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I just bought this old Ibanez for 50 bucks and thought I'd come here to document the restoration and perhaps get some ideas :-)

Some pics:






I am going to keep the pickups as they are for now, they measure about 4-5k and seem to be working (could not really test as the whole electronics are falling apart) If needed I can always rewind them but keep the case for the aesthetic.

The tuners need to go.
The tremolo looks really cool and seems to work, just need to find an arm.

Will leave the frets as they are for now, although they are really thin, but don't seem to be too worn out.

Probably going to strip away the crude furniture lacker that was applied over the whole guitar, sand it and apply some oil as finish.

I am a bit on the fence about the pickguard. I'd like to keep it but not sure what to use to use to fill that big rectangle where the original rocker switches were.


here is a pic of a similar guitar from the same era (mid-end 1960ties) where you can see them:



I'd love to find some rocker switches like that but can't seem to find any

Nice score!

Good luck finding an arm for that vibrato!

Those rocker switches'll be tough too.

I'd just cut a new pickguard. As much as I like rocker switches, they're not the best choice for pickup selection duties.

this is gonna be awesomeeeeee. I agree you may wanna just cut a new guard and wire up new switches + knobs but save the old guard + wiring in case you ever stumble upon a donor.

Chankgeez wrote:Nice score!

Good luck finding an arm for that vibrato!

Those rocker switches'll be tough too.

I'd just cut a new pickguard. As much as I like rocker switches, they're not the best choice for pickup selection duties.

The vibrato arm is taken care of, old strat arm I had around
I agree about the switches, while they look cool, they would be kind of in the way in that position.

imJonWain wrote:this is gonna be awesomeeeeee. I agree you may wanna just cut a new guard and wire up new switches + knobs but save the old guard + wiring in case you ever stumble upon a donor.

Not sure I'm up to the task of cutting a new board. I'm more likely to cut a small control plate for the switches (going to use some slide switches)

I have sanded the whole thing down. Turns out to be some nice pieces of wood




I reshaped the headstock a bit to give it a clearer shape (incidentally more fender-esque ...)

oh yeah, derp, with that old switch area that way you can totally just make a second plate to screw in place to hold your new switches...

Awesome find! Break a leg with the project.

You need the put kindajaguar on the headstock

Mudfuzz wrote:You need the put kindajaguar on the headstock

Body and neck are oiled and drying



the body has a rather pretty grain



have cleaned the hardware as much I could with some WD40



the pickups are an interesting construction I had not seen before



also look cleaner

drolo wrote:

Forget about the guitar, tell us about that ocean liner!

Mudfuzz wrote:You need the put kindajaguar on the headstock

not a bad idea ... :-) if only I did not suck so much at applying decals ...

Chankgeez wrote:Forget about the guitar, tell us about that ocean liner!

You guys don't have giant cardboard Titanic replicas in your garages ??

Well, I don't have a garage. That might be the problem.

(Guitar is lookin' great so far though! )

Look good!!! Personnaly, I would cut a new pickguard... a black or dark blue one and put a switch in that area.

In the end I decided to cut a little plate to accommodate 3 slide switches. I really like the slightly translucid original pickguard



The wood kind of splitered while I was sanding it and looks a bit ... crappy.. but I just wanted to test if that switch config would work.
Knowing me, if it works and the plate doesn't fall appart it will still be there in 10 years ... ;-)