NGD - Ibanez content (pimped)

[felineguitars]

I have loved the Ibanez Sabre or S Type for years and have owned a few , but ultimately nothing has stuck around.
Part of the reason is that although I was once a keen Floyd Rose user and nearly all my guitars at one time had them, I have gradually moved away from using the bar and favour hardtail guitars

The big frustration is that the S type never seemed to be made as a hardtail (which seemed odd) - except for a one off model that was made in 1993 - The SF 470
As well as having a tunamatic and tailpiece it also featured a Gibson like 24.75" scale and smaller vintage like frets to appeal to the more vintage type player I guess.

So I've had an eye open for one of these for a while on ebay and a few months ago one popped up

i paid what seemed like an ok price and I rather like it

There were a few things which needed changing to make it the way I wanted it

1) body is bit chipped and scratched up, so I stripped all the paint off with a view to refinishing it or even adding a posh exotic wood veneer
2) try as I might I don't get on with middle pickups - they get in my way - so I removed it , routed out and filled the hole with a block of mahogany that matched the body wood, and then veneered the body front and rear with some Pommel Sapele - v pretty
3) Decided to put some Bare Knuckle Pickups in here - The new Aftermath pickup. They sound great in here. Tight and balanced - great for a wider range of stuff than you'd expect
4) Vintage frets don't suit me - so I've fitted Dunlop 6000 size - the huge ones! (same as many of my other guitars)
5) Fitted an Earvana shelf nut - worked a treat
6) a fair bit of rust here and there on screws etc - Easy to fix with new screw
7) Made a new truss rod cover
8) Upgaded pots etc - Some 550k ohm pots and a vitamin Q oil and paper cap


So here it is in all it's new found glory:

 

[VitaminG]

wow, that is stunning.

Vaguely reminiscent of an Ibanez I've long wanted - the RG520QSOL. It has quilt sapele over a mahogany body with an oil finish & 2 humbuckers. You wouldn't like it though - it has a Floyd

 

[Hamner1]

Very nice work.
Ditto on the middle pickup. I rarely ever used it and the only time I ever sort of liked the tone. Some guy I don't remember anymore was playing a strat and some bluesy stuff. It gets in the way of my picking. I had a HSS style guitar befoe & I dropped a 3 way switch in it & lowered the middle pup all the way down. Problem solved. :lol:

 

[felineguitars]

I do still like Floyd Roses but have to avoid making motorbike noises all the time

 

[Curse13]

but is it now more of a flat top instead of the carved-top, aerofoil shape of the S body? I've got a 540S and always liked the way that the body's front and back contours made it so comfortable. Either way it came out looking great.

 

[BigBrewtus]

Love the S series. I have a cheaper SA260FM. I love it. I put Dimarzios in it and it covers a ton of tonal ground. Next step is to have a Wilkinson tremolo installed. I dont use a ton of trem these days but would like to have better hardware. Oh, I had Andy Timmons sign it too!