench though, she was in such a shocking state when I got her, now she's beautiful. Just waiting a few weeks as Ernie recomended for the clearcoat to cure and then I'll start putting her together, I reckon when I plug her in and hear that first note it'll be worth all that money and more.

I was gonna buy a Warmoth Guitar and build that but balked at the cost, I've spent a little less than what that would have cost but I'm gonna end up with a far better product.

My next project will hopefully work out a lot cheaper as I'm gonna have a crack at painting it myself, but that's a story for another day.

 

Fantastic Job !!!

 

Should have posted this a few weeks ago. I've started putting her together.

I've since had a friend of mine who works in electronics wire it up for me - I got the wiring diagram off the Seymour Duncan website. It's a single Dimarzio PAF PRO with a push pull split pot.

After stringing up and tuning in I've discovered she has an intonation problem, if you grab where G should be on the E string it's F#. Every string is out exaclty the same amount.

I think I've just sorted out my 42mm locking nut so onto sorting the intonation out. I have to admit though I haven't googled it yet as I'm a bit scared the answer may not be good.

 

I'm guessing that you've tried adjusting the intonation on the bridge?

 

Haven't tried anything at all yet, wanted to get a 42mm locking nut fitted on it first.

I bought a cheap 42mm locking nut off eBay and once it got here I found the holes lined up perfectly with the existing holes in my neck but there was no thread for the screws. I took the nut to a machinist friend of mine and it must be made from some super hard material as he broke 2 M4 taps trying to thread the holes for me, on the second attempt he even snapped off the tap in the hole.

I ended up taking it to another machinist friend who got the stuck tap out and had to heat treat the material to weaken it so he could tap the final hole ! That drama took a few weeks to sort out but I think I might try and get a shim or 2 for under the locking nut.

Now, when you say adjust the intonation on the bridge do you mean the height/angle it sits at or something else, as I said I haven't researched it yet so I'm being lazy and asking. :wink:

 

Adjusting the intonation means adjusting the lenght of the string between the bridge and the nut for better tuning across the fretboard.

edit.

Wow, my 400th post here!

 

Do a search on google for Floyd rose setting intonation. That'll help you out.

And please, just spend the bit extra to get an Ibanez locking nut that suits your model guitar. Cheapies will not last, and as you've found, are a pain to get sorted. Been there, done that. Never again.

 

very very impressive swirl.

 

yeah, it looks nice, bad intonation can kill the best looking guitar.

 

It's an expensive project, take it to a luthier/tech and have him do the initial setup and mimic it from there...

 

Any updates?

Plus how long did you have to wait for the right guitar? Thinking about doing my own little project, but nothing of the caliber you have done.

Thanks

 

Sorry for taking so long to reply. I was really getting bummed out with the intonation problem as it's really doing my head in. I took it to one guitar tech who reckons I need to take the neck off and reposition it so the action is 10mm longer.

I don't understand as the dimensions are exactly the same as my 1990 Ibanez 450S so I'm gonna wait until I can get down to Ernie at ET Guitars for a second opinion. I'll come back to it in a couple of months when I have the patience for it.

 

Easy check is see what the measurement is from the edge of the nut to the middle of the 12th fret, then measure from the middle of the 12th fret to bridge saddle where the string makes contact, they should be the same..

 

Thanks for trying to diagnose this for me guys:

Easy check is see what the measurement is from the edge of the nut to the middle of the 12th fret, then measure from the middle of the 12th fret to bridge saddle where the string makes contact, they should be the same..

It's 325mm both ways.

10mm is FAR too much. Do me a favor, can you measure the distance between the first three frets please?

The measurement from the nut to middle of the 3rd fret is 103mm.

 

Best of luck to you, it's looking great so far though. Hope the intonation can be easily fixed.

 

10mm is a fair bit out, do as 123ahull said and measure from nut to 12th fret, then see if the measurement from the 12th to the bridge saddles is the same, it will only take a minute of your time and may save you a lot of guess work.

Nice project BTW!

 

10mm is FAR too much. Do me a favor, can you measure the distance between the first three frets please?

 

That makes no sense at all. That would make the scale length of your guitar 700mm (27.56"). What is the distance from the nut to the bridge saddles? It should be 25.5".

My guess is that your guitar needs a 24 fret neck.

 

I for one want to know how bad the old neck was that you didn't think you could save it? Got any pics of it?

 

Re: Buckshot's Pretty Much Finished Ibanez "S" Project !

Ducked to Mittagong and visited Ernie at ET Guitars today to get this sorted out once and for all and turns out I just made a silly rookie mistake.

The locking nut was way too low so when you fretted a note the strings thought they were a fret shorter if that makes any sense. We cut a couple of his business cards into strips, packed them under the locking nut and boom shanka she's all sorted (untill I can get a brass shim).

Thanks again to Errnie for the fantastic swirl and for spotting what was wrong with her pretty much straight away !

There are still some finite adjustments to be made to the set up but at least she's payable !

 

Good, glad it was a simple solution in the end