# Ibanez rga121 prestige makeover! Better than new!



## teamSKDM (Jul 4, 2012)

So, I got an ibanez rga121ntf prestige here from " Tones " on the forum, great guy might I add. Anyways, It had its fare share of battle scars and such, which you will see in pictures for before and afters. I like to keep my guitars as mint-ish as possible, so I figured I could still somehow refinish it, and keep its natural look, and make it better than before! heres what the deal is.

-Sand the guitar to get rid of all its scratches,dents, whatever.

-amber dye the face, so it will be darker than the maples sides, so its kind of like a binding. 

-clear coat/laquer , which will definately be a better protectant than its previous finish.

- drop in covered dimarzio liquire in the neck, after math bridge.
covers are black, and im gonna paint them red and silver tiger stripe camo, like on call of duty camo. 

- change around the electronics to have a petrucci style pickup selector where the volume knob was, and turn the tone spot into the new volume. 
probably gonna take a piece of wood and screw it to the spot where the old switch used to be with the old pickup selector screw holes, so it doesnt look so empty.

already sanded it and ordered all the parts!

PICS! 

nasty nick

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Lots more to come guise!


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## teamSKDM (Jul 4, 2012)

Ahhhhhh tartar sauce. I thought that the html code would make the pictures appear. Guess for now you guys gotta copy paste, sorry guys!


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## teamSKDM (Jul 4, 2012)

Opinions, as well as any advice for the clearcoating and dying you guys might want to throw out there for shigs and gigs is also appreciated! sorry for double bumping.


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## Levi79 (Jul 4, 2012)

Fix yo pics.


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## techjsteele (Jul 4, 2012)

I fixed the pics for you:




































































Looking good so far!


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## teamSKDM (Jul 4, 2012)

^THANKS A TON!


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## noobstix (Jul 5, 2012)

Hey I'm thinking of doing the exact same thing for the same reasons! Could you let me know what grade sandpaper you used ?


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## Rook (Jul 5, 2012)

Hope you're gunna put some new conducting paint in the control cavity 

Looks good though man, I tried to do this to one of mine, got to the stage you're at now and never went back


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## teamSKDM (Jul 5, 2012)

Noobstix, I used an electric hand sander, and used 120 grit to remove the finish, then hand sanded it with 320 grit, and then 400 grit. I'm gonna sand it again as fine as possible at my dads work shop before clear coating it there!


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## Larrikin666 (Jul 5, 2012)

Am I crazy....or do you have the EXACT same crack in the top wood inside the control cavity between the volume and tone knobs that my RGA does? I gotta snap a picture later.


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## teamSKDM (Jul 5, 2012)

haha, maybe its the way they routed it who knows?

anyways, my liquifire and pickup covers came here today!







hopefully the other cover will fit my bkp aftermath that should be here tomorow!
I would imagine wide spaced, and f spaced are basically the same size,so it should work right?

gonna paint these bad boys soon, red and silver tiger striped \m/


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## Tones (Jul 6, 2012)

Looks great man! You really cleaned it up. That guitar is going to sound huge with the aftermath
Btw, I set the 7620 up perfectly. Played a show with her, and couldn't be more pleased. Sounds great too.


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## teamSKDM (Jul 6, 2012)

glad your pleased tony! its one of my favorite playing guitars ever man, I sure miss her. But 7's just arent my thing anymore.
anyways, MORE BUMPAGE PICS!

got my aftermath today! and just like i thought it would, the covers holes, and pickup poles dont line up exactly, but theyre really close. Just a little routing to the holes, and it will fit great!













and heres the stencil i made for the tiger stripe paint job these covers are about to get!


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## teamSKDM (Jul 6, 2012)

Clear coating the body on sunday back at my dads workshop. should be done by next weekend guys!


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## teamSKDM (Jul 6, 2012)

also forgot about this nasty nick that was on the horn, that i happenned to get out commpletely with my sanding capabilities c;


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## 7stringDemon (Jul 6, 2012)

Looking good dude!


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## Webmaestro (Jul 6, 2012)

Wow, this is really nice. Mahogany w/maple is my favorite combo (both sonically and aesthetically)... and I think putting the Aftermath in there is a great choice. Gonna level buildings.


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## teamSKDM (Jul 7, 2012)

Thanks guys! I didn't go bkp in the neck, for the fact that I just love the dimarzio liquifire. It's nasally, clear , and smooth which is how I like my neck pickup to be. I couldn't really find a bkp with very similar overall sound as the liquifire puts out for shredding and stuff.


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## teamSKDM (Jul 7, 2012)

Also, some quick questions on clear coating and dying the guitar.
1.) when I apply the amber dye, since this is plane maple, do I still sand the dye offnonce it dries , or leave it on? And since I only wanna dye the face, should I tape off the edges?

2.) what's a good amount of clear coat layers I should put on to keep a good protection to it, but not make it look plastic? I was thinking maybe 6 or 7?

And 3.) how long would it take to clear coat it, and how long does it take to dry between coats? Also, what layer should I begin sanding at, to remove " orange peel" ?

Sorry for the noObish questions. Just trying to make it look as professional as possible!


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## teamSKDM (Jul 8, 2012)

So, guys. today I ran down to LOWES to get everything i Need! paint,dye,and finish!

painted both covers, and routed the bkp to fit. here my bkp aftermath \m/ 






I dont care who you are,where youre from, how many dui's you have, and how much your mother never loved you. This looks sexy as hell.






and heres the dye im gonna dye the face with!






gonna spend the next days putting on the finish guys! 
I got some deft laquer sanding sealer, and some deft gloss clear wood finish!

stay updated!


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## teamSKDM (Jul 8, 2012)

Sorry for the double bump, but just thought id do a mock up of the guitar almost finished.













and heres what in finishing the body with







Give me your opinions guys!


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## noobstix (Jul 9, 2012)

Really looking forward to seeing this done!


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## Larrikin666 (Jul 9, 2012)

You inspired me to do the same swap with the pots and switches. LOL. Thanks man. Did you modify the bridge at all? I ended up shaving some down to allow for thicker strings.


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## teamSKDM (Jul 10, 2012)

Nah , I'm not doing anything, I'm gonna use elixir medium strings in drop b, it won't need any modding haha. Thanks for the compliments guys! It's been raining lately so I have put anything on the guitar, so it doesn't collect water vapor in the air.


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## Levi79 (Jul 10, 2012)

I'd personally just use some Danish Oil or another oil finish on it because it gives better results easier and I simply think it looks better. But that's totally up to you. I'm sure it'll come out awesome.


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## teamSKDM (Jul 10, 2012)

Well, The thing about oils, that I did concider, was that 1, im staining the face. I didnt know if oil would smear it, or affect it in anyway. also, Im not really sure oils are as hard as a protectant as several layers of clearcoat/laquer. I refinished an rg7620 in tung oil, and the grain and color was amazzzzzzing. However, it wasnt too protectant. and I put on 10 coats.


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## noobstix (Jul 18, 2012)

Any updates?


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## teamSKDM (Jul 18, 2012)

Unfortunately not, it's been raining every single day here in Florida...


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## teamSKDM (Jul 18, 2012)

Ive come to the conclusion, that im going to contact a local autobody place, and see what the prices are. if the price is right, i might go with just them clearcoating, OR i might go with A METALLIC FLAKE SNOW WHITE! For the right price, and leave the rosewood veneer on the headstock, and it would contrast beautifully like lee mckinneys new ebmm jp7 custom shop with rosewood neck. what do you guys think?


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## teamSKDM (Jul 18, 2012)

like this!


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## noobstix (Jul 22, 2012)

do eeeeeeet!


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## noobstix (Aug 12, 2012)

anything new ?


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## bhakan (Aug 12, 2012)

First off, looks awesome, I would definitely try and paint it white, would look amazing.

Secondly, where did you get those pickup covers from? I've wanted to get covers like that for my guitar for a while. Did you just order them from Dimarzio? Also, when you put the covers on the pickups, did you pot them or anything, or just stick the covers on?


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## Purelojik (Aug 12, 2012)

argghhh it'll look awesome white but whyyy paint it! it looks soo amazing natural....

then again it is your guitar lol.


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## teamSKDM (Aug 12, 2012)

The covers I ordered off eBay. Dinar io sells them. And they stick into place not with glue though. They're shaped like this /______\ where they're wide at the base and narrow at the top, so it kinda squeezes into shape. Anyways. The guitar is getting painted, I'm about to chOcolate stain the neck, and I stripped the paint off the pickup covers and burnt them a gold burnt. Things to come soon guys.


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## Bigfan (Aug 12, 2012)

A white top and natural back/sides would be amazing.


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## MABGuitar (Aug 12, 2012)

Really did the paint on the pickup covers man! This guitar will end up looking nice.


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## ihatefender (Aug 29, 2012)

cool body!! what bridge use for this body ??? ?? this bridge has demoniac shape!! good job!


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## noobstix (Sep 10, 2012)

So has it been painted yet?


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## teamSKDM (Sep 11, 2012)

^ yes. amd im gonna post a ngd in a bit, once i get it back from being set up!


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## noobstix (Sep 30, 2012)

pics man!


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## gordon_mlz (Sep 30, 2012)

That white finish is so sick, lets see it!


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## teamSKDM (Oct 6, 2012)

http://www.sevenstring.org/forum/st...months-but-finally-got-her-damn-she-fine.html 

Heres the NGD day guys!


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