Welcome to my humble blog where I write the little things concerning Guitar, especially the Electric guitar. I am an avid Project guitar builder and enjoys DIY projects on guitars. Through this blog, I will share with my readers my experiments, findings, projects, recommendations and more. Do check back now and then while I hope you will be able to find the information provided in this blog useful.
The two guitars that accompany me for today are my Jem and my RG470FM. Here is a little myth buster. If you go to the Ibanez website and check out the measurements for the Jem neck and the Wizard II neck, they have the same measurements but the radius being the only one that is different. The neck measure first fret at 19mm and 12th fret at 21mm. Jem's radius is 430mm while the Wizard II is 400mm.
I used to think that the Japanese Wizard neck is very close to the Jem neck as it actually has 430mm as it's radius instead. So theoretically, the measurements are the same! Well, after I got a Jem, and having my RG470FM with me, I did a side by side comparison and I can debunk the myth. They are 2 different necks. Guess Ibanez isn't that stupid to offer the neck with the same measurement on a lower model.
The main difference is the back of the neck. Jem neck feels somewhat flatter behind. And due to that, the radius of the neck feels somewhat flatter too, almost concave. So, next time someone claims that the Wizard II is actually a Jem neck, well... not so.
So at the beginning of the year, I went to France for a short period of time (No, I don't speak French) and just like all my holidays, I went to almost every of the local "Guitar street" and France was no exception. Did I mentioned that I actually love that country a lot?
Well anyway, there is an exclusive brand produced by the country called LAG. No, it isn't a system lag or anything like that but LAG produces very good playing guitars. The Arkane A200ST is one of those fine guitars that were bring produced and the quality is top notched, even for a Made in China Guitar. I guess only the top of the QC chain got into the stores.
I've tried one of these myself and all I can say is that the body resembles the Ibanez S series while the neck is at least Wizard II thin. It has a gorgeous flame maple top (not veneer mind you) and Mahogany body. It also features real EMG HZ pickups which are insanely loud and the Floyd Rose special bridge.
The only qualms I have about the guitar is the price. It is kind of expensive for a Made in China guitar at this price range even with the superior quality. I have nothing against guitars that are made in China but I do have a problem against guitars build in a low production area being sold of really expensive. However, if you are able to get pass that fact, this is a fine guitar to own and definitely a very nice workhorse.
This is the first Made in Japan Ibanez that I have gotten myself in 2007. It is a made in 2003 RG470FM, the only year produced that is equipped with an Edge Pro, and a domestic model at that. I figured that at that point of time, I wanted something better and there happened to be a sale at Swee Lee (A local music store). So I went down and took a look, actually wanting a prestige in mind, but end up picking this up for way less than the price of a prestige.
After picking up this piece, there are a few immediate difference which i noticed compared to the previous RG I have. The neck feels a lot more comfortable and the locking nut, is actually top mounted, instead of the usual back mounting. That actually surprised me a bit as I was expecting a back mounting locking nut. Not that it makes that much of a difference.
The neck really measures 19mm on the first fret and 21mm on the 21st fret with a comfortable radius of 430mm. I am astonished by the precision of a Japanese made guitar at that time which gave me the conclusion that, usually putting branding aside, the more you invest in a guitar, it's actually the workmanship that one is paying extra for. It was first hand witnessing Japanese Craftmanship.
The Guitar spots a Basswood body, which sings out really nice, allowing the pick ups to shine really well. The Edge Pro bridge, which comes only in this particular year of RG470 is really stable and allows a really low profile with nice pulling up action. As per all my guitars, I like my 12th fret action to be set at 1mm, meaning very low action for that fast fretwork.
The best part was, it spots a Flame maple top and in the shade of Transparent blue, my favourite colour to boot (Although now I've leaned towards oiled finishes)! The only thing that I hate about the guitar, is the stock pick ups (Ibanez V7, S1, V8). So I did the usual thing that I do with all my guitars. PICK UP SWAP! I ordered a set of Evolutions from Musician's Friend and got it swapped in. In addition to that, I had Orange Drop and treble bleed mod installed.
Why is this guitar called "青火丸(Aohimaru)" which means the Circle of Blue Fire in Japanese. It's a pretty obvious answer actually, it's blue and it has flame maple top. Circle in this case just means perfection.
Ibanez RG470FM SP "青火丸(Aohimaru)" Specs neck type: 3pc Made in Japan Wizard II neck fingerboard: Rosewood with dot inlay body: Transparent blue Basswood body with Flame Maple Veneer fret: Jumbo frets bridge: Ibanez Edge Pro Bridge neck pu: Dimazio Evolution Neck middle pu: Dimazio Evolution Single bridge pu: Dimazio Evolution Bridge
Neck Specs Scale: 648mm/25.5" a : Width at Nut 43mm b : Width at Last Fret 54mm c: Thickness at 1st 19mm d : Thickness at 12th 21mm Radius: 400mmR
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
