Repli-JEM build

AlexWilmot

Picked up a Ibanez the other day



as mentioned before has a Dimarzio evo 2 in the bridge, Seymour Duncan in the middle and schaller in the neck,

But I don't like the look of it at the moment and the paint has loads of scratches in it, so disassembly time and the bodys now stripped of everything

AlexWilmot

Went and order some bits,
Brown Tortoise shell pickguard, Axerus Ethereal Neck pickup, S90 middle single coil, Matching nickel cover for the Dimarzio Evo and all new electronics(Had Gibson 500A pots and a Jap style 5 way in)
https://i.imgur.com/wMqZkvX.png
https://i.imgur.com/PXjOCEq.jpg
Not sure what colour I'm going to spray the body just yet, will make a last minute decision once I've got the body ready for paint

Kalimna

Quick question - how do you plan on removing the finish from the 'claw' marks behind the trem?

Nice project, btw

Adam

lysander

Cool project ! What are these Ethereal pickups like ?
Are you planning to strip and refinish the body ?

AlexWilmot

Kalimna said:

Quick question - how do you plan on removing the finish from the 'claw' marks behind the trem?

Nice project, btw

Adam

So I started using Nitro Mors on the body yesterday and attacked the pickup and trem cavities, after 5min of the first layer I added a 2nd layer of Nitro then waited 30min before using a plastic scrapper, the trem lion's claw is now either stripped to the wood or has some grey primer left, was releatively surprised how easy this bit was

AlexWilmot

lysander said:

Cool project ! What are these Ethereal pickups like ?
Are you planning to strip and refinish the body ?

To be honest I have no idea what the pickups are like, the guitar needed a change and the description fits the style of playing I'm going to do,

So currently stripping the body and will do a sand on the bigger flat areas from 400 up to 1200, I think I might use Rustoleum painters touch spray to finish the body, no idea if it needs a primer and/or clear coat though

hollywoodrox

Can’t wait to see this, hope it’s desert yellow, pink or slime/loch ness green  

AlexWilmot

hollywoodrox said:

Can’t wait to see this, hope it’s desert yellow, pink or slime/loch ness green  

Nope not going to be like any JEM you can buy, thinking satin black or satin oxford green with the tortoise shell pickguard

AlexWilmot

Pickguard arrived today


Hopefully have some time on the weekend to do some more stripping on the body

AlexWilmot

Finding it easier to use a heat gun and scrap off the red paint and then nitro Mors the heavy thick many many layers of primer on this

AlexWilmot

So I've managed to get the body down to the wood sealer layer but have burned through to the wood(by sanding not the heat gun) in some areas, would I need to spray more wood sealer on or just use primer?

axisus

Interesting project. I hate nitromors, messy and for me it didn't work too well. I've done 3 bodies with heat, two worked brilliantly, the other was a total fail (plywood squier body with some kind of poly). The paint eventually melted, bubbled up, but refused to come off. I think I binned it in the end!

Jalapeno

AlexWilmot said:

So I've managed to get the body down to the wood sealer layer but have burned through to the wood(by sanding not the heat gun) in some areas, would I need to spray more wood sealer on or just use primer?

If you're painting it - primer will be dandy - if you end up with a grainy bit use the primer as filler - sand back a bit and re-apply

AlexWilmot

Jalapeno said:

AlexWilmot said:

So I've managed to get the body down to the wood sealer layer but have burned through to the wood(by sanding not the heat gun) in some areas, would I need to spray more wood sealer on or just use primer?

If you're painting it - primer will be dandy - if you end up with a grainy bit use the primer as filler - sand back a bit and re-apply

Cheers! decided to paint it as Basswood isn't the best to stain really (although the BSB JEM is a stained basswood body) still undecided on the colour I'm going for

AlexWilmot

After all the nitro and scrapping, a sanding block and 120 attacked the body, then used 400 afterwards, feels super smooth!

https://imgur.com/gallery/UMI1PrC

Only going to spray primer on Saturday if the weather's good and hopefully there aren't too many issues to try sand out

AlexWilmot

Gone and sprayed the first few layers of primer






Not sure if you can see from this last photo but there a surface of the moon in this one spot, I suppose some more sanding is required

paulnb57

Sanding is key to a good finish....

GoldenEraGuitars

paulnb57 said:

Sanding is key to a good finish....

Nice pun

AlexWilmot

I know the moon surface area is where I burned through the wood sealer to bare wood when removing the old paint, would I need to just sand with high number grit paper or build the layer up with more primer?

GoldenEraGuitars

You should remove everything on that body and leave it as bare wood. Unless that surface is level and smooth you won’t get the finish you want.

AlexWilmot

GoldenEraGuitars said:

You should remove everything on that body and leave it as bare wood. Unless that surface is level and smooth you won’t get the finish you want.

Tempted to leave it since its only that spot and another on the rear by the trem cover... seems like a lot of effort and pain for 2 small spots