Lefty Ibanez Artcore Renovation (Now w/ Sound Clip)

[jalane]

So, some of you may recall my sweet NGD a couple months ago, when i snagged a lefty Ibanez AS73 Artcore:

I got it with the intention of completely gutting it and replacing it with new p'ups, wiring bridge/tailpiece, nut, & tuners.  well, i've been slowly accumulating said parts and finally got everything rounded up.  For p'ups i went with some low-output Bareknuckles, which i'm pretty pumped about.  
I got a 7.9k Stormy Monday for the bridge:

And a humbucker-sized p90 for the neck, called the Manhattan:

The Manhattan is made for Jazz, and i've got to say it's one of the classiest looking p'ups i've ever seen.  I'm hoping it will also be one of the classiest sounding once this thing is done.

So anyway, i was home sick today, so i actually had a chance to do some work to this thing!  Here's the guitar completely gutted:

And here's an in progress pic of the wiring, using my high tech patented method of poking holes in cardboard where the pots should go:

I'm using a Gibson 50's style wiring scheme with .22 paper-in-oil caps (not the crazy expensive NOS caps, though).

That's about where it is now.  Wiring is done.  I was planning on installing the wiring myself using a string and paper clip method, but i didn't get very far before realizing just how massive of a pain in the ass it is to install parts into a hollowbody guitar.   :sad1: :sad:  It was probably the most frustrating hour-and-a-half of my life, so i decided to take it to my luthier buddy to put together.  Kind of a letdown, but it's all good.

 

[exaN]

That's looking sweet dude :glasses9:

 

[nexrex]

This method worked for me with my Epiphone DOT
[youtube=425,350]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YNYBnAqYDwk[/youtube]

 

[jalane]

thanks, that's a great video.  i was having the problems mainly with the input jack.  that dude made it look pretty easy.  it was quite a bit more of a process on my guitar, probably because the jack isn't top-routed like the one in the vid. 

 

[nexrex]

No problem, John is very good at explaining things in all his videos, and he has a great attention to detail.  :icon_thumright:

 

[dNA]

good effin lord. I have a full hollow that was actually the first guitar I ever modified or rewired. I seriously did it like 3 times in my life and have taken it to a tech for everything after that. I have never been so stressed out and frustrated in my life - even AFTER i got a decent technique down.

haha. but anyway, this looks like a cool project. I love the ibanez's man. I almost picked up another artcore today, despite the fact that i don't need another hollowbody at all right now. They're just such great playing guitars with solid construction - once you've replaced the hardware you really have a classy instrument.


also, i don't know if you got it down w/ the input jack or not. I took a quarter inch cable that was from an old footswitch I'd had and stripped all the plastic off so that it fit through the hole of the input jack. That way i was able to have something that'd hold onto the jack while i fed it back through the F-hole to work on it. Essentially what they're doing w/ string but you can't tie string to the input jack.

 

[Super Turbo Deluxe Custom]

Other than a starter model, that's the only lefty Ibanez I've ever seen.

 

[Superlizard]

:icon_thumright:

Pics when it's done!

(and someday, bro-chacho, us lefties will rule the UW page... and beyond)

 

[Firebird211]

I recognized John's guitar by the blue tape on his hole. :laughing7: He really does the greatest job in his videos I have ever seen on all kinds of guitar topics.  As for the project, it's looking sweet.

 

[jalane]

Got the guitar back today!!!!!  I got some pics, but could not for the life of me get any with accurate colors.  Hopefully tomorrow you'll get some outside shots, but for now:

 

[Cagey]

Looks great! You must be very pleased!

Incidentally, that yellow shift you see in those pictures is probably due to the infrared from incandescent room lighting. Your eyes aren't sensitive to it, but the camera sees it. If it's a digital camera, you can probably adjust it out at picture-taking time, but if not, you can certainly do it at rendering time.

 

[dNA]

sweet. How do you like The Manhattan so far? I've considered trying out a humbucker-sized P-90 in one of my guitars

 

[rapfohl09]

That looks great! Are you of the same opinion as everyone else on the bare-knuckle pickups?

 

[jalane]

Incidentally, that yellow shift you see in those pictures is probably due to the infrared from incandescent room lighting. Your eyes aren't sensitive to it, but the camera sees it. If it's a digital camera, you can probably adjust it out at picture-taking time, but if not, you can certainly do it at rendering time.

Yeah, i think you're right.  I wish i was a more gifted photo editor to shift it out of there.

sweet. How do you like The Manhattan so far? I've considered trying out a humbucker-sized P-90 in one of my guitars

So far, I'm really really happy with it.  I wanted a pickup with a beautiful jazz sound, and this delivers.  It's dark and rich with a nice mid-range sweetness.  I would say, though, that if you're looking for a humbucker-sized p90 with a regular p90 sound this may not be for you, since it's voiced specifically to be dark and jazzy sounding.  I definitely wouldn't say that this is a versatile pickup at all, though it does exactly what i hoped it would do.  Bareknuckle also makes the Mississippi Queen HB-sized p90 that's supposedly really badass and sounds more like a normal p90.

That looks great! Are you of the same opinion as everyone else on the bare-knuckle pickups?

Thanks! Yes, i am now a firm believer in the Bare Knuckle hype.  I avoided them for quite some time because all i heard about were the super high-gain p'ups they made, i thought that's all they did.  But their regular stuff is incredible too. 



I'll post a thorough review of the guitar in the next couple days as i have a chance to get to know her, but for now i can definitely say i'm VERY pleased.    :icon_thumright:

 

[Superlizard]

:icon_thumright:  Classy.

 

[jalane]

Ok, so i've had a couple days to get to know it.  Honestly, i'm still getting to know it, but i think i've learned enough about her at this point to offer a review.

First of all, here are the detailed specs of what i changed:
Bridge P'up: Bareknuckle Stormy Monday, AlNiCo II magnet, 7.7k
Neck P'up: Bareknuckle Manhattan P90, AlNiCo III magnet, (not sure of the resistance)
TonePros Bridge & Tailpiece
Earvana Retrofit Compensated Nut
Tonepros Kluson Tuners
CTS 500k pots, switchcraft toggle & jack, .22uf paper-in-oil caps (wired with 50's style Gibson wiring scheme)

My favorite thing about the guitar so far is this lovely midrange sweetness it seems to have at all times.  I think it has a lot to do with the pickups, because i definitely did NOT notice that quality when i first got the guitar.  The fact that i went with a 50's style wiring scheme may have some impact as well, since the caps have a subtle effect even when the tone control is at 10; so the highs are a little rounded and the mids have this nice candy-like bloom.  It's the sound i associate with Les Paul (the person) playing a Les Paul (the guitar), which i am pumped about. 

The bridge pickup is exactly what i hoped for.  Not too thick, bright without being shrill or piercing, and of course the midrange thing i mentioned above.  It seems to love a little bit of dirt thrown at it, and can get a really nice snarly sound.  I'm not a big fan of the sound with higher gain, though, as it starts to lose definition.  When i picked this up from my luthier's place, he had me test it out on his Dr. Z Ghia, and that was a match made in heaven.

The neck pickup is dark and wonderfully suited for jazz.  It is definitely noisy, being a p90 in an unshielded semi-hollow guitar, but it's tone more than makes up for it.  I played a few of the Joe Pass chord-melody things i've copped along the way and it's just smooth and buttery with that glorious midrange and rolled off treble.  This is by no means a versatile pickup, and it really doesn't sound very good imho when overdriven, but i've got other neck p'ups for that and that wasn't what I was after here.  And the one sound it does do, it does VERY well.

The most pleasant surprise for me is the middle position.  I couldn't be more pleased with how well these p'ups compliment each other (and honestly i wasn't expecting it).  The bridge p'up is still the more forward sound, but the Manhattan adds a nice amount of thickness underneath without being overbearing. 

I'm still getting used to the neck.  Not that it's necessarily bad, just much different than what i'm used to.  It's very thin, but it's also very wide so it doesn't really feel thin.  I've noticed that string bends aren't as easy as they are on some of my other necks, but other than that everything else i do feels pretty nice so far. 

So all in all, i'm really digging it.  It fills a tonal gap that my other guitars had, and does so very well.
I should have some time this afternoon to post some outdoor shots.  She's a beaut!

 

[Superlizard]

My favorite thing about the guitar so far is this lovely midrange sweetness it seems to have at all times.  I think it has a lot to do with the pickups, because i definitely did NOT notice that quality when i first got the guitar.  The fact that i went with a 50's style wiring scheme may have some impact as well, since the caps have a subtle effect even when the tone control is at 10; so the highs are a little rounded and the mids have this nice candy-like bloom.  It's the sound i associate with Les Paul (the person) playing a Les Paul (the guitar), which i am pumped about.  

The bridge pickup is exactly what i hoped for.  Not too thick, bright without being shrill or piercing, and of course the midrange thing i mentioned above.  It seems to love a little bit of dirt thrown at it, and can get a really nice snarly sound.  I'm not a big fan of the sound with higher gain, though, as it starts to lose definition.  When i picked this up from my luthier's place, he had me test it out on his Dr. Z Ghia, and that was a match made in heaven.

A big reason why:  "AlNiCo II magnet"

It's a known fact that tone elves manufacture said magnets... in a tree... right next to the Keebler elves, of course.

And yes, A-2 does get sloppy with hi gain.

 

[jalane]

A big reason why:  "AlNiCo II magnet"

It's a known fact that tone elves manufacture said magnets... in a tree... right next to the Keebler elves, of course.

And yes, A-2 does get sloppy with hi gain.

Now I see why you're such a fan!  This is to my knowledge my first experience with an A-II.  I'm generally more of a lower-gain player anyway, the characteristics of the magnet seem to suit what i do quite well.


Oh, and one thing i forgot to mention about the Bridge p'up.  It's unpotted, and i've gotten some microphonics once or twice.  I'm trying to decide whether or not i think it's annoying.  When it's happened, though, i was facing the amp, so the speakers were blowing straight into the f-holes, so i'm sure that had something to do with it.

 

[jalane]

Got a chance to get some natural light shots:

 

[Superlizard]

Oh, and one thing i forgot to mention about the Bridge p'up.  It's unpotted, and i've gotten some microphonics once or twice.  I'm trying to decide whether or not i think it's annoying.  When it's happened, though, i was facing the amp, so the speakers were blowing straight into the f-holes, so i'm sure that had something to do with it.

I prefer unpotted on those low-output PAFs.  It's got something to do with a pinch of extra "mojo" which I can hear... yet haven't actually measured.