Ibanez JEM777 DY

According to the owner the guitar is functional,been gigging it since he got it,the stock pickup were snatched hence initially he wanted me to just put a spare SD set he has.I look at it and ask myself what made him put paints over.Could the stock color be that ugly for him to do so.Hehe








As we spoke longer it became clear that he's the 2nd or 3rd owner of it there for he got it in the state that it was.He was considering finding someone to restore it to the original.From the tone and body language I sensed a hint of that someone would be me.I immediately shot it down by saying "Sorry Bro,I don't do guitar spray work".I never offered such services from the day I started Yustech Guitar & Bass Solution.








However I'm quiet curious about the DIY paints that's on it. I've dealt with this situation before so I told the owner since its already this ugly let me try wiping off the gray or white skin.I don't think it'll be uglier than this.My hope was the stock yellow is still under there.Would be horrifying to find just bare wood in the end.A nightmare for someone like me but if its to be then I'll just buy cheap yellow paint.Best for me to do is to cover it back to any yellow.







Bought a gallon of Acetone and several rolls the blue workshop towel.Sigh..Things at the Ace Hardware are becoming expensive by the year.








Before I began operation wipe on,wipe off,I did a test wipe on the back of the guitar.The recommended spot should be under the pickguard or neck plate.It revealed not just one layer but a few layers of paint.I still couldn't make out the outside color though.Is it white turned Gray or light Gray.I don't know.The process was sticky along the way.I must admit I found acetone smell better than thinner.Hehe.I also made a short video on my facebook page but by now you should scroll down.Its down there somewhere dated 2ndFeb2017.







When all wiping off was done I called a friend of mine to look into the possibility of doing something about the scratches on the body surface.This friend of mine is from the auto detailing world.He's a person that does detailing on super cars (Lamborghini,Ferrari,Rolls Royce etc).I don't know if he's qualified for this but I noticed there was never a sign of fear on his face when he saw the scratches.He even smiled.Damn,no doubt I must be talking to the right person here?.Jobs done within 20 minutes and I was impressed but only for a while.His machine couldn't reach inside the monkey grip and the cutaways.So he left me with a small bag of white paste something and told me "put it on a cloth,do it by hand,don't stop till you sweat a bucket or two".Sure,no sweat?









On the electronics side,the stock pots are alright.The 5 way switch must've came from somewhere else.For originality,I thought of using the Ibanez VLX91 5 way switch but that proves to time consuming as it has to ordered on line from abroad.Thumbs up to the Ibanez local distributor.Take as much time you need to stock up Ibanez parts.Don't worry me and the customer can wait.What's a decade to us anyway so I settled with Fender spares instead.A 4P5W which I think comes from Oak Grigsby.







Concluding this report I found the tone on switch position 2 (Inner neck coil + mid single coil) to be weaker than the rest 4 position.I had checked wiring to be all good.My guess is the one SD coil could be or unappropriated for the split tone.Maybe SD Jazz or 59 not meant for this config? Still I don't know why so I can't elaborate more here.My advice to the owner is to get the default Jem Dimarzio's(Neck and Middle).I don't know whether Dimarzio makes pink pickups anymore.







To end this entry,I have to say I'm deeply satisfied with the overall outcome especially concerning the body paint.Though I cannot do any spray work due to lack of knowledge,experience,machinery and proper space but wiping away work are fun and profiting too.I'm glad to help this Jem 777DY that's been wrapped in a cocoon of diy paints.Its now a butterfly again.My thanks also to Mr Zul the supercars detailer.










Satisfied
yustech