Ibanez Artist inspired walnut and Pine built.

[Blazer]

I'll be honest, I always loved those early own designs from Ibanez and I owned an early eighties Artist in Natural which sounded amazing but weighed as much as a grand piano.

So a couple of days ago I traced a Les Paul and flipped the thing over to create the Artist outline on a piece of plywood, to make myself an Artist routing template.

And today put it to use on a plank of pine which splintered at the upper horn.

Luckily, I had enough pine left to glue another piece on there. But the thing is, with pine you can't used a Tune O Matic and stop bridge because the wood is too soft to actually keep it secure. So I knew I had to add a top which was sturdier than pine and I had some pieces of walnut lying around which came from an old closet.

As for the neck, I'm going to use a Washburn neck which I had lying around on this.

 

[guitarbuilder]

I bet with the deeper stud inserts you can buy, it would be fine on pine. Down the road just put some hardwood in front of the inserts if they pull forward. The inserts used to pull forward on mahogany too after years of black diamond strings. I just shoved some splints into the compressed space in front, the studs were straight again, and we were good to go.

Extra Long 1.188" Stop bar Tailpiece Anchor Mounting Bushings Steel Coarse Knurl - Philadelphia Luthier Tools & Supplies, LLC

 

[I_build_my_own]

Love it. But why didnt u ask- there a plenty of folks who would have traced it for you including me. If you need any measurements let me know

 

[Jim_in_PA]

That body shape is very attractive. Nice build in progress!

 

[Blazer]

Love it. But why didnt u ask- there a plenty of folks who would have traced it for you including me. If you need any measurements let me know

Thanks for the offer but for me the fun is doing all of that myself.

Anyway, here's a little update.

Glued the top and back together, drilled the cavities for the controls and switch and gathered up the parts I'm going to use, which include a seventies Harmonica bridge which is as authentic for a guitar of this design as it possibly can get.

The body is five centimeters/1.968503937 inch thick, which again fits with the look and vibe of a late seventies guitar.

 

[Marn99]

Looks nice! Reminds me a bit of a Gibson Melody Maker. I also like that you're not using that god awful ugly tailpiece plate

 

[CaptainCrunch]

I have an Ibanez AR-50 (black, body top & neck binding, dot inlays), I think a ‘78. Super sharp-looking guitars.

 

[Fatcat211]

I have an 81 AR300 and used to have an 82 ar30. Great guitars. Love what your doing here.

 

[Blazer]

Well here we are today.

The pickup routs look rather sloppy but that's because of the drills I used to deepen the routs. And no, the switch wasn't in when I drilled and routed the body.

The neck pocket is too shallow but my router bit simply couldn't go deeper, so I have to chisel and rasp my way into the proper depth.

But it's starting to look like something although I have no idea what it's starting to look like. 8)

 

[Macrogats]

Looks very cool to me. What’s the finishing plan - particularly for the top?

 

[Blazer]

Looks very cool to me. What’s the finishing plan - particularly for the top?

Probably wine red.

Nothing wrong with Wine red.

 

[Dismalhead]

Excellent. It's looking great. I had an Ibanez Musician for many years, making me nostalgic.

 

[Henley]

Looking good...I like Artist's too...check the avatar.

 

[LeftFinger]

This color? This is an Artcore AS73T I think about 2000

 

[Blazer]

This color? This is an Artcore AS73T I think about 2000

View attachment 792888

Yes, just like that and seeing that guitar makes me wanna put a Bigsby on there too.

 

[LeftFinger]

Another wine red only with a burst

Another style of Ibanez Bigsby probably would look better on your build

TM71

 

[Blazer]

Slowly but surely it's starting to come together.

But for some reason she reminds me of Malcolm Young's Gretsch more than an Ibanez Artist.

 

[Dismalhead]

That's cool. I agree, it's kinda looking like Malcolm's guitar. Looking good!

 

[Blazer]

I spend a lot of time painting, sanding, lacquering, sanding, lacquering, sanding, adding up to around seven layers of lacquer.

But the result speaks for itself.

I had some mishaps with the dye dripping at some of the edges but I couldn't remove it fully without having to strip it all off.

But seeing this color gave the guitar its name "Candy"

 

[Blazer]

Well here we are today.

It's not quite done, I still need to make it some back plates, Two of the pots weren't turning so I didn't hook them up and I screwed up the bridge alignment so I have to plug the hole of the lower stud and re-drill it. It actually intonates perfectly so I actually don't have to do so.

But she plays and sounds just fine, the middle section is out of phase but I actually like the "Peter Green" sound it has that way. You may notice there's no height adjustment screws for the neck up, I screwed it straight into the wood.

But my intention of making a guitar that has the vibe of an early eighties Made in Japan solid sure came true, although, it doesn't really nail my intention of making it look like an Ibanez Artist. It reminds me more of one of those Roland GR guitars that Pat Metheny still plays.