# Ibanez RG7321 Refinish (work in progress)



## Josh_Conlee (Sep 29, 2012)

Hey, guys. I started doing a refinish on my old boring looking 7321 today. I figured I'd make a little build diary here for you folks 

So far I've taken her apart and gotten the body sanded (and inhaled pounds of dried paint and clearcoat). I'll be finish sanding and checking out the stains tomorrow. 





'

And the back


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## Mordecai (Sep 29, 2012)

what do you have in mind?


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## Josh_Conlee (Sep 29, 2012)

Mordecai said:


> what do you have in mind?



I actually know what I'm doing already. I'm basing it off of another mod I saw on the forum a while ago. I'm staining the top a really cool cherry blossom purple I found and staining the back a nice dark walnut color to match the stripes in the neck. I'm also going to sand the gloss from the neck and refinish it with Tung Oil.


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## skeels (Sep 29, 2012)

+1 for tung oiled necks!

Also, +1 for Wisconsin!


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## Josh_Conlee (Sep 30, 2012)

skeels said:


> +1 for tung oiled necks!
> 
> Also, +1 for Wisconsin!



Haha fuck yeah, man. I'm not too happy about the cold season setting in. But there's always plenty of beer to help deal with that ...

But yeah dude. I'm too poor to buy a new guitar now and I seriously love the neck-my only gripe being it's too glossy. Sand that finish off (and maybe rough the grain up a bit) and seal it with Tung Oil and it's going to feel incredible!


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## JPMike (Sep 30, 2012)

I really want to see, how this will turn out. 

I am thinking refinishing my 7321 too.


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## Josh_Conlee (Sep 30, 2012)

JPMike said:


> I really want to see, how this will turn out.
> 
> I am thinking refinishing my 7321 too.




Keep an eye on the thread if you want, man. I'll be posting updates until it's done!


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## Josh_Conlee (Sep 30, 2012)

If a mod wants to move this to the luthiery/modifications board that's fine. I don't know why I posted it here. 

Anyways here's what I've done thus far today:






I got all of the paint off of the headstock and remaining clearcoat from the body. I also wet sanded with a 220 grit sandpaper to help make the body super smooth. 






It's hard to tell by this picture, but I also took a 220 grit sandpaper to the back of the neck to remove Ibanez's slippery gloss finish. It feels much better now and I can't wait to oil her up and  






I still have a couple more layers to do, but I started on the purple stain for the top. When that's done I'll be doing a dark walnut stain (think the neck stripes for color reference) on the back, sides, and headstock.

I also ordered a replacement Ibanez logo in gold which should be here in a few days 

More pics when I have them!


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## NUTSguitarchannel (Sep 30, 2012)

like a boss.


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## noUser01 (Sep 30, 2012)

Can't wait to see the finished product, always fun to see RG7321 refinishes.


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## AvengedESP (Sep 30, 2012)

Wow- I'm looking for ideas for my 7321, can't wait to see how this turns out


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## JPMike (Sep 30, 2012)

Looks amazing so far, I want to see the final product.


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## Josh_Conlee (Sep 30, 2012)

Thanks, guys. The purple is looking pretty wild so far. I'll probably smooth it out with some 0000 steel wool and add one last layer. I think I'm going to get started on the Walnut tonight as well. I can't wait to see how it looks done with satin polyurethane.


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## JosephAOI (Sep 30, 2012)

You should get gold hardware too! Gold + Purple =


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## Josh_Conlee (Sep 30, 2012)

JosephAOI said:


> You should get gold hardware too! Gold + Purple =



That was actually my intention . Once I can afford it I'm going to grab a gold Hipshot 7 bridge and Gold Planet Waves Autotrim tuners.

I ordered a gold replacement Ibanez logo today.


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## MikeSap (Sep 30, 2012)

That purple looks great!! I did a refinish on my 7321 and it looked so bad lol. But yours looks great! Can't wait to see the finished product!!


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## GRIZ (Sep 30, 2012)

you know i always liked the look of natural wood..i think i might just sand all the paint off mine as well and stain it


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## Josh_Conlee (Sep 30, 2012)

GRIZ said:


> you know i always liked the look of natural wood..i think i might just sand all the paint off mine as well and stain it



Nice, man. I'll upload a picture in a bit. The darker Walnut colored stain on the back is done and it looks absolutely gorgeous! The sides of the guitar are going to prove to be a challenge though.


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## Josh_Conlee (Sep 30, 2012)

MikeyENGL said:


> That purple looks great!! I did a refinish on my 7321 and it looked so bad lol. But yours looks great! Can't wait to see the finished product!!



Thank you, man! It's looking pretty awesome thus far. I can't wait to get done with it!


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## Josh_Conlee (Sep 30, 2012)

Just one more pic for you guys tonight. I got the back stained and this Walnut color is looking absolutely outstanding


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## bob123 (Sep 30, 2012)

Looks good so far.

Just a fyi, you should sand up your neck to at least 600, 800 before you oil the neck


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## skeels (Sep 30, 2012)

Like the dark stain.

Also, +1 for the Planet Waves! Excellent choice!


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## GRIZ (Oct 1, 2012)

that walnut stain is friggin sexy. omg


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## Josh_Conlee (Oct 1, 2012)

Hey, ladies (doubt it) and gents, I made a bit more progress today .






Firstly I got the headstock stained to match the walnut on the back and sides of the body. I'm waiting for a replacement Ibanez logo in the mail!





The back in all its glory. I might throw another layer of stain on the sides, but I'm not sure yet.





Here's everything; just waiting for clearcoat!


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## MikeSap (Oct 1, 2012)

Damn! That's coming out great! The walnut stain looks awesome. Can't wait for the clearcoat photos!


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## OfArtAndArsenal (Oct 3, 2012)

Josh_Conlee said:


> I got all of the paint off of the headstock and remaining clearcoat from the body.


Damn that clear coat...


Josh_Conlee said:


> I also took a 220 grit sandpaper to the back of the neck


Did you use a power sander or did you do it by hand?


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## Josh_Conlee (Oct 4, 2012)

Sorry for the delay in updates. I've had a busy few days and haven't been able to get much work done until today.





So I got the body all clearcoated, I'm just waiting on the final layer to finish up drying.





That walnut finish in all of its glory.





I also bought a gold logo to match the gold hardware I'll eventually be purchasing. 

I should be putting all of the electronics in tomorrow and putting everything back together!


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## Josh_Conlee (Oct 4, 2012)

OfArtAndArsenal said:


> Damn that clear coat...
> 
> Did you use a power sander or did you do it by hand?



Yeah, man. It took a good five or six hours to strip the body.

I used a power sander for the bigger parts of the body and a dremel to get into the cutaways. Hand sanding would've taken days.

For the neck I just hand sanded, I didn't want to take too much away-only the gloss finish. I did end up going up to a 600 grit sandpaper to finish it, though.


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## BlackMastodon (Oct 4, 2012)

That headstock looks awesome with the logo. Great job man!


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## Josh_Conlee (Oct 4, 2012)

BlackMastodon said:


> That headstock looks awesome with the logo. Great job man!



Thanks, dude. Glad you dig it!


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## Josh_Conlee (Oct 6, 2012)

Howdy, folks. She's all done for now!

Without further ado, PICS





Full front view, the pics don't really do her justice though!





Closer view of the body. I also dropped a Crunchlab in the bridge. SO much better than the stock Ibby pickup.





And the back





Gold logo=class





And lastly a nice artsy photo.


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## GRIZ (Oct 6, 2012)

i REALLY like that stain on the back. 

good job dude


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## Alex_IBZ (Oct 7, 2012)

Josh_Conlee said:


>



Nicely done  
But...for god's sake, what happened to properly restringing? No offense, but the b-string looks wacked


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## Josh_Conlee (Oct 9, 2012)

Alex_IBZ said:


> Nicely done
> But...for god's sake, what happened to properly restringing? No offense, but the b-string looks wacked



Glad you're digging it, man!

But-I honestly don't know what the fuck happened. I usually use Elixirs and I used D'Addarios because they were the only thing I had lying around. I restrung it the way I always do and for some reason it decided to wrap a thousand times . It still sounds just as good and I'm only keeping these strings on until I get paid again so I can buy some Elixirs.


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## edrowley (Oct 9, 2012)

Awesome look! Although the back of then neck is screaming for something though.... not sure what. My 7321 may need some work done in the future after seeing this!


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## Josh_Conlee (Oct 9, 2012)

edrowley said:


> Awesome look! Although the back of then neck is screaming for something though.... not sure what. My 7321 may need some work done in the future after seeing this!



Thanks, man. Glad you dig it 

I'm loving the back of the neck, however. I sanded off the gloss and finished it with tung oil and it feels absolutely incredible!


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## GlxyDs (Nov 3, 2012)

I really love that walnut stain. I want a finish similar to that on my RG7321 which I just picked up and intend on fixing up as soon as possible.

I don't know much about refinishing but was planning on finishing with tung oil. Did it actually improve the neck? I wasn't going to do it, but I might as well.


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## Josh_Conlee (Nov 3, 2012)

GlxyDs said:


> I really love that walnut stain. I want a finish similar to that on my RG7321 which I just picked up and intend on fixing up as soon as possible.
> 
> I don't know much about refinishing but was planning on finishing with tung oil. Did it actually improve the neck? I wasn't going to do it, but I might as well.



Honestly the difference from the gloss finish to tung oil is night and day. It feels much more "natural" now and it plays much more easily.


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## TeethLikeNathan (Nov 17, 2012)

That looks awesome!

Like most of the others i'm about to start refinishing and overhauling my 7321, Where did you order that gold logo from!


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## Josh_Conlee (Nov 18, 2012)

TeethLikeNathan said:


> That looks awesome!
> 
> Like most of the others i'm about to start refinishing and overhauling my 7321, Where did you order that gold logo from!



Ibanez Guitar Headstock Decals : Best-Decals.com, Your One-Stop Decal-Shop I grabbed it from best-decals.com! They have a bunch of different styles in stock and it's exactly the same as my old "check style" logo without the stupid "RG Series" Emblem! If you want to be a cheater and grab a prestige/custom logo they have those as well though 

Edit: Make sure you grab the "7 string" one if you get the check style.


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## TeethLikeNathan (Nov 18, 2012)

Josh_Conlee said:


> Ibanez Guitar Headstock Decals : Best-Decals.com, Your One-Stop Decal-Shop I grabbed it from best-decals.com! They have a bunch of different styles in stock and it's exactly the same as my old "check style" logo without the stupid "RG Series" Emblem! If you want to be a cheater and grab a prestige/custom logo they have those as well though
> 
> Edit: Make sure you grab the "7 string" one if you get the check style.



awesome! appreciate it!


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## OfArtAndArsenal (Nov 18, 2012)

I've heard a lot about linseed oil on the neck. Anyone know how it compares to tung?


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## Drowner (Nov 18, 2012)

The finish on the back looks awesome, should have done the whole body like that.


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## OfArtAndArsenal (Nov 18, 2012)

Also, when you sanded the neck, did you sand the back of the headstock too?
IE, did you leave the serial number?


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## ejendres (Nov 19, 2012)

I love that purple man.


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## Josh_Conlee (Nov 21, 2012)

OfArtAndArsenal said:


> I've heard a lot about linseed oil on the neck. Anyone know how it compares to tung?



I haven't tried it, I might grab some if I ever want to re-oil the neck to give it a shot though.


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## Josh_Conlee (Nov 21, 2012)

OfArtAndArsenal said:


> Also, when you sanded the neck, did you sand the back of the headstock too?
> IE, did you leave the serial number?



No, I left the back of the headstock with the serial number intact. I only sanded up to where the neck ends and the headstock begins.


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## MassNecrophagia (Nov 21, 2012)

Purple and Gold guitar
Wisconsin
lol

Looks killer, though


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## Josh_Conlee (Nov 21, 2012)

MassNecrophagia said:


> Purple and Gold guitar
> Wisconsin
> lol
> 
> Looks killer, though



The kicker is that I'm a Bears fan  

But thanks anyways, man!


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## Mr Richard (Nov 21, 2012)

Wow, as I read more and more of this thread I was 100% you were going to end up with the same look I did when I refinished my 7321. Even your planned hardware is almost exact. Great minds think a like. Anyways here was mine when I finished it:


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## RustInPeace (Nov 21, 2012)

I think the walnut stain would have looked killer on the top as well, but nice job!!!


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## Josh_Conlee (Nov 21, 2012)

Mr Richard said:


> Wow, as I read more and more of this thread I was 100% you were going to end up with the same look I did when I refinished my 7321. Even your planned hardware is almost exact. Great minds think a like. Anyways here was mine when I finished it:



Hahaha! I actually got the gold hardware idea from your refinish. I was going to go chrome, but I came across yours and realized how sick the gold looks. But I love your guitar, man. Purple shreds harder than any color known to man.


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## Mr Richard (Nov 21, 2012)

You know it!


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