Ibanez RG(5)270DX "Frankenstein"

This isn't actually my first guitar but it's as close as a first can get. I've actually gave my first electric guitar away to my cousin who wanted to pick up the guitar. Well anyway, this is the first decent electric guitar I bought for myself in 2002. For those who hasn't read about my story on how I eventually get to this, you can find the story here.

This Guitar went through a lot in terms of modification and is considered my test bed for future modifications to come. It originally was an Ibanez RG270DX which was made in Korea. I have nothing against guitars that aren't made in Japan or US but this particular piece isn't very well constructed. The locking nut holes are not well drilled and half of it has been drilled off. Nonetheless, I have sentimental values for this guitar as it is the first guitar I ever bought with my own salary.

The guitar started out with only pick up swap of Dimarzio Evolution, neck and bridge and FS-1 installed as it's main modification. For the longest time it was my main guitar. I was once paranoid about rusting parts and I had the stupidest idea of putting dehumidifier together with the guitar in the bag. The dehumidifier burst off and the contents leaked out without my knowledge. Just after months of returning from the World of Warcraft, I open up the bag, to my horror, most of the parts are rusted. I decided to give it an over haul and this was the second time I modified the guitar again. The whole guitar is being refitted with superior hardware, Gotoh locking nut, Gotoh Floyd Rose licensed tremolo vibrato bridge and Gotoh tuning machine heads.

So, there was once where I managed to try one of those old RG550, where the neck is super thin (17mm first fret and 19mm 12th fret). I decided that I wanted to sand mine down to achieve the same thickness. I bought a pair of vernier calipers and measured the neck. To my horror, the neck measured 20mm on the first fret and 22mm on the 12th fret. It's totally different from what a wizard neck should be (19mm on the first fret and 21mm on the 12th fret). So I proceed and sand down the neck. It took me about 3 hours with a palm sander, to sand the neck down to wizard II thickness. But I was happy with that for a while and kept it that way. I refinished the neck with hand rubbed oil finish.

After that, I read from project guitar forum on how to do a material finish such as the Jem 77FP. Once again, my the DIY bug in got the better of me and this guitar came out as the first choice for an experiment. It was a fun DIY but none the less a lot of hardwork.

After building and assembling a few Ibanez I accumulated an extra Made in Japan (MIJ) Mahogany body and decided to transfer the neck over to the body instead. The new body, a RG520QS body which I sanded down and refinished with Tung Oil. Once again feeling that the neck was still too thick for my liking, I proceed in sanding it down to the thickness of prestige wizard (18mm first fret and 19mm 12th fret). It has a slight different feel compared to a prestige neck though. As I didn't scalped the shape of the neck, the sides are still beefy while the back is flat. To my surprise, the neck is actually quite comfortable. Due to the 400mm radius actually allows comfortable chording while the flat back allows the thumb to grip comfortably and usually keeping the thumb in an upright position. Thanks to the new thickness, it also allows easy scale running without the hindering of baseball bat kind of necks. Due to it's combination of a Korean neck and Made in Japan body, I named it the Frankenstein. The guitar went through a couple of pickup changes. At one point of time, this guitar is fitted with Dragonfire Screamer pickups. I wanted to find out cheaper alternatives and since these screamers are made by Artec, I was more than willing to give it a try. The sound is pretty decent for a pickup about a quarter of a Dimarzio or Seymour Duncan. The main problem with it is, I find the pickup too bassy for my liking. I wanted something with less bass but more mid bass.

The next pair of cheaper but good pickups I've tried are Entwistle Dark Stars. These pickups are special in the way that they are designed around Neodymium magnets instead of the conventional alnico or Ceramic magnets. These pickups are high output and are hot. Soundwise, these pickups are really decent for it's price. Entwistle Dark Star shall stay in this guitar.




Ibanez RG(5)270DX "Frankenstein" Specs
neck type: 3pc Made in Korea Wizard II with Prestige thickness neck
fingerboard: Rosewood with sharktooth inlay
body: Oiled Mahogany body with Quilted Salepe Veneer
fret: Jumbo frets
bridge: Gotoh Licensed Floyd Rose Bridge
neck pu: Entwistle Dark Star neck
bridge pu: Entwistle Dark Star bridge

Neck Specs
Scale: 648mm/25.5"
a : Width at Nut 43mm
b : Width at Last Fret 54mm
c: Thickness at 1st 18mm
d : Thickness at 12th 20mm
Radius: 400mmR

Entwistle Darkstar Neck Neo Classical Test by Adrian Goh

Dragonfire neo classical test by Adrian Goh

A revamp of an Old guitar

So on my other post, I had shown everyone my first guitar. The one I bought for my own birthday during 2002. So I decided to revamp the guitar again. I had an extra RG520QS body which I sanded away the finish and did an existing Tung Oil finish. The neck of the Korean Made RG proved to be too thick for my liking, which measured on my Calipers to be 20mm first fret and 22mm second fret. For Ibanez purist, I know that the measurements doesn't match what Ibanez showed at their catalog for wizard II necks. However, I guess Ibanez doesn't put as much QC on their lower models (RG270DX).

So I decided to create a Frankenstein Ibanez. MIJ body (Mahogany at that) and a Korean RG neck. The catch is I sand down the neck by 2 mm, making it closer to Jem/Prestige spec following on with 4 coats of Tru-Oil Finish. Which is by far, my favourite neck Finishing of late. Neck now measures 18mm first fret and 20mm on the 12 fret. Due to the flatten back, it makes it easier for scaling while the 400mm radius makes it easier for chording and fast runs from the 12 fret onwards. It ain't exactly Prestige or Jem neck but none the less, after the modification, it still plays as well as any MIJ guitar out there.Hardware has all been switched to Gotoh for better stability. 


A picture of the whole guitar after the revamp.


This is a close up on the body of the effect of oiling. Look at how deep the wood looks like it's going because of that oil.


Check out the super low action which i enjoy. It's about 1mm at the 12 fret and this is what Rich Harris from Jemsite term as Stupid Low. It's not exactly the best action out there but it's definitely one that i enjoy playing with. So far, all my guitars are set up with this action.


Lastly, this is a picture of the neck after shaving off 2mm with the hand rubbed Tru-Oil. Look at that deep lustrous look on that maple which the grain has been "POP" by the oil.