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I got this guitar new in the mid 90s. Like every other freaking Ibanez bolt-on, it developed a hump or ski jump over the tongue. I kept it because it was the first "nice" guitar I bought.
This weekend I got serious about doing an immaculate crown/level, and this time I went deep on the upper frets. Pleased to report that its now my best playing guitar, no fret buzz w/ action < 1.4mm. Frets above 17 like medium jumbo in height.
You can't dance around a problem like this, either you have to pull the frets and replane the board or hope that there is enough height in the frets and really knock em down. I only have two Ibbys left in my collection -- EVERY Ibanez of this vintage I've owned has done the same thing.
What doesn't work is a lazy level (which is what they do with plek)-- which is setting the truss rod so the least material is removed before leveling. Ive tried that before and the results just aren't as good.
You have to make the neck completely flat below the hump which means the high frets are going to lose more height. C'est la vie. The benefit is that truss rod is working exactly in its range and the neck doesn't have any excess relief (its still pretty damn flat which feels better when playing.)
Another part of the refurb was fixing the back of the neck where the satin finish had flaked off. At the beginning of the lockdown, I experimented with some polycrylic and the finish is still holding up. Instead of removing the entire finish and spraying, I rubbed poly into the area that had flaked off, built it up above the level of the original finish and sanded flat. You can't feel it at all, its still fast and satiny, but you can see it. The poly is clear and doesn't yellow like the stuff they use. This guitar has plenty of dings so this doesn't bother me.
I also sanded down and lowered the nut in keeping with the new fret profile.
This weekend I got serious about doing an immaculate crown/level, and this time I went deep on the upper frets. Pleased to report that its now my best playing guitar, no fret buzz w/ action < 1.4mm. Frets above 17 like medium jumbo in height.
You can't dance around a problem like this, either you have to pull the frets and replane the board or hope that there is enough height in the frets and really knock em down. I only have two Ibbys left in my collection -- EVERY Ibanez of this vintage I've owned has done the same thing.
What doesn't work is a lazy level (which is what they do with plek)-- which is setting the truss rod so the least material is removed before leveling. Ive tried that before and the results just aren't as good.
You have to make the neck completely flat below the hump which means the high frets are going to lose more height. C'est la vie. The benefit is that truss rod is working exactly in its range and the neck doesn't have any excess relief (its still pretty damn flat which feels better when playing.)
Another part of the refurb was fixing the back of the neck where the satin finish had flaked off. At the beginning of the lockdown, I experimented with some polycrylic and the finish is still holding up. Instead of removing the entire finish and spraying, I rubbed poly into the area that had flaked off, built it up above the level of the original finish and sanded flat. You can't feel it at all, its still fast and satiny, but you can see it. The poly is clear and doesn't yellow like the stuff they use. This guitar has plenty of dings so this doesn't bother me.
I also sanded down and lowered the nut in keeping with the new fret profile.
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