> ibanez 540s project

Overview

For some time, I've wanted a white guitar to serve as an autograph medium not unlike Jay Leno's famed white motorcycle. At first, I had planned to use a low-end Ibanez RG for this purpose, but I was struck by an idea: Several months ago, I bought a beat-up '87 Ibanez 540S Pro to part out. I mainly wanted the chrome hardware to use for a Jem project. I sold off the neck and some other parts, but I still have the body and an almost-complete set of black hardware. Why not use those materials as the basis for my autograph guitar?

Furthermore, this guitar can serve a second purpose: I've been wanting to experiment with standard D/Drop C tuning but I don't want to set up one of my others with heavier strings just for the lowered tuning. The answer: new guitar! :)

The Plan

Acquire a neck:
Ibanez 22-fret neck with rosewood fingerboard

Body modifications:
Deepen tremolo cavity for greater pull-up range
Fill holes from three mini-toggles, cut for 5-way blade switch
Contour rear edges of cutaways

Finish:
White
Matching headstock with black Ibanez logo decal

Pickups:
White DiMarzios in HSS configuration, possibly with a single-size humbucker in neck position

The Process

My 540S body with its scarred Desert Sun Yellow finish, waiting to be sanded down. 5/9/05

The first day, starting on the surface. The first to go was the duct tape residue on the big chipped area. 5/9/05

The next day, 4-5 hours of sanding in total. 5/10/05

Finished with the rough sanding. 5/18/05

Rear view of the mock-up with the neck which I just received today. 5/18/05