Ibanez

[tresmarshallz]

I have a '92 Ibanez Saber 540S that had a veneer top and back and a translucent poly coat. It weighed a ton and sounded pretty plain vanilla.
I didn't like the color and really love natural oil finishes, so I spend the day removing the poly and veneers. It was a hell of a lot work, not something I'd want to do again....
But the end results were spectacular. I stained and oiled it, and now it is much lighter and sounds incredible. The notes/harmonics went from plain to full spectrum dominance.

Has anyone else done this and noticed that their guitar sounds way better with no poly finish and/or veneers?

 

[saxon68]

pictures before Vin asks....

 

[Ghostman]

 

[tresmarshallz]

When I said the results were spectacular I was referring specifically to the sound. I do like the looks a lot also though it is far from perfect..

 

[saxon68]

that looks nice, me likey

 

[tresmarshallz]

I feel I got lucky that the wood underneath happen to have a nice look when stained/oiled....doesn't always happen that way. That would have sucked to do all that work only to have the wood look bad with stain/oil!

 

[tresmarshallz]

that looks nice, me likey

Thanks!

 

[ginek]

I feel I got lucky that the wood underneath happen to have a nice look when stained/oiled....doesn't always happen that way. That would have sucked to do all that work only to have the wood look bad with stain/oil!

It's because Saber body is heavier mahogany wood, which has a nice texture. Trying that with an Ibanez RG type (ash or basswood) would be worse.

 

[Dogs of Doom]

I read an article a long time ago about someone buying cheap pawn shop guitars & fixing them up & re-selling. He mentioned that in his opinion, the biggest upgrade was removing the plastic coat & putting a lacquer coat. Seems the heavy plastic gives the guitar a heavy plastic tone. It makes sense to me & it's definitely something to also keep in mind when you are actually making/building a guitar..

 

[tresmarshallz]

After hearing how huge of an improvement it was on the guitar's tone, I did my other 540S today! I experimented a little on this one with different colors of stain, it was a three piece body so I accentuated the pieces.
I am not kidding when I say this guitar sounds 10x better, it is uncanny

It's because Saber body is heavier mahogany wood, which has a nice texture. Trying that with an Ibanez RG type (ash or basswood) would be worse.

sure, that is obvious that the wood type/grain would play a huge role in it looking good. I have done mohagany ones before that didn't look that good, and I have done a cheap RG (prob basswood) that actually looked pretty good oiled.

 

[tresmarshallz]

so this is the before and after. I understand people like the look of the flame top, but at what cost? The veneer doesn't add any tone, it just add more glue and kills the vibration/resonance of the body IMO
*the green pic isn't my actual guitar, just one that looked like mine. The 2nd pic is mine after removing the poly with a heat gun then sanding down through veneers

 

[Wildeman]

Mmmmm hmmmm. I know what you mean!

 

[Wildeman]

'89 body with a '87 neck. One of my favorite guitars ever, super resonant. It was like this when i got it ( FOR 50 FRIGGIN DOLLARS)! Well, it had super crappy pickups and it was in pieces but...... Now '57 classic and two Fender custom shop '54's.

 

[Jethro Rocker]

So flame top maple veneer does nothing? Just thinking about all those LPs out there. Interesting that hou can hear that much difference.

 

[tresmarshallz]

So flame top maple veneer does nothing? Just thinking about all those LPs out there. Interesting that hou can hear that much difference.

I'm not saying maple tops don't do anything, I think those add some good tonal qualities, when I say veneers I am specifically referring to the super thin layer of maple that guitar companies put on to fake you out and make you think it is a proper maple top. These veneers don't add tone they just add like glue and a layer of cardboard.

'89 body with a '87 neck. One of my favorite guitars ever, super resonant. It was like this when i got it ( FOR 50 FRIGGIN DOLLARS)! Well, it had super crappy pickups and it was in pieces but...... Now '57 classic and two Fender custom shop '54's.

Yes, those old ones are special, the older the better with the old Ibanez, I've owned a few late 80's Radias guitars and they were incredible.

 

[Ghostman]

That was some nice Mahogany under there.