# RG7420 Refinish of Doom! Some big pics



## Mordacain (Jul 22, 2011)

So I acquired this rather worse for wear RG7420 in a trade recently and am trying to decide what to do with it. Personally I'm not a big fan of the Gunmetal-esque color to begin with, and its got some serious chipping going on. I'm toying with stripping it back to bear wood and seeing how the basswood grain is and possibly staining. 

Any suggestions?






































I've started cleaning the neck up...trying to figure out why anyone would put silver paint on a fretboard (near as I can tell that what it is). Assuming that will come off with my usual 0000 steel wool scrub.


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## idunno (Jul 22, 2011)

You totally should refinish that, those chips are ugly. Not the cool relic way either, the "I need more paint" way..


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## flyboy463 (Jul 22, 2011)

I personally get a hard-on whenever I see natural wood on a guitar, I would go back to Basswood, If that looks bad, throw some stains on.


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## Konfyouzd (Jul 22, 2011)

It's already in pieces. It's fate has been decided. Refinish that bitch.


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## Mordacain (Jul 22, 2011)

Konfyouzd said:


> It's already in pieces. It's fate has been decided. Refinish that bitch.



 I always strip used guitars when I get them and clean every piece separately and just rebuild it more or less.

However, I agree... time to go fire up the heat gun and see how easy the rest of this paint comes off.

Thanks guys!


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## mountainjam (Jul 22, 2011)

I say paint it. I just recently stripped down my 7620, the basswood is rather unimpressive.


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## Mordacain (Jul 22, 2011)

So yea, the paint on this thing was wicked thin. This was a little under an hours work. I abandoned the heat gun fairly quick when I went under the waxy outer layer on the upper horn pretty quickly (can see it in first picture. Anyway, I'll see about moving up to 100 grit tomorrow and smoothing things out some, then maybe test some die spots.

The grain is pretty timid, which I'd expect, but no real nasty green streaks anywhere and looks to be a 1-piece body to boot. I'll try some blue stain on a area to see how it looks before moving on to sanding sealer and paint.


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## Mordacain (Jul 22, 2011)




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## JamesM (Jul 22, 2011)

That's actually a really nice piece of wood, comparatively...


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## Floppystrings (Jul 23, 2011)

Looks good, I have a RG7621 body and neck on the rug that looks very similar lol.

You can use a couple drops of water on a cotton towel and some elbow grease to remove the dark film from the back of the neck.

btw do you know the correct diameter for the control jack hole? Mine was routed out, and I need to know what size it is.


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## Mordacain (Jul 23, 2011)

Floppystrings said:


> Looks good, I have a RG7621 body and neck on the rug that looks very similar lol.
> 
> You can use a couple drops of water on a cotton towel and some elbow grease to remove the dark film from the back of the neck.
> 
> btw do you know the correct diameter for the control jack hole? Mine was routed out, and I need to know what size it is.



I'm actually going to remove the finish on the neck and refinish in tung-oil.

Not sure what you mean by the control jack... do you mean the output jack?


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## Floppystrings (Jul 23, 2011)

Mordacain said:


> Not sure what you mean by the control jack... do you mean the output jack?



haha yes, I mean the output jack. 

On my body someone replaced the jack with an ugly jack plate made from pickguard material and the area needed to be routed so it would a regular output jack.

My goal is making it look original, so I need to fill the hole and re-drill.


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## Mordacain (Jul 23, 2011)

Floppystrings said:


> haha yes, I mean the output jack.
> 
> On my body someone replaced the jack with an ugly jack plate made from pickguard material and the area needed to be routed so it would a regular output jack.
> 
> My goal is making it look original, so I need to fill the hole and re-drill.



A standard switch barrel jack should work, but I'll need to measure mine to see what size it is. off the top of my head, I'd say 3/8, though it could be 7/8...


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## Mordacain (Jul 23, 2011)

So yea...got a little crazy last night and made some subtle bevels to the upper and lower horns. I then started looking at pics of RGDs and JP and decided I wanted something more dramatic. Please note the following pics ain't that great as I had to use my cell phone. Apparently Sony continues to make absolute shit batteries and my camera is dead again after just being recharged...that of course is another tale.

Here's the rough outline sketch I made on the body:






And here's how far I've gotten in the hour I had this morning before I had to come in to work:









Upper horn shaping is mostly done, though I need to even some things up. I need to look at more comparison pictures to see how they resolve the horn joins. Not really going for either a distinctive RGD or JP look, just something reminiscent of both...


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## Levi79 (Jul 23, 2011)

That's exactly what I was planning on doing to one of my RG7's  The bevels look sick though.


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## Mordacain (Jul 23, 2011)

Levi79 said:


> That's exactly what I was planning on doing to one of my RG7's  The bevels look sick though.



Thank you sir  

I'm still planning a test staining once I've smoothed out the 60 grits scratches and see what the basswood looks like but at this point I'm actually thinking a veneer might be best.

Can't say I've seen an RGD-esque Ibby with flames or quilted maple top...might be pretty tasty


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## JamesM (Jul 23, 2011)

So sick.

If you don't have vacuum capabilities, a veneer is unlikely with those bevels...


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## Mordacain (Jul 23, 2011)

The Armada said:


> So sick.
> 
> If you don't have vacuum capabilities, a veneer is unlikely with those bevels...



I was actually going to cut around the bevels and leave them basswood....way to difficult to try and veneer those 

Like basically I would adhere the veneer as a solid piece and then cut around the bevels like I would with the pickup routes, trem cavity and neck joint. That's what I was thinking about doing when I started considering it. 

However, since I don't really have money for a veneer yet I think I'll just go ahead and stain it (I've got some black & blue stains just hanging out waiting for use).


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## SilenceIsACrime (Jul 23, 2011)

Those bevels = Win.


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## Mordacain (Jul 23, 2011)

SilenceIsACrime said:


> Those bevels = Win.



Thanks  I didn't realize until I got into work here and started comparing my bevels with the RGDs and JPs that I indented mine quite a bit (more concave as compared to the others). I was a bit freaked at first, but they're actually growing on me like. Just wish I could find a painter around here that could pull off a Mystic Dream finish.

I tried myself last year using Duplicolor mirage on another guitar and while it might have worked, I couldn't get the base black color smooth enough for it.


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## stevo1 (Jul 23, 2011)

I believe what youre seeing in the wood grain is a veneer. In my experiences with sanding down Ibanez bodies is that they usually have a veneer before the actual body wood. The reason for this I don't know. But I've sanded 2 7420's and 1 7620, and each time I found it to be like a maple veneer, some of it has figuring to it. You can see in some of the pics, like the one showing the back, of where you've gone through the veneer in some places, and you've hit lighter wood.


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## JamesM (Jul 23, 2011)

Mordacain said:


> I was actually going to cut around the bevels and leave them basswood....way to difficult to try and veneer those
> 
> Like basically I would adhere the veneer as a solid piece and then cut around the bevels like I would with the pickup routes, trem cavity and neck joint. That's what I was thinking about doing when I started considering it.
> 
> However, since I don't really have money for a veneer yet I think I'll just go ahead and stain it (I've got some black & blue stains just hanging out waiting for use).



I think that would be best. The whole "cutting around the bevels" thing is MUCH easier said than done. At least it has been for me. 




stevo1 said:


> I believe what youre seeing in the wood grain is a veneer. In my experiences with sanding down Ibanez bodies is that they usually have a veneer before the actual body wood. The reason for this I don't know. But I've sanded 2 7420's and 1 7620, and each time I found it to be like a maple veneer, some of it has figuring to it. You can see in some of the pics, like the one showing the back, of where you've gone through the veneer in some places, and you've hit lighter wood.



That's not veneer silly, that's vinyl sanding sealer.


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## Mordacain (Jul 23, 2011)

stevo1 said:


> I believe what youre seeing in the wood grain is a veneer. In my experiences with sanding down Ibanez bodies is that they usually have a veneer before the actual body wood. The reason for this I don't know. But I've sanded 2 7420's and 1 7620, and each time I found it to be like a maple veneer, some of it has figuring to it. You can see in some of the pics, like the one showing the back, of where you've gone through the veneer in some places, and you've hit lighter wood.



Well, the main spot where you can tell is on the upper horn (wherein I learned that the heat gun = fail on this project).

I was curious if it was a veneer or just a thick layer of sealer.


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## Konfyouzd (Jul 23, 2011)

I like where this is going...


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## stevo1 (Jul 23, 2011)

Could you look at the bevels to see if you can see any lines in the wood? Because I'm pretty sure it's a veneer. Also on the back of the guitar on the stomach cut away, you can see where it was sanded away, where the lighter wood color is. Also, the vinyl sealer they use is a light gray color.


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## Mordacain (Jul 23, 2011)

stevo1 said:


> Could you look at the bevels to see if you can see any lines in the wood? Because I'm pretty sure it's a veneer. Also on the back of the guitar on the stomach cut away, you can see where it was sanded away, where the lighter wood color is. Also, the vinyl sealer they use is a light gray color.



I do have to say that the part that came up with the paint when I used the heat gun was very waxy and would seem more like vinyl to me.

Regardless, I'll just have to keep sanding and get through it, whatever it is if I want to stain it. 

Can't stain through sealer very well and since I've already cut through it in some areas, I'll just have to keep going to get to uniform grain. Looks like I'll need to make a trip to Lowes tomorrow and get some more sandpaper


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## stevo1 (Jul 23, 2011)

Mordacain said:


> I do have to say that the part that came up with the paint when I used the heat gun was very waxy and would seem more like vinyl to me.
> 
> Regardless, I'll just have to keep sanding and get through it, whatever it is if I want to stain it.
> 
> Can't stain through sealer very well and since I've already cut through it in some areas, I'll just have to keep going to get to uniform grain. Looks like I'll need to make a trip to Lowes tomorrow and get some sandpaper


 haha yeah, I was speaking from my experiences. I plan on stripping the tung oil finish off my 7420, getting to the basswood completely, staining it a dark brown, and clear coating it. From what I see of the basswood on mine, beside two green spots, It has pretty good grain. 
I was surprised on how fast you stripped the finish off the body though, it took me 2 days to get mine off.


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## Mordacain (Jul 23, 2011)

stevo1 said:


> haha yeah, I was speaking from my experiences. I plan on stripping the tung oil finish off my 7420, getting to the basswood completely, staining it a dark brown, and clear coating it. From what I see of the basswood on mine, beside two green spots, It has pretty good grain.
> I was surprised on how fast you stripped the finish off the body though, it took me 2 days to get mine off.



Yea, I was surprised too. The 60 grit cut through it like it wasn't there. It looks like that sanding sealer is going to be a bitch, looked close to a mm thick when I first cut through it. Think I might be break out the heat gun again for that job.


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## JamesM (Jul 23, 2011)

stevo1 said:


> Could you look at the bevels to see if you can see any lines in the wood? Because I'm pretty sure it's a veneer. Also on the back of the guitar on the stomach cut away, you can see where it was sanded away, where the lighter wood color is. Also, the vinyl sealer they use is a light gray color.



I've sanded down two 742xs, a 7621 and a 7321, none of which have had a veneer. You are confused. Neither is the vinyl sealer light gray, it becomes a bolder, darker tone-color of the basswood.

The confusion is understandable, the sealer is UNGODLY thick.


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## Mordacain (Jul 23, 2011)

The Armada said:


> I've sanded down two 742xs, a 7621 and a 7321, none of which have had a veneer. You are confused. Neither is the vinyl sealer light gray, it becomes a bolder, darker tone-color of the basswood.
> 
> The confusion is understandable, the sealer is UNGODLY thick.



I'd have to say this appears to be the case on mine. You can see the chunk in the upper left horn where I cut through it at first with the heat gun and its chunky. Beneath it is rather rough wood that I think will take the stain rather nicely. Think I'll finish the rough outline on the bevels and then working on get through that sealer tomorrow morning with the heat gun.

Armada, did you just sand through or did you use a chemical stripper / heat gun as well?


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## JamesM (Jul 23, 2011)

Well, on two I just used good old elbow grease. On one I used just heat. And on the final I used chemical stripper and a heat gun. 

Wanna guess which one was easiest?


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## Mordacain (Jul 23, 2011)

The Armada said:


> Well, on two I just used good old elbow grease. On one I used just heat. And on the final I used chemical stripper and a heat gun.
> 
> Wanna guess which one was easiest?



Last one? Did the chemical stripper work on the sealer? The heat gun was effective, but it will still take hours methinks to de-sealer the whole body.


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## JamesM (Jul 23, 2011)

Some strippers will get through that sealer, yes. Some won't. When I did it, I didn't leave it on as long as I maybe should have and it got through a good deal of it, then I heat gunned (well, actually I used a torch, but whatever). I think that would be the way to go.


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## Mordacain (Jul 23, 2011)

The Armada said:


> Some strippers will get through that sealer, yes. Some won't. When I did it, I didn't leave it on as long as I maybe should have and it got through a good deal of it, then I heat gunned (well, actually I used a torch, but whatever). I think that would be the way to go.



Sweet, this sounds like the winning option then. I'm all about spending as little time in the 100+ degree heat as possible.

Though I gotta say, the sweatfest has done wonders for my skin


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## JamesM (Jul 23, 2011)

I've been working outside in it, painting. I'm not cut out for this shit.


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## stevo1 (Jul 23, 2011)

The Armada said:


> The confusion is understandable, the sealer is UNGODLY thick.


 perhaps...... 
I was going by personal experience, and its not an uncommon thing.
My jackson cow7 has a veneer under the finish, over the mahogany. 
Also!
From Highgain510's Rgd2127 ngd thread.


Elysian said:


> As an aside, that's not a 1 piece body, it's got a veneer cap front and back because basswood absorbs finish like no other. You can see a straight line in the belly contour for one piece, then if you look at the forearm carve you can see another straight line, body is at least 3 pieces.


 So it could be...


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## JamesM (Jul 23, 2011)

Yeah but...

It isn't.  They didn't do that when they made 742x's and 762x's, that was a whole different generation of Ibanez's guitar building, these factors didn't touch these guitars.


Anyway! I wanna see this stained!


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## Mordacain (Jul 25, 2011)

So I tried using Tuff Stuff chemical stripper. It was utterly useless against the Vinyl sealer...didn't so much as ding it. So, I broke out the heat gun again and went to town.

After trying various things, I realized the only way the sealer was coming up with heat was to get down on the wood. Of course I singed the wood a bit. However, quite a bit of the dark scorching came up with a bit more sanding, so I'm hopeful I didn't just butcher my body too bad.

I also finished the basic shape of all the bevels. I'm going to hold off on further sanding until I finish stripping the rest of the body.






















Last night I tried to clean up the fretboard and neck some while watching True Blood (good episode, btw). Some little bastard filled some of the larger pores of the fretboard with grain filler for some idiotic reason. There is still some silver paint (that is resistant to acetone, naptha and mineral spirits) that has settled in other grains. I'm resigned that I'll have to clean the grain out with a needle (some of which I did this morning as a test). I've seen nicer fretboards but it'll do:


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## Konfyouzd (Jul 25, 2011)

Those body bevels are sexy, man. Are you just using a wood file to do that? You're giving me ideas for my 7421... 

If you take some 60 - 80 grit to the body you can probably get the rest of that scorching off. Make sure you keep it even, though bc I think those grades can remove quite a bit of wood.


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## Mordacain (Jul 25, 2011)

Looking at the bevels and some of the light areas that scorched with the heat gun...I'm thinking I might roast the bevels as a finishing technique.


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## Mordacain (Jul 25, 2011)

Konfyouzd said:


> Those body bevels are sexy, man. Are you just using a wood file to do that? You're giving me ideas for my 7421...
> 
> If you take some 60 - 80 grit to the body you can probably get the rest of that scorching off. Make sure you keep it even, though bc I think those grades can remove quite a bit of wood.



Thanks man  I'm having fun with it. It might not wind up professional quality, but it will still look pretty badass I think.

Started with a rasp file to cut the very basic shapes and then went to town with my rotary tool for rough shaping and the bulk of the material removal. It makes much shorter work of it then with the rasp. I made the final shapes with square of 60 grit and hand-shaping. I should have taken some more pictures of the rough shaping to show the transition but I've only had three hour-long periods to work on it so far so I've been seriously focused on working quickly and efficiently.

I want to avoid using the 60 grit on the body as it makes deep scratches, so I'll try 120 first and then move to 100 or 80 if I have to. The main problem is going to be removing the sealer from the sides though I'm going to subtly bevel the entire body edges to reduce the area of sealer I'll need to hit.


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## Mordacain (Jul 25, 2011)

The Armada said:


> Yeah but...
> 
> It isn't.  They didn't do that when they made 742x's and 762x's, that was a whole different generation of Ibanez's guitar building, these factors didn't touch these guitars.
> 
> ...



I might add that if anyone is curious, you can really tell in my last set of pictures that this was a thick ass sealer and should settle the discussion for this generation of Ibanez instruments at least


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## Floppystrings (Jul 25, 2011)

Hey wanna do mine too? lol

I was working in the sun all day with chemical stripper on my RG7621 body. Just started sanding the grey coat....uggg...

I got a burn from the paint stripper too, that stuff is insane.


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## Mordacain (Jul 25, 2011)

Floppystrings said:


> Hey wanna do mine too? lol
> 
> I was working in the sun all day with chemical stripper on my RG7621 body. Just started sanding the grey coat....uggg...
> 
> I got a burn from the paint stripper too, that stuff is insane.



Yea, the vinyl sealer just laughed in the face of the chemical stripper. The burns on mine are from the big guns - 1400 watts of powered heat . 

I'll be very happy when this thing is fully stripped and sanded back.


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## Floppystrings (Jul 26, 2011)

Mordacain said:


> Yea, the vinyl sealer just laughed in the face of the chemical stripper. The burns on mine are from the big guns - 1400 watts of powered heat .
> 
> I'll be very happy when this thing is fully stripped and sanded back.



I am kind of nervous right now having to deal with the sealer.

I am sanding it and I have to be careful not to mess up the pointier shapes on the guitar.

I wish I could just leave it...uggg..I am doing a solid color, anyone ever finish over the sealer before?


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## Bribanez (Jul 26, 2011)

flyboy463 said:


> I personally get a hard-on whenever I see natural wood on a guitar, I would go back to Basswood, If that looks bad, throw some stains on.


 
He gets wood when he sees wood! Hey Yooooooooo!!!!!

Anyway, I'm with ya. I don't dig that gunmetal finish, either. I also like the natural finsh look as well. That's what made me get the RGA121NTF.


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## Mordacain (Jul 26, 2011)

Floppystrings said:


> I am kind of nervous right now having to deal with the sealer.
> 
> I am sanding it and I have to be careful not to mess up the pointier shapes on the guitar.
> 
> I wish I could just leave it...uggg..I am doing a solid color, anyone ever finish over the sealer before?



If you're painting then sealer is good. You only want the sealer off when staining, since the grain needs to be open (unsealed) to receive the stain.


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## Mordacain (Jul 26, 2011)

Bribanez said:


> He gets wood when he sees wood! Hey Yooooooooo!!!!!
> 
> Anyway, I'm with ya. I don't dig that gunmetal finish, either. I also like the natural finsh look as well. That's what made me get the RGA121NTF.



Its actually going to be stained Blue. If I can't get the burns out then it will be a Burnt Stain Blue (BSB). I realize Basswood isn't meant for deep finishes, but I'm going to try staining black (rather lightly) and sanding it back to bring out the grain a bit more.

I'd like to keep it light blue, so hopefully I'll get where I want in one or two coats.


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## Mordacain (Jul 28, 2011)

I finally got some good, uninterrupted time (3.5 hours) to finish off the sanding sealer and get close to a finish sanding grade. This is immediately following my last round of torchwood:



















And here is everything almost completely sanded. I still need to do a little reading and determine what my final sanding grade. Today was mostly 100 grit with a tiny bit of 60 for the thick & stubborn isolated areas of sealer. You notice of course that I still need to finish sanding the interior horns but I need to pick up another pack of 60 grit and a dowel for that.





















I'm actually really happy with the burns on the back, I love the affect the create. It was a happy accident though and I doubt I could repeat it.

I also learned yet another valuable lesson today about excessive heat on these kind of bodies. Basically its a 3 piece body with a cap front and back (5-piece?). I discovered this when trying to torch the sides and wound up causing one of the glue seams to start to separate. NOT GOOD! Its too bad, as I had some really artistic flames going, but when you start affecting body integrity, its time to stop.


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## Mordacain (Jul 29, 2011)

Anyone have an idea of what sandpaper grade I should stop at? I'm thinking 120 but I haven't found a, detailed doc that gives a final grade recommendation for leaving the grain open for stain


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## Konfyouzd (Jul 29, 2011)

Mordacain said:


> Thanks man  I'm having fun with it. It might not wind up professional quality, but it will still look pretty badass I think.
> 
> Started with a rasp file to cut the very basic shapes and then went to town with my rotary tool for rough shaping and the bulk of the material removal. It makes much shorter work of it then with the rasp. I made the final shapes with square of 60 grit and hand-shaping. I should have taken some more pictures of the rough shaping to show the transition but I've only had three hour-long periods to work on it so far so I've been seriously focused on working quickly and efficiently.
> 
> I want to avoid using the 60 grit on the body as it makes deep scratches, so I'll try 120 first and then move to 100 or 80 if I have to. The main problem is going to be removing the sealer from the sides though I'm going to subtly bevel the entire body edges to reduce the area of sealer I'll need to hit.



The sealer is a biotch...





Uploaded with ImageShack.us

Ended up with this trying to pull off a BSB finish for the first time. I never made it through the sealer... 

I made it through the sealer on my 7620, though and I'm actually kinda glad things worked out the way they did...


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## Mordacain (Jul 30, 2011)

Konfyouzd said:


> The sealer is a biotch...
> 
> 
> 
> ...



Torchwood! Looks pretty badass like that though.


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## Guitar-Painter (Jul 31, 2011)

Did you sand your base coat when you tried your dupicolor Mirage paint job?


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## Levi79 (Aug 6, 2011)

Progress?


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## Mordacain (Aug 6, 2011)

Guitar-Painter said:


> Did you sand your base coat when you tried your dupicolor Mirage paint job?



Yes. I actually had good success on the test on the headstock initially but puddled it and had to sand back. 

I actually need to repair a large dent in the guitar body (was hanging in the garage and my lovely wife opened the garage door, not thinking I had left it in there suspended to dry.


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## Mordacain (Aug 6, 2011)

Levi79 said:


> Progress?



None  its been raining anytime I've had a spare hour or so to sand.

I might risk the mess and go ahead and strip the neck finish and get that oiled.

Tonight however, I rebuild another guitar. I've got a few concurrent projects that I keep oscillating between.


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## Mordacain (Dec 3, 2011)

So, yea, I know its been 4 months since I even looked at this body but I've been working like mad and it always seems to happen my days off have all had shitty weather or I have otherwise been ill.

Finally, the stars aligned and I found myself with two extra days off this week and absolutely wonderful weather! The first set of pics is after the final sanding. I had some remaining sealer on the interior of the horns that had to come out and I spent quite a bit of time on the upper bevel trying to get a nice clean bottom edge (I found it quite uneven when I started working on it again).

So here's what she looked like after the final prep-work:


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## Mordacain (Dec 3, 2011)

Taking full advantage of the sunny day and a nearly fresh case of beer I charged ahead and put on my first coat of stain. The color is Behlen Jet Black. This is just the first coat to help bring the grain out a bit and hopefully make the rather drab basswood pop a bit:


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## Mordacain (Dec 3, 2011)

You can actually see the black start to lighten a bit as it continues to seep into the porous basswood, as well as the top layer starting to dry. Behlen stain supposedly dries to the touch in 5 minutes and I'd have to say that estimate is pretty correct. After the initial stain I sanded it back a bit to try to prep for the final color, which is Behlen's Ocean Blue:


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## Mordacain (Dec 3, 2011)

Looking back at these pictures, part of me kinda wishes I'd stopped after sanding back the base black stain, it had a really cool weathered look I dig. However, has a learned later, the stain would continue to lighten as it seeped farther into the wood and dried.

However, pressing on, I put the first coat of Blue in:


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## Mordacain (Dec 3, 2011)

And once again this was sanded back, evened out a little more and then on with my 2nd and final coat of Blue:


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## Mordacain (Dec 3, 2011)

So we here are after the stain has dried overnight (around 19 hours or so after the final coat of stain) and ready for the 1st coat of Tung-Oil:












and here's the 1st coat:















I'll be hitting the second coat of Tung-Oil tonight and will probably shield the electronics cavity and apply 3rd coat of Oil tomorrow. I'm using really thin coats, so I expect to do about 7 or 8 before I've got a nice protective coat happening.


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## teamSKDM (Dec 4, 2011)

IS THERE ANY CHANCE IN HELL I CAN OBTAIN THIS FROM YOU ?!


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## AwakenNoMore (Dec 4, 2011)

looks pretty cool!


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## Mordacain (Dec 4, 2011)

teamSKDM said:


> IS THERE ANY CHANCE IN HELL I CAN OBTAIN THIS FROM YOU ?!



I've grown quite attached to her after all the work I've put in. I hope she plays as well when I get her all put back together!



AwakenNoMore said:


> looks pretty cool!



Thanks for the complements!

I've got the second coat of tung on this morning. I think its' probably going to take quite a few. Kinda wishing at this point that I'd just sprayed a satin finish on.


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## teamSKDM (Dec 4, 2011)

Theres some ibanez rgd7320 necks on ebay for sale as well, if you wanna buy one and make this guitar basically an official rgd almost, lol.


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## Mordacain (Dec 4, 2011)

teamSKDM said:


> Theres some ibanez rgd7320 necks on ebay for sale as well, if you wanna buy one and make this guitar basically an official rgd almost, lol.



I'd have to move the bridge to get it to the correct scale length. Besides, I'd much rather have the Wizard Profile MIJ neck.

I had to do a lot of work to the neck as well but she's cleaned up quite nicely too.


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## metallidude3 (Dec 4, 2011)

You sir are an inspiration, i just picked up the exact same guitar from my work about a week ago. And dont worry it plays quite well if i do say so myself.(It holds up to my rg7ct, besides tone) Cant wait to see this finished!


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## Mordacain (Dec 4, 2011)

metallidude3 said:


> You sir are an inspiration, i just picked up the exact same guitar from my work about a week ago. And dont worry it plays quite well if i do say so myself.(It holds up to my rg7ct, besides tone) Cant wait to see this finished!



Thanks! I think it will be pretty good, would love to pick up an Edge 7 on the cheap but hopefully the stock trem will be tolerable.


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## teamSKDM (Dec 5, 2011)

Just hit me up when you're lookin to ditch this thing!! I want to do this so badly. It's such a great project..


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## Mordacain (Dec 6, 2011)

3rd coat of oil, before getting prepped for 4th coat and electronics shielding, I thought I'd give a feel for how it will look with the neck:













So I started day 3 of oil treatments by doing the routine 0000 steel wool rub down of the body and then decided the neck needed to be Oil'd as well. I took off the existing satin finish with 320 grit sandpaper and wound up with this:






This proved to be a good idea as it helped to even a couple of light dings in the back of the neck as well. Afterwards just a light coat of oil rubbed in to start:






I also did the first coat of electronics shielding paint:












I screwed up here by not plugging the selector slot and the pot shaft holes. I found as I began to oil that some paint had leaked out and adhered to the front of the guitar. So I had to use Naptha to soften the paint and then steel wool the hell out of a few areas. Wish I'd gotten a cautionary picture but my hands were covered in oil and wool shavings at this point. Luckily, Tung-Oil is _very _forgiving of unevenness in the finish. Here's the post 4th coat after my emergency repairs:


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## theo (Dec 6, 2011)

nice work man


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## Mordacain (Dec 6, 2011)

theo said:


> nice work man



Thanks!

For the 5th coat I wound up using a LOT more oil then I had planned on so this wound up being the first glossy coat. To be honest, its pretty nice right in person so I might just let this coat cure fully and then do some light polishing.




















I also have had this Warmoth compound radius neck destined to replace my strat neck that I've been meaning to include. Since I'm adding coats to the the Ibanez neck I went ahead and did the first coat on this as well:


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## stevo1 (Dec 6, 2011)

Ebonize the fretboard?


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## Mordacain (Dec 6, 2011)

stevo1 said:


> Ebonize the fretboard?



I probably could with the Behlen Jet Black dye and I might consider, but I actually do like the grain pattern of the Rosewood after I got it cleaned up.

I'm hoping my last coat will be thick enough that I can do the 2nd electronics coat tonight and possibly one more coat of Tung Oil and get her all bolted back up Thursday on my day off.


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## Ironbird (Dec 6, 2011)

Great work, I like how you threw all convention to the wind and just went to town with it!


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## Mordacain (Jan 11, 2012)

Sorry for drought of updates. So close to completion! Finally reassembled:


















*sorry for crappy pics, camera battery was dead, so I had to use the cell phone*

I finally got some dedicated time to finish installing and rewiring everything which got me 90% complete, just need to install strings, perform a quick setup and work out any kinks in the wiring (already tested wiring and seems to be working so fingers are crossed I won't have any cleanup to do!.


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## Mordacain (Jan 11, 2012)

Does anyone have recommendations on what to use to block the Lo-TRS on this for setup? I use a 1/4 to 1/8 headphone adapter on my RG350 but the block on this guy is much thinner. Anyone have any common household items they use for this purpose and do you block spring-side of the block or opposite?


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## Robby the Robot (Jan 12, 2012)

Awesome modding job. I like the way the stains blend well with the burned areas of the body.  And judging by your location, I'm surprised you got to pull this thing off with South Carolina's bi-polar weather.


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## Mordacain (Jan 12, 2012)

RTheodoppalus said:


> Awesome modding job. I like the way the stains blend well with the burned areas of the body.  And judging by your location, I'm surprised you got to pull this thing off with South Carolina's bi-polar weather.



Thanks man . The weather certainly caused delays. For instance: I'd love to be able to get some outside shots but its been overcast and raining all week.


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## Demanufacture (Jan 24, 2012)

i want more pictures!!! i love what you did with the horns, i'm doing that on my rg7620 project as soon as i get a body!!!


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## r3tr0sp3ct1v3 (Jan 24, 2012)

You instantly win because you're in SC xD 

Nice refinish job man. I want to refinish my schecter 7 I can't stand the back cherry finish D: it's so dark I can't even see the quilted maple top on it. (It's there but it is VERY dark red and all blends together)


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## ASoC (Jan 25, 2012)

r3tr0sp3ct1v3 said:


> You instantly win because you're in SC xD
> 
> Nice refinish job man. I want to refinish my schecter 7 I can't stand the back cherry finish D: it's so dark I can't even see the quilted maple top on it. (It's there but it is VERY dark red and all blends together)



Thats strange, I have a schecter with the black cherry finish and all the grain pops out at me, a lot of variation? 

And to the OP, I'm really digging that finish. Looks like its been to hell and back


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## r3tr0sp3ct1v3 (Jan 25, 2012)

ASoC said:


> Thats strange, I have a schecter with the black cherry finish and all the grain pops out at me, a lot of variation?
> 
> And to the OP, I'm really digging that finish. Looks like its been to hell and back


 
Yeah it is kind of off putting to me xD I have a Schecter C1 classic and the grain is just amazing but my 7 string is just like


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## Mordacain (Jan 25, 2012)

Thanks guys  as for the request for more pics, here's the finished product NGD thread:

http://www.sevenstring.org/forum/se...c-rg7420-refinish-bout-damn-time-content.html


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