Long time, new project.

[The Guitar]

Been a while since I have done anything guitar related, but I got a text from my pal. He sent pics of an Ibanez and asked if I wanted it. Seen the Pro Line Series on the head and the model number on the back of the head and looked it up. I said yes. It's a PL1770, and if the wiki is correct, an '86 model. I guess another friend had left it at his ex's and she had found it while cleaning the attic. I kind of like the paint on the face of it, so I might keep it as is, but I might whip up something with a similar theme. Not too sure what I'm going to do until I get it in my hands. Kind of looking at various parts and what not, nothing too serious. Anyways, some pics are in order! I'm not too sure on that line on the back of the head. If it's a crack, I might break it to reset it, or just squeeze some wood glue and clamp. It's going to need the whole shebang!

 

[Mincer]

That looks like quite a project, but a fun one! Make sure you take pics of the progress. I am curious how this will turn out.

 

[The Guitar]

Will do!

 

[The Guitar]

Here we go. The theme is Grateful Dead on it. I did take some lemon oil, then F-One to the board. Still some grime up by the Frets, so I'm open to suggestions on tackling that. Polished the headstock up too and tightened up the tuners. Fortunately, the lines on the back of the head are not cracks! The only place that I found that can make a guard without a tracing is Frets on the Net. I'm going to hold off until I decide on what I'm going to paint up on it. I'll want it on the guard too. Not sure if I can full on restore it unless I find that fancy phase button switch, but I have found a diagram.

 

[Ashurbanipal]

Nice score! Quite under appreciated guitars, though hardcore Ibanez guys know about them and love them (I have a gold one myself). I guess this one was Copper Metallic, going by the paint in the trem cavity (?), copper and black came with black hardware. Looks like an early production one, going by the serial (L85xxxx, December 1985).

Fine grade steel wool is good for polishing the frets and getting the finer grime; in the past, I've used the blunt side of a scalpel very carefully in the past for getting out the grunge jammed between the fret and the board.

Note that you'll need a trem with a 41mm block, and if you're getting an original Edge or Gotoh GE1996T, you cannot use locking studs without a mod, because the anchors are hollow and quite a bit longer on these than what came later.

Yeah, good luck finding those push button switches; they're mounted on a small pcb with terminals for connecting the pickup wires. I've seen the for sale a handful of times over the past decade. This is what they look like under the hood.

 

[Mincer]

I remember those switches. The Fender Elites had something similar in the early 80s. I always thought it was a good idea- I wonder how they held up over time.

 

[Ashurbanipal]

Hmm, I haven't heard of many such instances. I do wonder if it's possible to do minor surgery and recondition the actuator.

 

[The Guitar]

Got the Igniter II in and have a barrel jack, B500K push pull pot, Musiclily 5 way in my cart on Amazon. When it comes time to get the guard, I'll keep the preset switch cut out in the event I do come across one. I think I'll locally source a 500K pot and a .022uf cap from the electronic shop. Still haven't thought of a graphic I'm dead set on. An idea is using a star map. Mainly Tomas Filsinger's Map of the Universe. I plan on covering the guard and pickups with it.

 

[The Guitar]

Taped up for a polishing! Took some 000 steel wool then polished up with some Mother's.

 

[Mincer]

This looks like a fun project. I always like to have some kind of long-term project I am tinkering with.

 

[Ashurbanipal]

Looking good, shiny frets are always satisfying. Mine needs a fret level now; thankully the frets are so huge on these guitars that it's possible to get a few levellings/dressings before a complete overhaul.

Fwiw, when I was upgrading the pots on mine, I had to sand the body around where the tone pot sits so a regular sized one would fit, as the original was a push-push mini.

What kind of pickups are you thinking of putting in it?

 

[The Guitar]

Right now I have an Igniter II out of a Harmony Discovery. I'd like to stick with covered singles so I can cover them with a graphic.