Rehab: Ibanez Jet King

[waltdogg]

So my friend had an Ibanez Jet King, well had isn't the right word... But neither is has... So I'm working on my friend's Ibanez Jet King, that he split. In half. Unfortunately I didn't take any pictures of it while it was in two pieces and I don't have a picture of it at the moment. But, I stripped all the parts off and glued it back together. Lacking clamps wide enough for a guitar body I resorted to taping the body together while the glue sets. The neck somehow survived whatever the hell my friend put this guitar through so that's squared away luckily. I jammed and super glued Nashville T-O-M bushings into the original bridge's bushings to save myself a headache since they pretty much fit perfectly and the original bridge was a cheap piece of shit. Just gotta order a new Nashville T-O-M when my friend sends me the money for it. We're gonna replace the original pickups with some humbucker sized P-90s and replace the electronics with high quality pots and wiring. The P-90s wont be able to use the guitar's phase switches so I cut them out of the circuit and left them on the pickguard for looks. I'll get some pictures of it up as is soon, you guys'll probably get a kick out of this rebuild. I know I am already and I'm looking forward to finishing it.

[skullservant]

Looking forward to pictures!

[waltdogg]

I intend to wet sand the damage on the lower edge of the body to try and give it a relic look. The seam looks worse than it really is because the poly finish shrank on the body after it had split. The wood is flush and solid now but I'm gonna give it another day before I get started assembling the guitar.

[colossus]

How did he even do that??

[SPACERITUAL]

Oh man those jet kings were made of balsa wood. I remember in college my boy got one that he promptly broke and had repaired. The night he got it back i was playing it in his dorm room and this girl burst in and slapped it out of my hand and broke it again. it turns out we hooked up and immediately after i used her phone to text all of her friends that she had a really big clitoris. In my defense it was pretty big. How was i supposed to know she was ...





...sensitive about it???

[waltdogg]

How did he even do that??

Last show antics?

Fuckin' SPACERITUAL. Well here's to hoping nothing severe happens to the guitar again.

[wafl]

Weird, I turned mine into a bass VI but i'm pretty sure it's mahogany. Pretty shit neck but the body seems sturdy.

I actually really liked the pickups it came with though.

[Mudfuzz]

for some reason this makes me think Van Halen…

Really though did the wood split or did a glue seam fail?

[waltdogg]

I was thinking VH when I was taking pics too.

The wood was broken, not a failed glue seam.

99% sure its mahogany but it's no big deal if it's not, it isn't my guitar. I'm going to try fashion some sort of neck plate and hopefully that plus the flashy metal plate that goes on the front of the two pieces body will keep the guitar secured together if the glue ever fails.

[Mudfuzz]

99% sure its mahogany

mahogany can be a pretty vague term really… a lot of stuff that has been sold as mahogany for a very long time is actually philippine mahogany [lauan] which is soft, splintery stuff, even african mahogany is it sapele or khaya, all this stuff comes into play, also how was it dried, how long was it allowed to? was it a good cut?

[waltdogg]

Well... I don't expect *anything* from an import guitar. But the exposed wood, looked to me, to be mahogany. Whether it's a lower grade cut or just something close to mahogany, I dunno. But once again, this isn't my guitar so it's not an issue. We're just trying to get it serviceable. It sounded okay once. Don't see why it cant be made decent again.

[waltdogg]

Unless it flies apart again. Then we know it's crap!

[waltdogg]

Took some of the clamping tape off to attach the tail plate and a new ground wire, I also reguled a piece that snapped out between the neck pickup cavity an the neck pocket. The bridge is a 90s ABR-1 that I fit with non-wired ABR-1 saddles and saddles screws that I happened to have in my parts drawer. Since I used Nashville bushings I had to ream out the slots on the ABR-1 for Nashville T-O-M bridge studs. It's a tight fit but it works. After the glue sets between the neck pickup cavity and neck pocket I'll begin to reassemble the bulk of the guitar tomorrow or the next day. I still need to order new electronics and pickups, but that's on my friend and whenever he gets me money for 'em.

[Mudfuzz]

Unless it flies apart again. Then we know it's crap!

More glue
stronger glue
!

[waltdogg]

Unless it flies apart again. Then we know it's crap!

More glue
stronger glue
!

I was literally banging on the guitar with a hammer to redirect a screw. It's still in one piece. So I think we're good!

I reattached the neck and reinstalled the original pickups deciding that it would be better to save my friend a few bucks and get the guitar up and running sooner. I'll have to wait until next week to order a new wiring kit. And since I'm using the original pickups which are 4-lead I'm going to reuse the coil tap switches when I wire the guitar up. I'll get a pic when I have some natural light tomorrow.