# NGD RGA8 Custom Refinish Minithread!! BAAWWM



## HexaneLake (Apr 12, 2012)

Whatsup dudes! So I was in the process of looking for a badass Lakewood acoustic on the net, stumbled across a used, stripped down Ibanez RGA8 for dirt cheap. Since it was such a deal, I couldn't pass it up. (so now I'm tryin to get the good ol' Axe FX 2 ) I took some photos of me refinishing the beast during the whole process. It turned out BEAUTIFUL and I figured you guys would get a kick out of it, so here it is.

How it arrived




Taped off the inlay on the headstock




The color! ZEUSS BLUEE




All sprayed up




Uh oh..









Fuckin hate soldering




BAM!!!




So.......pretty...*cries








I dyed the fretboard with leather dye to make it look more like ebony and compliment the hardware. No problems what so ever, we will see how it keeps down the road.




Well thats it, hope you guys like it!!


----------



## BIG ND SWEATY (Apr 12, 2012)

:O that looks amazing


----------



## s4tch (Apr 12, 2012)

wootsmitty said:


> Taped off the inlay on the headstock



Nice touch, man. The whole thing turned out pretty cool.


----------



## spattergrind (Apr 12, 2012)

Dude....

That is awesome!


----------



## no_dice (Apr 12, 2012)

That's fucking gorgeous.


----------



## craigny (Apr 12, 2012)

AWESOME!


----------



## GazPots (Apr 12, 2012)

Wow, looks pretty sweet with the paint and the white pickups. Also love the fact you kept the logo, did you just cover it in tape and razor your way around it?


Also how are the 808x pickups? And exactly how much soldering did they require to put in (as far as i was aware it was 2 joins to the jack and that was it?)?


Gaz


----------



## HexaneLake (Apr 12, 2012)

Yea, layed a piece of masking tape down, and cut out around it very carefully. 

And the EMG's are great. There wasn't much soldering, just the jack and the switch. I spliced the battery wires to the ones emg included, and just taped them up. I havent had a chance to plug it in yet and test if I have everything wired up correctly, but my tuner read some signal so it can't be too far off I guess.


----------



## Beeftron (Apr 12, 2012)

That looks absolutely incredible!


----------



## illimmigrant (Apr 12, 2012)

dude, fantastic job! Makes me want to re-finish my old Ibanez 7420


----------



## DMAallday (Apr 12, 2012)

wow! not a huge ibanez fan, but this looks INSANE!!! great work!!  is it a matte finish? I can't tell! and sweet foot tattoo haha I went to school for chemisty, what are they?


----------



## HexaneLake (Apr 12, 2012)

Lol thanks man, I have the chemical structure of Dimethyltriptamine on my right foot, and Psilocybin on my left.

And I used Kyrlon Matte Gallery series. Still curing a little bit but it looks damn good.


----------



## Danukenator (Apr 12, 2012)

If I saw that I'd ask who you were, because I'd assume you were famous enough to get a LACS guitar. Fuckin' nice job.


----------



## DMAallday (Apr 12, 2012)

hahahahaha word up dude! and honestly this is amazing, I may have to steal this look for a ltd of mine! I'll send my guitar to you from Jersey for a little assistance


----------



## astm (Apr 12, 2012)

Looks F-ing amazing! wasn't expecting such an awesome result. Just two questions

1.- Why did you solder? doesn't it come with solderless system?
2.- Is that a PO3- molecule tatooed on your foot?? lol


----------



## HexaneLake (Apr 12, 2012)

Yes, EMG pickups do come with a solderless system, but some components would not directly swap onto my guitar,. For instance, the RGA8 has to use a long threaded jack rather than the standard, because of the thickness of the body. So that and the 3 way switch require soldering. It wasnt difficult tho.


----------



## Rojne (Apr 12, 2012)

Dude, GASing harder for my RGA8 now!
Great fukin colour, you give me inspiration haha!

Looks great man, HNGD!!


----------



## vampiregenocide (Apr 12, 2012)

God damn that's beautiful. Just so classy.


----------



## Shannon (Apr 12, 2012)

Well done! That's what I call a transformation.


----------



## vondano (Apr 12, 2012)

NIIIIIIIIICE!


----------



## jon66 (Apr 12, 2012)

Looks amazing man! Really professional looking.

PS - Take note Ibanez: ERG players aren't always terrified of a little color on our instruments, lol


----------



## djpharoah (Apr 12, 2012)




----------



## broj15 (Apr 12, 2012)

The blue and white look great.


----------



## brector (Apr 12, 2012)

When I saw the first pic of the body with the color, I thought that was about the ugliest blue I had ever seen. But man that thing looks AMAZING! Nice job!!!

-Brian


----------



## LtdRay (Apr 12, 2012)

love white emgs


----------



## SilenceIsACrime (Apr 12, 2012)

I'm normally not a fan of that color, but holy hell does that look incredible. Nice work!!


----------



## Captain Shoggoth (Apr 12, 2012)

mirin those axesthetics brah

(I saw your shaker)

Lovely stuff!


----------



## MetalBuddah (Apr 12, 2012)

This is my favorite RGA8 custom now.....GOOD WORK  Did you simply just spray paint that???


----------



## simonXsludge (Apr 12, 2012)

Didn't know EMG's 8-string pups were out in white, pretty cool! The whole project came out amazing, the white pups go so well with the blue.

Good job!


----------



## Nonservium (Apr 12, 2012)

That is fucking fantastic!


----------



## Murdstone (Apr 12, 2012)

Seeing CH3 instead of a line makes my organic OCD act up. 

Other than that, guitar looks awesome


----------



## nostealbucket (Apr 12, 2012)

My god...


----------



## nexbot (Apr 12, 2012)

Damn that looks like candy, man! Sweet!


----------



## isispelican (Apr 12, 2012)

that is really amazing!!


----------



## Metalus (Apr 12, 2012)

Soft baby blue looks fantastic on guitars. This looks almost as sexy as Misha's custom shop Jackson


----------



## simonXsludge (Apr 12, 2012)

I gotta ask, where did you get the white EMGs?


----------



## Divinehippie (Apr 12, 2012)

Love how that looks man! bitchin Axe for sure!


----------



## VILARIKA (Apr 12, 2012)

That's some nice work.

wootsmitty, what is your avatar a picture of?


----------



## Bigsby (Apr 12, 2012)

i cried, its so beautiful


----------



## groovemasta (Apr 12, 2012)

*gasp* 

Thought the thread was going to be about the natural finish and I still thought it looked pretty good ahah...


----------



## Hollowway (Apr 12, 2012)

DMAallday said:


> wow! not a huge ibanez fan, but this looks INSANE!!! great work!!  is it a matte finish? I can't tell! and sweet foot tattoo haha I went to school for chemisty, what are they?



EXACTLY what I was going to say - including the tattoos!


9/10 times I think these mod jobs look like crap. But the dye, the color, the pups, you knocked this one out of the park! You going to clear it and polish it after it cures or leave as is?


----------



## Compton (Apr 13, 2012)

looks awesome man, gewd jerb!


----------



## DropSplash (Apr 13, 2012)

This is straight up the best RGA8 paint-mod I have ever seen. In fact, if you could list every step you did in extreme detail so someone could replicate what you did, I would be so grateful. My RG7620 is in need of a new paint job.. And this is VERY APPEALING. 
Nice job man. Straight up. Nice job. It looks awesome. And the white 808x's, brilliant choice. Where did you get white ones anyway?


----------



## asher (Apr 13, 2012)

That looks fucking outstanding dude!


----------



## Tarantino_Jr (Apr 13, 2012)

Holy shit dude this guitar looks amazing
Gotta love the white EMGs


----------



## yuureikun (Apr 13, 2012)

That is sexy as all hell.


----------



## FinnBehemoth (Apr 13, 2012)

Looks pretty sick man! Good job!


----------



## drmosh (Apr 13, 2012)

wow, that looks really good!
Fantastic job


----------



## Goatchrist (Apr 13, 2012)

That's awesome! Congrats!


----------



## AnarchyDivine88 (Apr 13, 2012)

Nice job dude, that came out really well!


----------



## M3CHK1LLA (Apr 13, 2012)

looks great...you may want to read up to see if you need to clear it. hate to see that finish worn out so soon...or maybe that would look cool too - a relic finish.


----------



## Domkid118 (Apr 13, 2012)

This is the nicest RG8 i have seen yet, 
Congrats man


----------



## Bigsby (Apr 13, 2012)

i keep coming back to this thread, i can't get enough of that guitar ill be honest this is probably my favorite 8 string i've ever seen


----------



## MF_Kitten (Apr 13, 2012)

fuck me, that looks perfect, and you make it look so easy!


----------



## guy in latvia (Apr 13, 2012)

sweet! awesome job!


----------



## Randy (Apr 13, 2012)

Sick color.

Nice tattoos.


----------



## HexaneLake (Apr 13, 2012)

Thanks brahs! And to all that are wondering, I did seal it with Kyrlon Matte finish. When I said it was still curing, I meant the krylon. Its completely dry to the touch, but not fully hardened. 

And I ordered the EMG's straight from their website. 130 each, not bad!


----------



## JaxoBuzzo (Apr 13, 2012)

what is that tattoo on your foot?


----------



## guitarneeraj (Apr 13, 2012)

Ahhh you got this one!! I was eye balling it for a while.. 
The new finish looks KILLER dude!!!


----------



## myrtorp (Apr 13, 2012)

Super sexy! White emgs looks soo nice in there!


----------



## brector (Apr 13, 2012)

JaxoBuzzo said:


> what is that tattoo on your foot?



See post #12

-Brian


----------



## MFB (Apr 13, 2012)

Dat blue


----------



## Rook (Apr 13, 2012)

Did you literally just spray that blue straight onto the wood?

Holy crap, I need some of this stuff.

EDIT: Are you saying you sealed it with this?

Krylon Finish


----------



## GATA4 (Apr 14, 2012)

FAPFAPFAPFAPFAPFAP


----------



## Compton (Apr 14, 2012)

quick step by step would be awesome man! I can't believe how well it turned out!


----------



## ilovefinnish (Apr 14, 2012)

Amazing dude! you did a great job!


----------



## HexaneLake (Apr 14, 2012)

Fun111 said:


> Did you literally just spray that blue straight onto the wood?
> 
> Holy crap, I need some of this stuff.
> 
> ...



yup, It was the "Galley Series" tho, probably not much different


----------



## toecutter (Apr 14, 2012)

Almost picked up that project myself when I saw it on ebay. Looks good man!


----------



## MannyMoonjava (Apr 14, 2012)

Why dont ibanez make them in more colors?! This looks so gorgeous!


----------



## Levi79 (Apr 14, 2012)

Crazy awesome colour dude!


----------



## JaxoBuzzo (Apr 14, 2012)

wootsmitty said:


> and Psilocybin on my left.


Believe it or not, I almost got the exact same tattoo in the exact same place a year or two back. sweet guitar man and I normally am not a fan of blue anything!


----------



## MrHelloGuitar (Apr 14, 2012)

So precise! Your work is amazing.. Kudos!


----------



## ImN0tTelling (Apr 14, 2012)

Great job man, looks beautiful! A quick little step by step would be great, seeing as most of us are very sick of the usual Ibanez black haha


----------



## Hate (Apr 14, 2012)

Awesome job.


----------



## DropSplash (Apr 15, 2012)

Step by Step! Step by Step! Step by Step!

Need replication details!


----------



## Rook (Apr 15, 2012)

Really interested to hear how this holds up.

Did you seal the mahogany first or use any grain filler or primer?


----------



## 7stringDemon (Apr 15, 2012)

When I saw the pics, I yelled "Fuck!" really loud.

You, sir, have won the internet.


----------



## tlab (Apr 15, 2012)

OMG! what an epic color! It's so amazing!


----------



## Alpenglow (Apr 16, 2012)

What an awesome color! I love it.


----------



## cody ratcliff (Apr 17, 2012)

The guitar looks amazing man. What sort of a dye did you use on the neck? I really like the look of that and wouldnt mind doing that to my RGA8.


----------



## Papaoneil (Apr 17, 2012)

The best rga8 ive seen, if this were a color they offered id be on this shit asap


----------



## Faine (Apr 18, 2012)

Looks kick ass dude. Good job! And the fretboard came out nice after you dyed it.


----------



## SYLrules88 (Apr 18, 2012)

this looks incredible man! great job!


----------



## DropSplash (Apr 19, 2012)

We will never know the delicately intricate process he used to achieve such a beauty.. Unless he responded to this great thread he started!


----------



## matt397 (Apr 19, 2012)




----------



## ImN0tTelling (May 28, 2012)

penny1 said:


> We will never know the delicately intricate process he used to achieve such a beauty.. Unless he responded to this great thread he started!



It's quite sad actually, I'm dying for a step-by-step for this refinish!


----------



## Erazoender (May 28, 2012)

Ususally I hate baby blue vintage-y type guitars, but I must tip my hat off to you good sir, this came out wonderfully!


----------

