new here, want to refurb ibanez

[williemon]

I have an Ibanez stagestar that I bought several years ago at a thrift for 70 dollars. It needed new strings and resoldering on the output jack which I took care of myself. It plays although I really cant play. Im simply learning and have a repaired seagull acoustic as well.

I have wanted to clean, repaint and fix up the stagestar for awhile and just took it apart the other day. What are some tips on any cheap mods I can do simply to improve upon this guitar? What does the wood look like on these entry level guitars? Worth sanding the body and looking for the grain to show?

The sounds and tone I get from this guitar running through a small amp are not what I like really. Would that be due mostly to the amp or guitar? Id like to play mostly country, some mild rock, praise and worship.

Any advice?

[Deleted]

Hi, and welcome to the forum.
I am thinking that the Ibanez you have is made from bass wood. So you may be better off repainting it. I would scuff it and paint over what you have. If going to a lighter color I would use a primer then paint, then clear coat.

As far as sound goes... Humm... I don't know how experienced you are, but a good sound is more times in the person than the amp or pickups. But... A nicer amp (other than a small amp would help)

Also string gauge helps to get a good full sound. I use 10's, and 12's on most of my electric guitars. I like the sound they have over 9's. I know if you play a lot of lead guitar the heaver stings can be hard on the fingers but like anything you get use to it.

I have found on most Ibanez guitar their pickups are pretty good. The Ibanez's I own still have their original pickups in them. ( humbuckers)

So Playing stile and technique can change your sound a lot! I am teaching someone at this time about technique, He has already started to hear the difference in his sound or tone. OH no I said it.. The "T" word. HA!

But if you want to change things around then you have to ask yourself what you want out of the guitar and how much is it worth to you to make the changes. How much do want to spend on it. Now you can't put a price on the experience of building a guitar. But please be warned, once you go down that path you will get bitten and you will want to keep building... HA!

EB

[williemon]

The money that is spent on this project will be very little. I just figured since it was apart, what low buck mods could I add or try. I will simply paint it since I think that would look nice. Clean the electronics. Put on a different front/pick guard. Maybe do a shielding mod with foil. I did find on the net a mod where the trem bridge is braced solid with a block of wood. Since the handle for that is gone, and I really dont wish to use that feature, I thought about blocking it. Would it be better to replace the bridge with a non trem style?

The sound I get when playing chords seems muffled to me. Not bright and crisp. The setup of the pickups could be way off. I know nothing about adjusting those, but im willing to learn.

The frets are worn at the top. Frets 1 through 3 for sure, 4 and 5 a little. Can those be repaired without replacement?

[Deleted]

Does this guitar have humbuckers in it? Do the tone controls work? When plugged in does the tone controls have any effect on the sound?

Some times on the frets you can get away with re-crowning them, if they aren't worn down too much. The 4th and 5th more times than not, is all they need is a little re-crowning and polishing. 1 though 3 are the ones that get the most use. Without seeing it it's hard for me to tell you if they need to be replaced or not.

Post some pictures if you can. That help us a lot to help you.

Shielding is a good thing to do if you are getting a lot of noise from lights. But I have found you really don't need to shield humbuckers. But a lot of people do.

On the trim you can do it one of a few ways.

Here is link to what I did to convert from a trim to a hard tail.

www.guitarattack.com/repair/tremfill/tremfill.htm

Once you convert it you can use any hard tail stile you want. I used a wraparound one on that build.

Or you can block it and use what you have.

On one of my Strats that have a trim, I just put 4 springs on it and screwed the the screws in until the bridge didn't move any more. It works out great and I didn't have to modify it except for the springs.

That way I can always make the trim work again if needed. (like selling to someone that wants it work)

sounds like a fun project. Keep us posted!
EB

[williemon]

yes. It is an HSS setup. All switch positions work as does the single tone and volume control.

I tend to like the sound of country stars like Brad Paisley and Kieth Urban. Im self teaching myself to play and tend to like rhythm chords and such mostly since i use an acoustic for now.

[dnic]

Hi, welcome. you've asked a lot of good questions although without pictures (fret wear) some answers may not be real accurate.

As to fret ware, buzzing is the main indicator of excessive wear but there are others things that can cause buzz. Things like the string height, truss rod adjustment and even being a new player and not fretting correctly.

An easy mod on a humbucker guitar is a coil split. If the pup has 4 wires you can add a mini switch or push pull pot and kill half of the pup giving it a single coil effect. Go to Seymour Duncan's site for wiring diagrams.

The size of the amp is not as important as the quality of the amp. Cheap crap tends to sound like cheap crap. And if you are like most of us guitar players you have an ideal sound in you head that you "borrowed" from one of your favorite players. Who of course has the best equipment and the skill to make the sound you like. As Eddie indicated a lot of tone comes from the player. The not so easy answer is it may take years of gaining experience as a player and years of experimenting with amps and pups and even guitars until you find sound you are after.

[williemon]

Thats an interesting mod with the humbucker. I will do that. I will get pics soon and document. On another note, can a guitar be connected to a regular stereo amp and play through the home stereo speakers? My guitar amp is way entry level and I wonderr if the issue is simply the speaker that is in it.

[dnic]

I had an old stereo that had a 1/4 mic jack input that a guitar worked through.

[siblingchris]

Oct 26, 2012 19:35:49 GMT -6 williemon said:

Thats an interesting mod with the humbucker. I will do that. I will get pics soon and document. On another note, can a guitar be connected to a regular stereo amp and play through the home stereo speakers? My guitar amp is way entry level and I wonderr if the issue is simply the speaker that is in it.

A 1/4 jack input on home hifi is unusual - you might have a mini-jack for iPod input I suppose, but if it has one it will be stereo and you guitar output is mono....as for output levels and ohms and wotnot one of the wiring aficionados will be able to explain better I am sure, but its not a great match although you might get sound out of it

If you don't have one and are just need it for home, a practice amp form eBay might be a good idea.....or you could get a simple guitar/USB input for your computer....which means you could play and easily record if you want to also

[Deleted]

On another note, can a guitar be connected to a regular stereo amp and play through the home stereo speakers? My guitar amp is way entry level and I wonderr if the issue is simply the speaker that is in it.

It can be done, but I do not recommend it. I have done that 2 times in the past and wound up blowing up the unit or speakers. I would check on Crag's List or eBay. You might check on the Fender Mustang amp,s. they can be hooked in to the computer and you can record yourself. What I like about the Fender mustang you can tailor just about any sound you want. Check it out at your music store.

EB

[cknowles]

Cool. I redid a StageStar a few years ago.
It started out like this:



And turned into this:


Along the way I disassembled the tuners cleaned them then added some grease to make the gears turn smooth.

I split the humbucker. By doing so you can achieve a pretty believable Strat sound.

You can see more of it on my website
www.ckcustomguitars.ca/ibanez/stagestar/index.html

Chris

[GuitarAttack Forum]

I don't know if you've bought an amp yet, but this may be the best deal yet....better hurry!

Behringer VIRTUBE VT15CD 15W 1x8 Guitar Combo Amplifier for $49!

www.musiciansfriend.com/stupid/?src=3GOA2F5A&src=3GOA2F5A

John

[dnic]

I wish I needed an amp. That looks like a great little amp and crazy cheap.

[cknowles]

Drag, they won't ship to Canada eh!

[Deleted]

Hey Chris, you buy it have it sent to my house, I'll brake it in for you, then I'll ship it to you! HA! Les see, hum, should only take about a year to brake it really good. HA!